Hyperdimension Neptunia: Blueflame Heart
by Alex4top
Summary: Kenji Nijimura is a 17 years old student that, after runnig away from home, meets a mysterious girl. This individual offers him a strange stone, which grants him inhuman powers, before sending him off to a different dimension. With many new friends and foes alike, Kenji will now have to overcome the countless challenges ahead of him as he travels through this brand new world
1. Welcome to Gamindustry!

The sound of raindrops coming from outside woke Kenji up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around him.

His room was small, dark, damp and messy as always. With his bed right below the window that made constant clattering sounds due to the rain outside, a few videogames lying on a shelve right next to a decent PC, empty bags of junk food and dirty clothes filling the floor.

Instead of getting up, the young man closed his eyes again and tried going back to sleep by putting the pillow over his head. But a wodden sound echoing through the room reached his ears.

"Kenji, get up..."

Right before he could drift back into a dream, Kenji's mother opened the door to check on him and allowed the light from the hallway to enter.

He initially ignored it and pretended to be still asleep, but the woman standing on the doorway wouldn't fall for that one again.

"Come on now, I know you're awake" She said while placing both hands on her hips

Her tone was stern, but Kenji didn't show any reaction to it.

"Just how much longer are you planning to holed up inside your room?" She asked with an exasperated tone

"That's none of your business..." Replied the young man with a muffled voice

A moment of silence went by while she looked at him.

The last time his son set foot outside the house was weeks ago. This lack of both human contact and desire to leave his self-proclaimed cell was worrying.

"You can't just hide away forever, Kenji!" She said with a slightly angrier tone while walking closer to him and grabbing his forearm "You have to go back to school! Back to the real world already!"

"To hell with the real world!" He yelled with an angered tone that muffled even that of the rain

The whole room went into silence, allowing the raindrops to be the only constant sound once again.

Kenji's mother then looked at his unkept face more closely. His angry, resentful eyes glaring at her. Eyes with dark eyebags from lack of sleep and filled with nothing but anger towards the outer world. His Blond hair, which was already chin length, but was also slightly dark and dirty because of not being properly kept clean along with messy facial hair around his jaw and mostly focused over his lips and in his chin.

Looking into his son's stare, she decided not to argue anymore. Whatever she said to him at this point was useless and Kenji wouldn't even bother listening to it anyway.

"I'll be downstairs making dinner...Make sure to get ready for this afternoon..." She said while looking down

Shortly after his mother left and headed downstairs to prepare breakfast, Kenji got up and got dressed.

Out of all the clothes laying around on the ground, he chose a black t-shirt with a black zipper hoodie along with green combats and black sneakers.

Instead of going to the kitchen, he headed towards the front door to go out. But his mother's voice called out to him before he could open it.

"Kenji? Where are you going?" She asked while leaning to look at him through the doorway

"Out on a walk" He said while looking at her under his hoodie

"But it's raining!"

"That's what the hood is for!"

"Don't you dare go out!"

"And don't you dare tell me what to do!"

"Nijimura Kenji. If you go out that door, you better not come back!" She said with an angrier tone than before

"Fine! I'm never coming back!" He yelled before opening the door, getting out and slamming it behind him

Kenji knew well. He knew that the first thing his mother would give to him was an endless lecture he didn't want to hear. And after that he would force him to go back to his highschool and apologize to his teacher. But there was no way he'd go along with that willingly. Even if it meant abandoning his house.

He left his square, and his neighboorhood. His legs kept running under the rain for a moment or two before finally stopping.

"(This should be far enough)" He thought while turning his head to look around him

It was just a few minutes, but he managed to go quite far away from his house. So far that he didn't even recognize the current neighborhood he was in. This was good news, as it meant he wouldn't be found so easily.

Kenji then looked forward again and walked with a more sluggish pace this time. Without minding the heavy rain falling over him in the least.

Throughout the years he realized that despite looking shitty, the rain actually felt very nice and somewhat relaxing. Under the endless stream of water falling not only over him, but probably over many other people and animals as well. This was enough to make even the largest person feel small and insignificant, just a tiny grain of sand in the beach everyone else called world.

Philosophy aside, though. The idea that the rain was probably screwing up someone else's day was the one thing he liked the most about it.

"Man...life is really dull..." He said while raising his head and looking up with an empty, near lifeless eyes

"Got that one right!"

Noticing the small voice made Kenji lower his head and notice something that made his eyes widen. There was a small person in the middle of the street, floating over a purple books as if it were a magic carpet.

He stood there for a moment looking at her before she floated close enough for him to discern her appearance better.

It was a pale-tan skinned girl with bright blue eyes and choppy, platinum blonde-white colored hair worn with black ear pieces with red on them. She had a pair of purple and blue gradient themed wings and wore a black dress with silver and red accents, a crimson ribbon tied around her right wrist, and a cape-like piece attached to her top by the big pink orb in the center of it, with smaller pink orbs below her shoulders.

"Yo! Nice to meet ya!" She said with a tomboyish tone and a smirk

"Who...are you?"

"Me? I'm Croire"

While looking at her Kenji couldn't help but notice that, despite being under the rame just like him, the little girl wasn't wet at all. It was almost as if the rain was avoiding her at will.

"I'm Kenji...What do you want?"

"Huh? You ain't scared of me?" She asked while raising an eyebrow

"You don't look very threatening"

The young man was being honest with his answer. Considering she looked like a tomboyish anime loli and wasn't even a foot tall, Croire could hardly be considered menating. At least in appearance.

The tome looked at him with a surprised expression for a moment or two before bursting out into laughter.

"I knew it! You're an interesting dude!" She said between laughs before looking at him with a mischievous smirk "Say...Is life dull?"

"It is..."

"You don't like it?"

"Yeah..."

"Then how about a new one?"

"New one?"

Croire then snapped her finger. This caused an object to appear in front of Kenji. It was a small blue stone, shinning a bright neon blue while emanating an aura of the same color. It was shaped like a diamond and had a white power button on the center.

"Take it"

He looked at the stone for a few seconds before grabbing it. It felt incredibly cold to the touch. So much that he felt his fingertips would turn purple and fall off at any moment. But it was also a pleasant and invigorating sensation. It was an odd, yet overwhelming feeling.

He had never seen such a stone before. It looked like a crystal more than a stone, but also had an otherwordly look to it. Almost like a rare item from a fantasy videogame or movie.

"That's a CPU memory, also known as a goddess memory" Explained Croire while looking at Kenji turning the item around in his fingers and examining it closely

"...What do I do with it?"

"Easy, just swallow it!"

The young man looked at the tome with a raised eyebrow

"If you have it in you, it will give you a new life"

"(A new life)" Thought the young man while looking at the CPU memory and reflecting on what Croire just said to him

At that moment, he thought about his current life. He had no friends nor any plans for the future. He abandoned his studies and had nothing left to wish for in this damned world.

Even if what was happening looked too shady, even if eating that weird object killed him, Kenji couldn't care about it at this point anymore. He simply shrugged before opening his mouth and swallowing the CPU memory whole without a second thought.

"Oh? You're a brave one, ain't you?"

It wasn't bravery, it was simple impulse. Instead of having to live a dull life on a world he felt nothing but anger for, Kenji preferred to risk it and take the chance.

Suddenly, he felt a strong heat on his chest. The young man placed his left hand over the center of his chest and clenched it. He could feel the stone throbbing inside his organs, beating as if it were a second heart. This sensation grew stronger and stronger until Kenji closed his eyes and wrapped both arms around his torso before falling down to his knees and lowering his head.

It was then that the overwhelming beating finally exploded into a blue shockwave that pushed the rain away and almost made Croire jump from her book.

After a moment or two of silence, he raised his head and opened his eyes slightly to look at Croire, who noticed the power button symbols that replaced his pupils along with the new dark blue color the irises adopted. He looked at her for a short moment before his consciousness finally drifted away and his body fell to the ground.

"Whoa...That's the first time I see a man synching with the CPU memory that well..." Said the tome as she floated closer to the young man and made a grin "I bet this one will make quite a mess over there"

*Scene*

Among the darkness, Kenji heard a voice. He couldn't tell what it said, but he felt it was calling out to him. A short moment after that, something sparkled in the distance. It was a distorted light, wavering like a reflection on water. It took a moment for him to notice that it was actually a flame. A small, clear blue flame floating in the middle of darkness.

Almost as if guided by instinct, he slowly reached out to it. But before his fingers could reach it, the flame became much brighter. So bright that it blinded him. Kenji felt like he was caught in this endless light before it suddenly became dimn. He then slowly opened his eyes and realised the light he was feeling now was sunlight hitting him on the face.

"(Wha...what?)"

After a few seconds and blinking twice, He slwoly sat up and placed his hand on his head.

"A dream?"

While trying to piece together his thoughts, Kenji recalled meeting Croire and eating the odd stone.

"Oh, right…"

Thinking back on it, He though that eating that strange looking stone maybe wasn't such a good idea after all. Then again, eating any type of stone wasn't a good idea. But that itself was probably just a bad dream. Or at least that was what he thought until noticing his surroundings.

Looking around him, he saw he was in a bedroom. But this one was far different from his bedroom. This one had a notably larger bed with a silver frame and dark purple blankets. There was also a silver dresser and a wooden desk on the opposite side along with a window facing his bed.

"Where am I?" He said to himself while looking at this room he knew nothing about

Suddenly, the door opened and Kenji saw a young woman going into the room. It was a fair-skinned young girl with a large bust. Her hair had a light creamy pink color and matching eyes; her hair was somewhat long and curled along the edges, she was also wearing a black headband with a c patched on the side.

She was wearing a tan-white wool styled tank top with big neck and un attached sleeves and matching styled boots, but with small ribbons/fuzzy balls at the top. She also wore a red plaid skirt, a black choker with a small heart on it, black-brown knee socks with light pink heart cut frills, and carried a black hip purse, and heart shaped buttons. Like her headband, both her purse and the heart on the choker had a C logo.

"Ah, you're already awake?" Said the young girl with a smile after turning her head and noticing Kenji was awake "How are you feeling?"

"Erm...Fine, I guess..."

"Thank goodness! You didn't wake up since yesterday, so I was worried you had some sort of internal injury"

"I-I see..." He replied before getting up

"Please wait! You shouldn't get up just yet!"

Despite her attempts to keep him on the bed, Kenji got up anyway and walked closer to the window.

There were a few questions in his mind right now, but at the very least he wanted to know where he was. Looking through the window didn't help at all though.

What he saw weren't the neighborhoods and tall buildings he was used to. Instead he saw a completely different place. He saw a large town that spread as far as his eyes could see. With flying signs, aircrafts and buildings bearing a far more futuristic appearance than those of his own hometown. It was as if he had been sent to the future.

"(Wha-What the hell?)" Thought the young man with a baffled expression

"Erm...Are you okay?"

"Eh?"

Kenji turned around and saw the young girl looking at him with a mixture of confusion and worry. It took a moment for him to asnwer due to what he just saw, but nonetheless managed to form a decent answer.

"Yeah...I'm okay..."

"I see...My name is Compa, what's yours?"

"I'm Kenji"

"Where are you from?"

"I…Erm…" He said with slight nervousness.

Right now he needed to answer something that required knowledge about his current whereabouts. But unfortunately, he was absoluterly lost as tho where he was.

As far as he was concerned, that wasn't even his own town. And probably not even his own world

While seeing him struggle to answer, Compa made a shocked expression.

"Kenji...could it be you..."

Kenji looked at her and made a shocked expression as well, could it be that she figured something?

"Lost your memory?"

"Eh?"

He simply stared at Compa with a frozen expression for a moment before reacting.

"Ah...y-yes! I…Can't seem to remember anything other than my name…My mind feels all blurry" He said while pretending not to remember anything. Kenji wasn't sure how, but a golden opportunity was placed in front of him, and he was going to take advantage of it.

"Oh no!" She said with a concerned look

He didn't really feel proud for lying to Compa after she treated his wounds, but saying that he had amnesia was probably the only way for him to explain his lack of knowledge about this world.

"Kenji..."

He raised his head and looked at her again.

"Hm?"

"Is this yours?" She asked while picking up a large pitch black object laying next to the bed he was in.

"A sword?"

"That's right...You were holding tightly on to it when we found you unconscious in that alleyway"

Kenji took a moment to loook at the weapon Compa held on her hands before grabbing it and analizing it. It was a large, pitch black sheath. After removing it, a sword that was just as dark as the shadows was revealed. It was slightly larger than an average straight sword and seemed to be heavy from the way she was struggling just to hold it earlier, but he didn't have any trouble carrying it with one hand.

Both the sword and sheath were in quite a good state. And despite being the very first weapon he held in his whole life, something about it felt familiar.

"Is it yours?"

"Yeah...it is..."

"I see..."

It took a moment for Kenji to asnwer, but he sounded honest enough to convince Compa of being the owner of that weapons.

"Kenji...How about you eat with us?"

He looked at her and nodded before putting the sword back on the sheath and following Compa through the hallway. They walked down the stairway until arriving at a place that looked like a dinning hall, where he saw a group of three girls eating. All of them were fair-skinned as well as Compa.

The first one had emerald eyes and light brown hair that was about waist length. Most of her bangs were long and reached down to her eyes, curling outwards or inwards to her face, with a split on the upper corner side. A few parts of hair frame her face while more of it reached her chest, about the length of the hair she was wearing in a ponytail, held with a leafy green hair piece.

She was wearing a black tank top and short-short style one piece with silver detailing and a belt around her waist. Over it, she was wearing a dark blue, oversized jacket with black, silver, and white detailing. It was open and had a big loose belt that seemed to hold a lot of objects that resembled old nokia phones, each one of a different color. She was wearing matching boots.

While the second one had light purple eyes and a matching shade of hair, it was shoulder length with somewhat messy bangs with many strands sticking up and a few of them framing her face. She was wearing two gamepad-shaped hairclips.

She also wore a big white hoodie-like dress with purple striped cuffs, lining, and a purple hood. The outfit had pale, ice blue and light lilac accents. As well as a zipper section, two big round pockets, a big zipper with an N on it, and strings resembling a plug. Around her neck she wore a simple white choker. Her lilac shoes had blue and white accents and were also worn with blue and white striped stockings.

And finally the third one bore a resemblance to the second girl. But she had longer hair and instead wore a sailor uniform. She also had a more innocent look, and seemed like quite the timid girl, judging by how she tried to avoid eye contact with him.

"Ah! It's the alley man!"

"Don't call me that!" Snarled the young man while a vein mark popped on his forehead

"How are you feeling?" Asked the first one

"There's big trouble, Iffy!"

"What happened?!" She retorted while standing up

"He seems to have lost his memory!"

While the girls with light purple hair made shocked expressions. The other seemed skeptical. And she stared at him, but he simply looked to the side in an attempt to try and avoid eye contact.

"I-I see…" She said while sweat dropping "Does he at least remember his own name?"

Compa nodded before speaking

"His name is Kenji"

"Woah, that's an odd name!" Said the purple haired girl bluntly

"You're not really one to talk, Nepko..."

"Never mind that, I'm Neptune! But you can call me Nep-Nep or Nepko if you want!" Said Neptune with a cheerful tone and smile while looking at him

"I-I'm Nepgear...I'm this nation's CPU candidate"

"(CPU candidate?)" Thought the young man while raising an eyebrow, unsure what that tittle meant, or if it even was a tittle to begin with.

"So, what should we do with him?" Asked IF to the other two

"I can let him stay with me for the time being"

"Compa, you can't really take an unknown man into your house…" Replied the guild member while looking at the nurse and sweat dropping

"But he's got nowhere else to go!"

"Even so..."

"I know! Let's leave him live here with me and Nep junior!" Said Neptune while looking at IF.

"Eh? Are you sure?" Asked the brown haired girl "Even if you are you, he's still a guy, you know?"

"It's fine, it's fine!" Replied the pink-haired girl "I mean, it wouldn't be nice of me as the main character if we just tossed him out into the street like that"

"Nepko…"

Kenji looked at her for a moment. By her carefree and child-like appearance, he didn't expect her to act like such a mature person. Perhaps looks were not something to be judged, after all.

"Besides, he looks like a total loser, so we won't have to worry about romance situations!"

"Bi-big sister..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

At that moment, the mood was totally destroyed, just like the image of Neptune Kenji was starting to build within his mind.

"N-Nep nep…That's not something you say so bluntly right in front of someone" Said Compa while sweat dropping.

"Sorry, sorry! It just kind of came out!"

"(Somehow, I get the feeling this brat is going to be a royal pain in the ass)" Thought Kenji while looking at her laugh

"Don't worry though; as the only male character in the game to have a proper avatar and name, I'm sure you'll get more baddass after a few chapters"

Kenji simply looked at her with an eyebrow raised. He had no idea what she was talking about now.

"Either way, you can keep talking after you eat, just sit down for now" Said the nurse before turning her head and beaming at Kenji "Come on Kenji... let's sit down"

At first, the young man wanted to refuse, because he didn't like to sit around large or loud groups of people, and this certainly looked as loud as it could get, but the rumbling of his stomach answered before his mouth could.

Without any room to argue, he sat down with everyone else and proceeded to eat.

*Scene*

Kenji leaned against the balcony and looked at the view of Planeptune once more. It's been almost two weeks and half since his arrival to Gamindustry. And he managed to obtain quite a bit of information, mostly from IF or Histoire.

Apparently, this was a different world referred to as Gamindustry, where four CPUs or "Goddesses" constantly competed over shares, a sort of energy obtained through the faith of the humans living in this world. Or at least that was what the tome and this nations oracle, Histoire, told him about.

"Neptune, how many times do I have to tell you before you take it seriously?!" Yelled Histoire at Neptune, who was playing games

Kenji turned his head and looked at the small tome lecturing Neptune over his shoulder.

Apparently, due to the perky CPU's lack of work ethic, Planeptune was suffering a serious downfall in shares. And this did not bode well with Histoire in the least.

Tired of listening to that lecture every day from the sidelines, Kenji decided to go out on a walk. Maybe then he would get some peace and quiet. On his way out, Histoire noticed his attempt to leave and called out to him.

"Kenji, where are you going?"

"To take a walk...Maybe do a quest or two" He said while picking up his sword.

A few days after arriving, Kenji learned about quests given at guilds, and that they were good to get some spare change without much effort. Without much else to do, he dedicated most of his time to doing quests. He didn't really enjoy having to work, but fighting monsters sure beat high school or regular jobs any day of the week. And not only the rewards were quite decent, but there was something very pleasant about having his own money for spending too.

"Alright, but do try to be careful"

"Yeah…I'll try"

After leaving the basilicom, he met Compa and IF, who were going to visit Neptune.

"Ah, it's Kenji"

He raised his head and looked at them.

"Oh, it's you two…"

"Friendly as always I see" Said IF with a raised eyebrow while sweat dropping.

"How are you doing today, Kenji?"

"Fine, I was just about to take a walk"

"Oh, ok then... Take care"

Without anything more to say, Kenji walked past them and left. Afterwards, Compa and IF went into the basilicom, only to find a Neptune with paralyzed legs and an exhausted Histoire.

While Compa treated Neptune's paralysis from sitting down on her legs so much, IF spoke with Histoire.

"Histoire, did you find anything about him yet?"

"I'm afraid not, I've checked the Planeptune citizen's records twice and even asked the other nations regarding the subject, but we didn't get a single lead yet"

"It's almost as if he didn't exist…"

Meanwhile, as the two discussed about him and his identity, Kenji had already left the town and was in a cave, fulfilling a monster elimination quest.

At first it was difficult to fight monsters, and he did even get beat up by them quite often. But the young man grew accustomed to it quite fast. One thing he did noticed was that ever since his arrival on Gamindustry, his body felt faster and stronger. And the way he tore monsters, even the strong looking ones, to pieces within just a few days of fighting proved it.

After finally clearing the quest at hand,he went back to the guild and claimed his reward. But he didn't go back inmediately and instead decided to do a few more quests to kill time and monsters. After doing another 10 quests, he finally called it a day and went back.

"Hm…That should do it for today" He said to himself while checking out the amount of credits he had obtaned through quests "I guess I'll go find somewhere to eat"

Fortunately, his efforts today gained him more than enough earnings to be at ease for a few days. Or at least it would as long as he didn't do any extreme spending, which was highly unlikely, as the only things he used money on were food.

He searched for a place to eat and found a good ramen restaurant. Kenji sat down and ordered some ramen with crab and an egg. One of the many combinations he had been trying out ever since his routine of eating after completing quests began.

"Here ya go sonny!" Said the chef while placing the bowl on the counter

"Thanks…"

He split the chopsticks and calmly ate at his own pace. He always preferred eating slowly and enjoy every bite of his food rather than just chomp it all down in one go.

While eating, Kenji thought about the quests

"(Quests are getting a bit boring lately...maybe I should start doing the harder ones)"

Once he was finished, he put down the chopsticks, placed the cash next to the empty bowl and got up.

"Thanks for the food…"

"Come back soon!"

Kenji got out of the store and looked around him. The day didn't seem to advance too much during his meal, and he didn't really feel like taking on more quests again, since the meal made him feel full enough to get a bit sleepy.

"(Guess I'll go back and take a nap or something)" He thought while yawning

Kenji walked back to the tower, hoping that there would be at least some silence. Unfortunately, that was the last thing he found back in Planeptune's tower.

"You better get on with it and explain properly!"

"If you cheated somehow, I'm gonna rip your freaking head off!"

"I've got to admit as well, this is quite infuriating"

"Gals, Gals! calm down! I swear I had nothing to do with it!"

When entering, Kenji found Neptune surrounded by three other girls who seemed very aggravated for some reason. One had black hair worn in twin pigtails with red eyes and wore an odd-looking, yet well-made dress; the other was a short girl with short clear brown hair and greyish eyes. She wore a white a brown winter coat with a matching hat that was a bit oversized for her. The third and last was seemingly slightly older than the other two and had a much larger chest along with being the tallest one. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes and wore a green dress that looked kind of princess like.

While watching the three girls ganging up on Neptune, Compa and IF noticed Kenji's presence

"Ah, Kenji! Welcome home!"

"What's with all the fuss?" He asked while approaching them and pointing at the four women with his thumb

"Those are the CPUs from the other nations... It seems they're angry because Planeptune's shares suddenly skyrocketed and theirs went down"

"Oh…I wonder if those quests had anything to do with it…"

"How many quests did you do today?"

"Just 10 or so I think…"

"Good work!" Said Compa while smiling

"Huh...No wonder there was such a sudden shift" Said IF while placing one hand on her chin "That's odd, though...I thought only CPUs could change the balance of shares that strongly..."

As the sudden thought ran through the guild member's mind, Neptune's lynching only got worse by the second.

"That's bullshit and you know it!"

"I didn't do anything at all this month! Protag's word! I just lazed around playing videogames and snacking! Just ask Histy! She can totally say I'm not lying!"

Histoire lowered her head and sighed with certain dissapointment as all stares diverted towards her.

"Although it's not something I'd like to admit, Neptune is saying the truth. She hasn't moved from this place at all"

"Then how the hell did this bitch's shares go up so much!?"

"That would be this man's doing" Said IF to catch everyone's attention while pointing with her thumb at Kenji.

The four girls and the tome turned and looked at Kenji.

"Ah, Kenji. Welcome back. Where have you been?" Asked the tome while floating towards Kenji

"He's been doing quests all day long again today"

"I see. Good work as always"

Behind the tome, the three girls approached Kenji and stared at him intently.

"Neptune, who's this man?" Asked Noire

"That's Kenji, but I call him "the alley man" "

"The alley man…?"

Noire then turned around and looked at Kenji as if he were some kind of pervert, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

"Please don't get the wrong Idea" Kenji said while sweat dropping.

"Let me explain" Said IF while getting up.

IF proceeded to explain how they found Kenji unconscious on an alleyway, about his "supposed" amnesia, his involvement in the current shift in the balance of the shares and most importantly, the reason why Neptune wrongly calls him "the alley man"

"I see…I think I understand most of it…" Said Noire while looking at Kenji "…Though I still can't believe this man could be behind the sudden shift in shares"

"Why not?"

"I mean, how were you be able to increase the shares so much!?"

"I just did quests…lots of them"

"That's bullshit! You'd need to do a shit-ton of quests to get that many shares!"

"Well I did"

"Stop lying!"

"Actually…" Intercepted Histoire, who caught the three girl's and Kenji's attention "While you were arguing among each other, I checked the guild's records. There's written proof that an individual matching Kenji's description completed large amounts of quests every day in a constant manner...More than enough to cause the current shift in share balance"

"E-Either way…if you really did that, then you'd better stop! You hear me?!" Said Noire while throwing daggers at Kenji with her stare

"Why?"

"Because it's frigging bad for us when we lose shares!"

"People would think we're useless, and that wouldn't be good" Said Vert while closing her eyes

"Maybe you really are useless…" Said Kenji with a neutral tone

"WHAT!?" Yelled the three at the same time, each of them with eyes as wide as plates from the shock.

"I mean…if one random dude like me could gain enough of those shares to move Planeptune from the bottom of the barrel to the top in just one week, then you girls are either lazier than that one, or maybe your people didn't believe that strongly In you to begin with"

Now Kenji had done it. The expressions of pure anger in the faces of the three goddesses showed their blood was boiling.

"YOU FUCKER! DON'T GET AHEAD OF YOURSELF!" Yelled out Blanc while bringing out her hammer and getting ready to crush heads with it

"Woah! Blanc got really angry!" Said Neptune with a slightly scared expression

"How dare you say whatever you want!? Do you know how hard I work every day for my nation?!"

"Considering you're here pointing fingers at others…not very hard"

A vein popped on Noire's forehead before she made a bloodthirsty expression.

"My, it seems this man needs to learn how to give some proper respect"

"How about you try giving me some respect first, you bimbo!"

A vein popped on Vert's forehead before she made a murderous stare, just like the other two did.

"Abababababa! Blanc, Noire, Vert, please stop! Don't fight in the basilicom!" Said The tome in a panic before looking at the young man "And you too, Kenji. Stop provoking them!"

"You think we're gonna let what this fucker said just slide!?" Yelled Blanc while holding back the urge to bash Kenji's face in with her hammer

"A-At least let me arrange a location for you to fight properly! But please, not inside the basilicom!"

"Tch…fine…" Said Blanc while dismissing her weapon

"I'm sure we can arrange for the coliseum to host the fight" Suggested IF.

"Sounds good to me. That way we can humiliate him in front of everyone in Gamindustry" Said Noire with an evil smirk.

"I agree with Noire. Humiliating him in front of millions is much better than just beating him up where no one can see" Added Vert, who now had a smirk similar to Noire's

"Hey…Methinks everyone is making scary faces" Said Neptune while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"I think that could be the understatement of the century…" Retorted IF while sweat dropping as well

The three girls went to the balcony, transformed to their HDD forms and prepared to take flight, but not before turning around and threatening Kenji one last time.

"You better show up when the time comes! If you don't, I'll hunt you down and hang your head on my wall!" Said Blanc before turning around and leaving.

"You better man up and not run away!" Added Noire before turning around and flying away with an arrogant laugh.

"I'll make sure you regret your lack of respect towards us" Added now Vert before being the last one to leave.

While Kenji watched the three of them fly away, he lowered his head and sighed.

"(Man…looks like I've got drawn into something extremely annoying)"

Meanwhile, Nepgear was just coming back from a shopping trip through town.

"Big sister, Histoire. I'm back….Did something happen?"


	2. The first fight!

Three days after Kenji and the three CPU's meeting ended up with a not so friendly duel challenge, Histoire arranged for the arena to host a public exhibition of their fight. And on those three short days, the news of the match spread all over Gamindustry like wildfire

Through radios, television and even newspapers. Every single type of media on Gamindustry spoke about it non-stop. And the excitement exploded within the populations as well, since hundreds of people from Planeptune and even the other nations travelled to see what they considered would be one of the most amazing fights of the century.

"Wowzers! That's a lot of people!" Said Neptune while sweat dropping while looking around her at the massive amounts of people waiting with excitement and hype for the match to start.

"Even I'm feeling nervous" Added Compa while feeling the pressure of the crowds

IF, who both dressed as a referee and was spying from the corner of a hallway connecting to the main battlefield, turned around and looked at Kenji

"Are you sure you still want to do this?"

"It's not like I can bail out now...Besides, there's something I have to check"

Kenji said the last part of his sentence with a lower voice, which made it go unnoticed by the guild member.

"Well...If there's nothing else, I'll go announce the match. Try not to get killed out there, okay?" Said IF while looking at Kenji, who nodded in agreement

With nothing else to say, she got out into the open and took hold of a microphone before speaking to all of the people looking at her.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the coliseum!" She said as the crowd's hype intensified "Today's fight, as many of you might know, is a special one! Today's fighters will be the CPU of Lastation, Black Heart. The CPU of Leanbox, Green Heart and the CPU of Lowee, White Heart against the swordsman of unknown skill and origin, Nijimura Kenji!"

As he heard IF saying his name being, the young man got up and headed out into the arena where the three goddesses were already waiting for him.

"That's the guy the goddesses are going to fight?"

"Woah, he's gonna get so pwned!"

"I thought he'd be…taller….with a deeper voice"

The hype and excitement among the people diminished as some changed their excited yelling to chatter which were a bit too easy to hear for the liking of the CPUs and the young man.

It seemed as though everyone expected the challenger to be a much more impressive individual. But Kenji hardly looked different from an average person. And needless to say, this was disappointing for the crowd.

"Oh man…I went and used all my allowance to see this fight...I really hope I didn't just waste it"

"Hey buddy! Try to last more than half a second!" Yelled a random guy before breaking into laughter

"Everyone's underestimating Kenji" Said Compa with concern while looking around at the people laughing at him

"I think it's because their expectations were a bit too high..." Replied Nepgear

"That's rude! Even if he looks like a total loser, Kenji is actually really strong!" Yelled out an angry Neptune

Ignoring the crowd, and Neptune, Kenji stood in front of IF and the tree goddesses.

"So...ready to kneel down and beg?" Asked White Heart

Kenji didn't answer, simply stared at White heart with a neutral stare

"Let's see how long you can keep that chill face of yours after I crush it!"

"So, which one of us will you fight first?" Asked Black Heart

"Maybe we should decide by drawing lots" Proposed Green Heart

"Since this is a 3v1 fight and he was the challenged, Kenji has the right to choose the order of his opponents"

Everyone turned their heads to look at the young man again.

"So who will you fight first?"

"Come on, hurry up and choose me so I can break your freaking jaw already!" Snarled White heart while cracking her fists

After a moment of silent staring, Kenji lowered his head and looked at IF again.

"I'll fight all three"

"Wh-What?!" Asked IF with concern "Hey...I know you're confident in your strength and all, but fighting three goddesses at the same time is insane!"

IF knew Kenji's strength showed lots of potential as she had tagged along with him more than once during his quests, but fighting against three goddesses at the same time was nothing short of suicidal.

"Ah! Enough chit chat already! Let's just get on with it!"

"If you're so eager, then you go first…" Said Green heart while turning her head to look at White Heart

"I agree...Besides, 3v1 would be too easy"

Black Heart and Green heart told IF their decision of letting Lowee's CPU to be the first one to fight. She nodded in agreement with it and then turned around to announced it to the crowd.

"Ohhh...So Lady-White heart is going first!?"

"This is gonna be good!"

"Well then, once the counter reaches zero, the match will begin!" Said IF while pointing up at the large red counter on the top of the arena

The counter started on then and slowly wentd down with a deep echoing sound for every number. Once it reached zero, White Heart grabbed her axe with both hands dashed towards Kenji at full speed. She was Completely ready to slice him in half.

"Prepare yourself!"

Without hesitating, White Heart attacked Kenji countless times with her Axe. Their slashes were brutal and relentless along with being very powerful, but Kenji managed to dodged most of them and successfully block the few that he couldn't move away from.

"Not bad! Let's see how long you can last!"

Lowee's CPU noticed her opponent could keep up with her pace, which motivated her to go at it more intensely and attack with even more speed and stregth, but nonetheless he still managed to hold his ground.

"(I can see it...As long as I can see it, I can handle it!)"

Thanks to his constant fights against monsters and against his classmates in the past, Kenji learned the basics of fighting and knew that the most important aspect of a battle was being able to dodge or block the attacks. Kenji attacked a few times as well, but White heart would always manage to block them or dodge much more easily than him .

After a moment of constant attack exchanges and axe clashing against sword, both fighters stopped and took a step back to catch their breath.

"Whoa, that guy is actually pretty good!"

"Yeah, I thought he wouldn't last a minute…"

Despite being visibly more tired than Lowee's CPU, the crowd was witnessing something amazing. Kenji, who in their eyes was little more than a random guy with either a lot of guts a severe lack of brains, not only was challenging a goddess but was even capable of holding his ground.

"Maybe White Heart isn't that strong..."

At this point, White heart's anger began to cloud her judgement. The words of the crowd taking favor towards him meant more than simple acknowledgement. She was being underestimated, seen as weak enough for a random human to challenge her and probably even win. Or at least that's what the boiling blood on her head made her think.

"Damn it! Try taking on this!" She said while charging towards him once again "Zerstorung!"

"Stop! Are you trying to kill him!?"

Without listening to Black Heart's words, White Heart began to spin around to gain momentum. She then got closer to Kenji and hit him with all of her might. The young man tried to block it, but the sheer force of the blow sent him flying away and crashing against the wall with enough force to break it and raise a cloud of dust.

"Kenji!" Yelled Compa and Nepgear while getting up from her seat

After the attack, White Heart's head cooled off enough for her to snap back to her senses. And once she saw the wall of smoke and the destruction she caused, she felt slightly concerned about her actions.

"Crap, I think I overdid it…" She said while sweat dropping

"Blanc! What the hell were you thinking!?" Yelled Black Heart

"Don't you think you exaggerated a little?" Added Green Heart with her eyes closed

White Heart turned around and yelled at the other two goddesses

"I know, damn it! I just got a bit too hot headed!?"

"And because of that you had to kill him!?" Snarled Black Heart

"That wasn't my intention!"

White Heart turned around and looked at the cloud of dust.

"I just wanted to beat him up a bit, not kill him…" She said before lowering her head and closing her eyes "…Are you happy now, you dumb fucker?"

"Of course…I'm not…"

White Heart suddenly opened her eyes and raised her head, just in time to see the cloud dissipating, revealing Kenji standing up.

"Don't go killing me off so easily…"

"Kenji!"

"Thank Goodness...He's still alive" Said Compa with relief

Despite being noticeably banged up, he was still alive. His clothes were slightly torn up, and there was some minor bleeding from his mouth and forehead along with a few bruises here and there, but the most notable damage was something far worse.

"Hey…your arm!"

White Heart, just like everyone else in the coliseum, looked with shock at Kenji's right arm. His shoulder was dislocated, causing his arm to hang floppily like a rag doll's lifeless limb.

"Ohhh man...that's gotta hurt!" Said one man among the crowd while making a pained expression

White Heart turned her head and looked at IF

"Hey! Call off the fight!"

"I'm not done yet..."

Both girls turned their heads and looked at Kenji.

"Are you crazy!? There's no way you can fight with that floppy arm!" Yelled IF while looking at him

Kenji looked at his arm again for a moment before turning his sword around and putting the handle on his mouth and biting hard on it. He then placed his left hand on his dislocated arm and took a deep breath.

"Wait! What are you-?"

Without any warning, Kenji abruptly forced his shoulder back into place. The disturbing sound of his bones getting back in place echoed through the entire arena, making nearly everyone feel a chill run down their spines.

He lowered his head and bit the sword harder as his eyes widened. He was feeling an intense pain because of his little stunt, but nonetheless managed to put his shoulder back in place. Just moving his arm caused a throbbing burning sensation, but at the very least he got back the ability to use it.

"(That...should do...)" He thought while looking at his right hand and clenching it a few times before looking at White Heart again

"What the hell are you thinking!?" Yelled Lowee's CPU, who was still sweating after seeing what he did

Kenji slowly grabbed the sword out of his mouth and took a few breaths before speaking.

"If I say I'm not done yet, I'm not done yet!"

He then looked at IF in wait to hear her decision.

"Th-The contender is still capable of fighting, the match will continue!"

Although she didn't want to resume the fight, there had no choice since Kenji was in condition to continue.

"Whoa! Did you see what that guy just did!?" Said another man from the crowd while looking at the guy sitting next to him

"That was hardcore!"

White Heart closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them to look at Kenji, who took an assault stance and got ready to continue the fight, with an angry expression.

"Argh, fine! If that's how you want it, then I'll just knock your lights out!"

Lowee's CPU dashed forward with the boiling blood in her vein fueling her anger and Kenji did the same thing time.

"Why is he charging straight forward like that? He's gonna get sliced in half!" Said Compa as she saw the two dashing closer to each other

Kenji was now taking an offensive strategy rather than just be more on the defensive. This made some people wonder just what was going to happen-

"Eat this!"

White Heart launched a swift vertical slash attack, but Kenji easily dodged it by lowering his whole body.

"Wha-?"

Before she could react, the young man launched an attack that the angry CPU barely managed to dodge it.

White Heart then jumped backwards, but Kenji dashed forward and kept attacking. He kept launching countless slashes and would dodge before immediately resuming his barrage whenever White Heart tried to retaliate to avoid giving her any breathing room. After a moment or two, a his hits began to land on target. And the damage was starting to become evident.

"Aaaargh!" She yelled in pain as the last slash pushed her back

"Wh-What's going on?" Asked Nepgear with slight shock

"Nepu! He's totally owning the fight right now!"

Although many of the people watching the battle were confused by this sudden change of dominant side, the three goddesses were perfectly aware of what was happening.

"That guy...He managed to figure out Blanc's attack patterns" Said Black Heart with crossed arms

"It seems so…" Replied Green Heart "…There's also the possibility that he was trying to get used to her speed"

"(So that's why he took that beating without retaliating at the start!?)" Thought Lowee's CPU while blocking and dodging

After the last of Kenji's attacks, White Heart was pushed backwards.

"Damn it! Don't get cocky just because you landed a few hits!"

With her mind set on ending this fight with her next attack, White Heart held her weapon thigtly with both hands and dashed forward again. The young man, who was already hitting his limits, did the same thing as well.

"This will be the last one!"

Both launched their last attack, dashed past each other and suddenly stopped. For a moment, there was complete silence that only served to increase the growing tension in the air. But that all changed after White Heart clicked her tongue.

"Damn it…I got careless…" She said before falling down to the floor and reverting back to human

Everyone stared with widened eyes at the scene in front of them.

Against all odds and expectations, the goddess White Heart had been defeated by Kenji. The same guy who was on the verge of defeat during most of the fight.

"He…He won…"

"I can't believe it….Lady White Heart got defeated?"

"Referee-san, the fight!"

After Compa called out to IF, she snapped out of her shock and went to check on Blanc to confirm she was unconscious. She then turned around and looked at the crowd, who was impatient to hear the outcome of this fight.

"Lady White Heart has been rendered unable to fight...The winner is Kenji Nijimura!"

*Scene*

"Ouch!"

"Stay still please; I need to disinfect your wounds" Said Compa while tending to a bruise on Kenji's face

Back in Planeptune's tower, Compa tended to the young man's wounds. She began by placing medicinal alcohol on them with a piece of cotton before covering it with a bandage. He didn't like the stinging feeling of alcohol at all, but he did his best to bear through it and let Compa do her job.

"Alright, now we'll take care of the rest, and it'll feel all better!"

"Ok…"

"Please, take off your clothes"

"Fine, I'll…" He said with his eyes closed while grabbing the bottom of his hoodie before looking at Compa with a slightly worried expression "wait what?"

After a moment or two, IF and Neptune entered the room to check on Kenji.

"Hey Compa, sorry for the intrusion, how is Kenji-"

When they entered, both girls witnessed something that made their eyes widen like plates.

A half-naked Kenji covered in bandages from the waist up was struggling to keep Compa from removing his remaining clothes with his left hand grabbing his pants and the right hand on Compa's head while struggling to push her away.

"Kenji, please stop struggling! I need to treat your wounds!"

"I'm telling you! I'll take care of that part by myself later!"

"There's no need to be worried! I'm a trained nurse!"

"That's not what really bothers me here!"

"Co-Compa!? What are you doing!?"

Compa turned her head and looked at both Neptune and IF.

"Iffy, Nep nep, please help me hold him down! Kenji won't let me take care of his wounds!"

IF immediately headed towards the nurse and grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Compa, just let him do it by himself later!"

"Eh!? Iffy, you too!?"

It took nearly half an hour, but the guild member managed to convince Compa on leaving the duty of tending to that area to Kenji himself.

While she left Neptune to help Kenji untangle himself from all the extra bandages and loosen those that were a bit too tight, IF took Compa outside the room to talk about the young man's physical state.

"So, how are his wounds?"

"Not very good...Most of them are bruises and open cuts that will heal quickly, but he's got three broken ribs"

"What about his shoulder?"

"He seems to have relocated it properly, so the wound isn't too serious, but it'll take some time for it to fully heal"

"How long do you think it'll take for them to heal?"

"The cuts and bruises are already starting to heal, and the shoulder will take a few days because of all the tension it suffered. But the ribs will take much longer. Probably a month or so"

IF lowered her head and scratched her head.

"I see...It's a good thing we managed to postpone the next two fights"

While the two girls kept talking with each other, Neptune was having her own conversation with Kenji.

"But really, that was awesome Kenny! You totally nepped Blanc up!"

Kenji looked at the perky CPU and raised an eyebrow.

"Kenny?"

"Yeah! Since you don't like "the alley man" and Kenji isn't really that catchy either, I'm calling you Kenny!"

"First, who in his sane mind would want to be called "the alley man"? And second, my name is Kenji, not Kenny!"

"Oh come on! Kenny sounds a lot better!"

"No!"

While Kenji and Neptune argued about the nickname she would give him, Compa and IF looked at them through the slightly opened door with a smile.

"Looks like those two are starting to get along" Said IF with a smile

"I'm sure Kenji will be healthy again really soon"

*Meanwhile, In Lowee...*

"Ouch, that hurt!"

"Lady Blanc, you need to stay still...Otherwise I could make this worse"

Blanc struggled while Mina, her oracle, attempted to tend to her wounds.

"Damn it….that bastard caught me off guard! If my shares had been higher, I could have beat him up!"

"Big sister! Did you really lose!?"

Blanc turned her head after suddenly hearing a young voice calling out to her and swa her two younger sisters and Lowee's CPU candidates, Rom and Ram.

"Rom, Ram..."

"Who did it!? I totally hate them!" Asked Ram with an angry expression

"I hate them too…He hurt big sister…"

"If I remember right, I think he's a man called Kenji, he's currently living in Planetune's tower with its CPUs" Explained Mina to the young twins while wrapping a bandage around Blanc's left arm

"Kenji!? I hate him!"

"Kenji…he's a mean person…"

"Oh my...You don't need to worry too much about him"

Blanc, Rom and Ram turned their heads and saw Vert, Leanbox's CPU, walking into the room.

"Ah, it's Vert-san!"

"Why are you even here?" Asked Lowee's CPU while sweat dropping

"Blanc's duel with that man was a fair one, so there's nothing that can be done about it now..." Said the busty CPU with her eyes closed before looking at the twins again "But the his next fight will be against me, and I won't be as benevolent as your sister was"

Despite her calm and collected expression, Blanc could tell that Vert was actually planning to rip Kenji apart limb by limb on the next fight.

"Hey...I don't know what you're planning, but remember he's still human"

"I'm not planning to kill him, if that's what you think. I'm just going to teach him to show some proper "Respect" towards those above him"

*Scene*

Compa headed to Planeptune tower with IF to check on Kenji's condition.

"Thank you for coming with me, Iffy"

"Don't worry, it's in the way to work anyway. Besides, I want to see how he's doing too"

They two calmly walked into the tower and into the home of Planeptune's CPU. And the first thing they saw was Neptune playing videogames alone while Histoire floated from one side to the other in a panic and Nepgear tried to calm her down.

"Abababababa! What do we do now!? What do we do now!?"

"Histoire! Please calm down!"

"Calm down Histy, I'm sure he's fine..."

"Neptune! how can you be so calm!?"

"Histoire, what's wrong?" Asked IF while walking into the room

Histoire immediately turned around and saw both girls walking into the living room. Both of them curious to know what had her in such a panic

"It's Kenji! He's gone!"

"What!?"

"When I went to check on him this morning, he was gone!" Explained Histoire while panicking

IF looked past Histoire and at Neptune.

"Nepko! Weren't you watching over him!?"

"Ehhh!? Don't point all at me!" Complained the CPU while turning her head to look at her "Nepgear was looking after him too!"

"Eh!? But it was your turn to watch over him!" Said Nepgear while turning her head to look at Neptune

"That doesn't matter now! We need to find him!"

"His condition could worsen if he does something too reckless!" Said Compa with a worried tone

*Meanwhile, on an island West of Planeptune…*

"Oraaa!"

Kenji dashed and used an horizontal slicing attack against a demonic Fenrir, taking down the beast after slashing it right in the face.

As the beast fell down and dissipated into fragments, he looked at them scattering into the air and dissapearing before looking at his sword.

"This is not working…"

Before the fight against the next CPU, Kenji decided to train by doing quests, but he couldn't feel any real progress. Even if some monsters were strong, the CPUs were on a whole different level. Even if he fought a hundred of these wolves, he wouldn't be truly ready for the following fight in time.

Suddenly, a sharp sensation coursing through his body snapped him out of his thoughts. It was almost as if he heard a loud alarm or an explosion all of a sudden. He quickly turned around and saw another demonic Fenrir leaping right towards him. It was too late to jump away or attack, so Kenji used his sword to block the Fenrir's attack. He then fell to the floor with the beast lying over him, with the only thing between his neck and the fangs being his sword.

"(Where did this one even come from!?)"

The Fenrir bit down on the blade and attempted to get his jaws closer to Kenji's neck, which was slowly working. As the large fangs got closer and closer, he could feel that he was in quite a desperate situation, until another voice suddenly echoed into his ears.

"Take this!"

A figure jumped into the fray and attacked the Fenrir on the side, causing him to loose strength in his jaws and let go of Kenji's sword while falling sideways. The beast quickly got up and faced its new adversary with a fierce roar before leaping towards her and trying to attack her, but the mysterious fighter dashed forward and slashed with great strength and speed, slaying the beast in one hit. After the dead body dissipated, the unknown person turned around and walked towards Kenji.

"That was close…Are you okay?"

Once it got closer, Kenji managed to discern the appearance of his savior. It was a woman; she had orange eyes and short boyish cut, rusty brown red hair worn with an armed headband. She was wearing a breastplate under a blue and white Jacket with gold accents and a matching skirt and boots with black stockings and fingerless gloves. She was also carrying around a violin case on her back and a large two handed sword.

"You shouldn't get distracted like that in a dungeon; monsters can spawn out of nowhere when you less expect it" She said while extending her hand towards Kenji to help him get up. "Can you het up?"

Kenji looked at her hand, but didn't take it and got up by himself

"I could've handled it…"

"Come on, no need to get touchy. That can happen to anyone, even to me" She said with a smile whie placing the sword on her shoulder

The unknown woman looked at the young man for a moment before suddenly noticing something about him.

"Hey...Didn't I see you somewhere before?" She said while taking a closer look at him

"Hm?"

Kenji then turned his head and looked at her. Both of them stared at each other for a moment or so before her eyes widened.

"Now I remember! You're that guy that fought Lady White Heart yesterday!"

"Yeah...That was me…"

"Dude, that fight was amazing!" She said while giving him a tap on the back "Your technique was kind of sloppy, but taking on a goddess, especially a powerhouse fighter like Lady White Heart requires guts!"

"Sloppy?"

"Yeah, you didn't really use any sword techniques...You just waved your sword around and attacked as much as you could"

Kenji lowered his head and looked at his sword again.

"(Techniques…)"

"Oops, manners...I'm Falcom. As you can tell from my garb, I'm just a stock adventuress"

He then raised his head and looked at Falcom again.

"I'm Kenji…just a swordsman, I guess..."

"Ah, so you're a fellow adventurer!"

"Kenny found!"

Both Falcom and Kenji turned their heads towards the source of the sudden yell and saw Neptune running towards them.

"Hey, Isn't that Lady Neptune?"

Neptune stopped in front of Kenji and then pointed at him with an annoyed expression.

"Hey! don't just go running off like that! I got yelled at by Histy and Iffy because of you!"

"You're always getting yelled at by them…"

"Yeah, but this time it was your fault!"

"Big Sister!"

Neptune turned around and saw Nepgear running towards them, along with IF and Compa following behind.

"Nepgear, Compa, Iffy! Look, I found him!" She said happily while waving at them

When they arrived, Nepgear turned her head and looked at Falcom with a smile

"Ah, it's Falcom!"

"Hey Nepgear, what are you girls doing here?"

"We were looking for him..." Replied the CPU candidate while pointing at the young man

While Nepgear spoke with Falcom, IF began scolding Kenji.

"You! What the hell were you thinking going around with broken bones!?"

"Broken bones!?" Said Falcom with widened eyes.

"Yes...Kenji-san broke three ribs during his fight yesterday" Explained Compa while looking at her

"No wonder the other two fights got postponed until further notice…" Said the adventuress while sweat dropping

"Come on, we need to take you back home and make sure you didn't break anything else!" Said IF while grabbing him by the wrist

"But it doesn't hurt anymore"

"What?"

Kenji placed his free hand hand over the ribs that were supposedly broken as he looked at it.

"Don't know how to explain it...Yesterday just breathing was painful, but right now I can even touch them and it doesn't hurt at all"

"That's probably your sense of pain just going numb from a tranquilizer or something"

"Iffy, wait a moment..."

IF turned to Compa, who approached Kenji and began touching the area over his ribs more carefully. She kept running her fingers over the same area over and over again as if she was searching for something before noticing something odd.

"Eh? There's no fractures anymore..."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Asked IF to the nurse

"When I checked yesterday, there were fractures on these ribs. But now I can't feel them anymore...It's as if he never broke them in the first place..."

"What!?"

"See? Told you I was feeling better…"

"How is that even possible!?"

Compa turned her head and looked at IF

"I don't know...Besides from Nep Nep and Nepgear, I've never heard about someone healing a this fast"

"This guy definitely isn't normal…" Said IF while sweat dropping

"Well, he did go face to face against a goddess and put his shoulder back in place in the middle of a fight without passing out…" Added Nepgear while sweat dropping as well with a weak smile

"And he even won in the end" Added Falcom

"Anyway, what were you doing here?" Asked Neptune while turning her head to look at Kenji

"I was training"

Kenji didn't want to admit it, but the only reason he won against White Heart was a combination of luck, the element of surprise and that she completely underestimated him. The next CPU he'll fight against won't do the same mistakes, and he knew it.

"Constantly beating up monsters won't get you too far, you know?" Said IF, still slightly annoyed at him

Kenji looked down. He knew it, but he needed to get stronger. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to win against the next CPU. There was no other choice but to train.

Seeing the mixture of determination and worry in his eyes, Neptune smiled and gave a proposition.

"I know! If you really want to get stronger, how about you let Falcom train you!?"

"Eh?" Said Falcom while looking at Neptune

"You wouldn't mind, would you?" Asked Neptune while beaming at Falcom

"Well, I wouldn't mind teaching him what I know... But is it really ok for me to do it?" She answered while scratching her cheek "I mean, I'm just your everyday adventuress"

"Of course you're ok! You're super strong with a sword! You could even teach Noire a thing or two!"

"She's right! you're very strong, Falcom!" Added Nepgear with a smile

To all this praise, Falcom closed her eyes and smiled while blushing slightly

"Really now...You're praising me too much" She said before opening her eyes again and looking at both sisters "Well, if it's a request from Lady Neptune and Nepgear, there's no way I could say no"

Neptune then turned her head and looked at Kenji.

"So what do you say, Kenny? Wanna go for a trainning montage with her?"

At first Kenji was doubtful about it. But he had to admit Falcom was a good with a sword after seeing how she took down a Demonic Fenrir with only one attack. Also, the way she talked about his sword technique during his fight against White Heart proved she knew quite a bit about the subject.

"Okay...I'll train with her"

"Sweet! Then we'll leave him in your care!" Said Neptune while turning around to leave "Let's go back home, Nepgear!"

"Ah, Big sister! wait for me!" Said Nepgear while running after Neptune, who was already leaving

"Hey, wait a minute you two!"

IF chased after the two sisters and Compa followed behind her.

"Iffy! wait for me!"

Afterwards, both Kenji and Falcom were left alone in the dungeon. And the two of them stood there in silence for a moment before the adventuress spoke.

"Hey…did they just-?"

"Leave me behind and turn me into your problem?" Asked the young man with a raised eyebrow "Yeah, pretty much…"

"Actually, I was gonna say "Leave without saying a thing to Histoire first" but I guess that sums it up too" She replied while sweat dropping with a weak smile before turning her head to look at him with a confident smile "Well, either way...We should start your training right away!"

Kenji turned his head to look at her and nodded in agreement. Falcom then placed her hand on her chin and thought about a proper training regime.

"Hm...Since I watched the fight yesterday, I got a general grasp of your current ability. But just to be certain, let's try sparring a few times after we leave the dungeon, okay?"

Kenji nodded again, and the two of them left the dungeon, headed to the island's village and began their training. As the adventuress said before, the two started by doing a friendly sparring. And after a few hours of constantly clashing, Kenji sat on the floor covered in sweat and breathing heavily. Falcom wasn't as exhausted, but she was quite tired too and also needed to catch her breath, so she sat down as well.

"Not bad…not bad at all…you've got a good grip of this" Said the adventuress while taking deep breaths

"(Damn…I could barely keep up with her!)"

Despite her humble attitude, Falcom was incredibly skilled. She didn't underestimate Kenji in the least and went all out on him, and the young man barely even managed to keep up with her, but now he was certain that learning from Falcom would certainly make him stronger.

After the two took a short rest they headed to a nearby village located to the nort of the island, where Kenji sat down on a bench while Falcom headed off somewhere before shortly returning with two bottles of water.

"Here ya go" Said the adventuress while handing one bottle to Kenji.

"…I don't have any credits on me right now"

"Don't' sweat it, it's on the house!" She replied with a smile

He looked at her for a few seconds before grabbing the bottle and opening it.

"Thanks…"

Falcom simply beamed at Kenji and sat down next to him before both of them took a few sips from their bottles.

"Ahhh...Nothing like a good bottle of fresh water to bring the life back to you!"

The young had to admit Falcom was right. He never really saw anything special about drinking water, but now that he was exhausted and dehydrated from sweating so much, a simple sip of water felt like a blessing for his worn out body and mind.

"Okay... I think now I have a more solid idea about your level of skill"

Kenji turned his head and looked at her.

"Your strength and speed are quite decent, but you lack experience in sword techniques. Also, your attacks are too wide and easy to read, and you waste too much energy doing unnecessary movements" She explained while facing forward and resing her arm on the back of the bench "For now, we'll focus on teaching you a few basic attacks, and then we'll work on improving your speed and strength"

"Hey…Falcom..."

"Hm? Ah, sorry... I've never had someone learning from me, so I kind of got absorbed into it"

"Why are you teaching me? It's not like you're gaining anything from it"

"Oh, that…" She said with a more relieved tone "You see. It's not like I expect to gain anything from helping you, I'm just doing it because I want to, and because Lady Neptune and Nepgear asked me to do it... Also, it's nice to have a sparring partner from time to time"

Kenji looked at Falcom for a moment before lowering his head.

"I see…"

"Alright then, let's get training!" She said with strong motivation while getting up

Kenji raised his head, looked at Falcom, and then got up from the bench to follow her back to where they would keep training. The two of them spent all day sparring with everything they had before finally stopping around the afternoon. And instead of doing the trip back to Planeptune, Kenji decided to stay in the village with Falcom and rented a room at the inn.

*Scene*

"Take this!" Yelled Kenji as he dashed towards Falcom and slashed at her

"Too slow!"

The adventuress quickly parried the slash and hit him on the back with the hilt. The young man then fell to the floor and turned around before trting to get up until seeing the tip of her sword aimed at his neck .

"Damn it...I lost again" He said while falling down on his back

The following days were filled with harsh training. At first it was hellish and exhausting, but Kenji began learning more about how to handle a sword properly. From using proper movements and techniques to even doing maintenance on his sword after every few fights to keep it clean and sharp. Kenji was steadily becoming a more experienced swordsman. After a week and half, he was already handling the training quite well but he had yet to defeat Falcom in a duel.

"Don't let it get to you. You just need to keep practicing" She said while moving the sword away and extending her hand towards him

Kenji looked at Falcom's hand for a moment before extending his own hand and grabbing it. The adventuress then helped him get back up on his feet before he brushed all the grass off of his clothes.

"Ah. He did take her hand this time"

"Does that mean they're becoming friends now?"

"Probably...maybe Kenny's actually a lonely heart like Noire and not the classic edgy guy"

The two sword users turned their heads and looked at Nepgear, Neptune, IF and Compa sitting together over a large cloth a few meters away while talking about them as if they weren't even there. It was almost as if they were having a picnic

"So…why are you girls here again?" Asked Kenji while sweat dropping

"You see...When we returned to Planeptune's tower, Big sister told Histoire that you were all healed up already and about leaving you to train with Falcom" Explained Nepgear

"And what did she say?"

The CPU candidate then looked at the side and sweat dropped with a weak smile.

"Well…About that…"

"Histoire got incredibly angry with Nepko and lectured her for almost three hours, talking about how irresponsible it was of her to just leave you with someone else instead of watching over you herself"

"She told her to watch over your training so she could learn how to develop some diligence..."

Kenji turned his head and looked at Neptune, who was eating pudding alongside Compa without even pretending to look at him.

"It's not like she'll try very hard though…" Said IF with her eyes closed

Nepgear simply gave a little awkward laugh while sweat dropping.

The young man looked at them for a moment or two before closing his eyes and sweat dropping. They were loud and her comments didn't really help with motivation, but there shouldn't be a problem as long as they didn't get in the way of their training. Or at least that was what Kenji thought.

"Well...I guess we can call it a day"

"I can keep going..."

"It's better if we don't. Overworking the body can have bad effects"

Kenji didn't want to stop, but he decided to agree. After all, Falcom was the one in charge of the training.

"Falcom! Kenji! Come over here and eat with us!"

After hearing Compa calling out to them, the adventuress turned around to look at the girls with a smile.

"Oh! Sure thing!" She said while waving at the nurse, then turned around to look at Kenji "Come on. Let's enjoy a meal with everyone!"

The young man wasn't a fan of the usually rowdy gang that forms when eating, but the sweet smell of food and the constant rumbling of his stomach wouldn't allow him to deny he was feeling hungry. And Compa had quite a hand for cooking too, so much that he followed after the adventuress without realizing it and sat down between her and Nepgear.

"Here you go, Kenji!" Said the nurse as she took a sandwich from the basket and gave it to Kenji with a smile

He leaned forward and grabbed it, then looked at it.

Over the last two weeks, Compa had been feeding him sandwiches every day, and each one was different. The bread or the ingredients would be different each day, and someday it would even be combination of already used ingredients. This time, it was white bread with Chicken, mustard and lettuce; His favorite combination so far.

Kenji's expression or way of eating it must have shown he was at least slightly pleased with it, because when he finished chomping it all down, Compa looked at him and smiled.

"Kenji...Did you like today's sandwich?"

"Yeah, it was good"

"Thank goodness! You never really showed any expression when eating, so I thought you didn't like my food"

At that moment, Kenji wondered if the reason the sandwiches she would give him were so different every day was because she was trying to figure out his favorite food.

"Do you want another one?"

"Sure..."

"Okay" Replied the nurse before reaching into the basket for another sandwich and giving it to him "Here you go"

"By the way, Kenji..." Interrupted IF while turning her head to look at him "the day of your match against the next CPU has been decided"

"When will it be?"

"In four days"

"(Four days…)" He thought while lowering his head and looking at the light meal in his bruised and scratched hands

"Your opponent will be Lady Vert, but I think you know her better as Green Heart"

"Green Heart…The one with the big boo-" He said before noticing the look on the guild member's face "I mean...the one with the green hair, right?"

"Yeah...that's right" she replied while sweat dropping

Falcom turned her head and looked at Kenji

"Don't let her appearance fool you...Lady Green Heart is incredibly skilled at using spears, and the longer range will be playing against you on this fight"

"It'll be okay" Replied the young man calmly

"Eh?"

Kenji then turned his head and looked at Falcom.

"I'll win, I'm sure of it...Isn't that what I trained for?"

The adventuress looked at Kenji's eyes and saw a man with his sights focused on victory. There wasn't even a single shred of doubt in them.

"Well...If you're that confident, then I'm sure it'll be ok" She said before getting up and looking at Kenj "Make sure you rest well today. Tomorrow, I'll teach you something very special!"

"Special? What do you mean by that?"

"Just wait until tomorrow...I'm sure it's gonna blow your mind when you see it"

After giving that declaration, Falcom calmly walked away and went back to the village. This indirect explanation of hers did little more than leave the young man curious about it, so much that he even kept wondering what she meant by special while laying down on his bed and trying to catch some sleep.


	3. HDD time!

"(I'm here again…)" Thought Kenji while he sat down on a bench on the dressing rooms while waiting for the announcement to begin.

While waiting, his mind remembered the first fight against White Heart. How she played around with him at first, how she underestimated him, and how Kenji won because of it. Green Heart wouldn't commit that same mistake, and that only meant this fight would be far more difficult than the last.

He turned around and reached for his sword, then noticed the black fingerless gloves he was wearing along with the bandages under them covering his hands and forearms. Kenji kept looking at them for a bit before reaching into his pant's right pocket and taking out a black headband. Looking at that piece of cloth made his mind wander into the events that took place a few days earlier.

"Alright! Are you ready!?" Said Flacom while raising her clenched fist up to face level with a big smile

Just like she promised yesterday, the adventuress took Kenji back to the forest. Judging by the unusually early hour she decided to start today's training and her mood being even perkier than usual, it was easy to tell this special training really had to be something else, But the back of his mind felt certain concern, as they didn't go to their casual spot, but instead went much deeper and further away from the village. This probably meant she felt something bad could happen and wished to avoid getting the villagers caught up in it, or that she simply didn't want a random passerby to bother them.

"Today I'll teach you how to infuse your sword with elemental magic!"

"Elemental magic?" Asked the young man with a raised eyebrow

Seeing Kenji's confusion, the adventuress unsheathed her sword, turned sideways to face a hastily made practice dummy and closed her eyes. She then prepared for a slice attack. But unlike her casual or basic attacks, the young man noticed she was focusing more than usual for this one.

In a split second, Falcom suddenly opened her eyes and dashed forward. Her sword's blade suddenly burst into fiery flames all before it went right through the dummy, which not only got sliced in half, but also burned to ashes and crumbled within seconds.

"What the...!?"

This amazing act of controlled yet powerful destruction through the mixture of refined sword skill and arcane arts caused the young man's eyes to widen as he made a shocked expression.

"Cool, isn't it?" Said Falcom while turning her head to look at him as the flames coating her blade scattered "That's what happens when you infuse your sword with elemental magic"

"Ho-how am I supposed to do that!?"

"Well...Normally you need some magical aptitude, a magical item or a weapon that was already infused with an element to do an attack like that" She explained while sheating her weapon and walking closer to him "...But somehow I get the feeling you can pull it off"

"How do you know?"

"Just call it a gut feeling" She said while placing her hand on his shoulder and using the other one to give him a thumbs up

Kenji couldn't help but sweat drop when faced with that answer.

"(Just where does this woman's optimism come from?)" He thought while looking at her quietly before finally speaking "Ooookay….Let's get on with the training then"

"That's the spirit!"

Falcom gave him a strong pat on the back that left a stinging feeling for a few seconds before she began to teach him how the basics of elemental infusion worked.

Time went by without either of them realizing how fast it flowed during their constant training. And it was after the four remaining days were over that the time of match against Green Heart finally arrived.

"Alright, I taught you everything I know... Now the rest is up to you" Said Falcom while placing her hands on her hips.

"Hey...About that attack…"

The adventuress looked at Kenji and saw him looking down before she took a glance at the bandaged covering his hands. She had a pretty clear idea of what was running through his mind at that moment.

"Hey, now. Don't let it get to you..." She said with a more comforting tone "Honestly, I wish we could have a bit more time to polish it, but that's not gonna be possible"

Falcom then walked closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Just try to be careful with it, okay?"

"Alright…" Replied the young man without his eyes focused on the floor

Kenji didn't seem too motivated, and Falcom could tell the mood was only getting gloomier. But it was then that she remembered something that almost slipped past her mind.

"Oh! Now that I think about it, I have something for you"

The young man suddenly raised his eyes to look forward at Falcom, who had already turned around and was searching for something inside her rucksack.

"Ah, here it is!" She said with an excited tone before turning around again to beam at Kenji as she held out something to him "Here you go!"

Kenji looked at what Falcom was holding with both hands. It was a black hooded vest with white accents and a black large bandage looking piece of cloth along with two black fingerless gloves on top of it, each one with a piece of silver metal attached to the back of the hand.

"This is…"

"After all that training, specially today's, your clothes got all ripped up...So I thought you could use some new garbs"

The young man looked at Falcom, then at the set of clothes and blinked twice before grabbing them slowly. As he held the new set of clothes on his hands, Kenji felt the urge to wear them.

"I asked a friend of mine from the village to make the vest. The gloves and headband are an old set I used to wear..." She exlained while the young man took off his worn and torn hoodie before putting on his new "They saw some action already, but they're still as durable as when I bought them"

"(Ho-How do I use this)" Thought the young man while holding the headband with both hands

"Here, let me help you with the headband"

Falcom walked closer to the young man before standing stood in front of him and taking the headband to wrap it around his forehead, then fastened it while explaining him how to do it by himself for later.

"Then you just make a knot like this….and done! There we go..." Said the adventuress before taking a step back and taking a good look at Kenji's new look "Nice, now you look like a real adventurer!"

She then turned him around and took him to the edge of the lake nearby.

"Take a look"

Kenji kneeled down on the edge of the lake and looked at his own reflection. Even if it wasn't the best angle, he could tell the vest looked really good, and the headband not only looked good too, but it also raised the few bangs covering his eyes slightly, making it easier to see.

"Isn't it easier to see without your hair getting in the way?"

"Yeah…You're right..." He said while running his fingers through the bangs covering the black cloth

Falcom then turned around to look around her.

"Hm...Lady Neptune and the others should be here to pick you up shortly"

"Falcom…"

"What is it?" She asked while turning around to look at him as while he was still crouched in the edge of the lake

"Well…you know…" Said Kenji in a slightly lower tone than usual with his head lowered while scratching his right cheek with his right index finger "I just wanted to say…Thank you…for everything"

Falcom's eyes widened after hearing that. It wasn't the first time she heard Kenji thanking her, but this time it sounded far more honest than before. And judging by his slightly embarrassed expression reflected in the water, he probably had to muster up some courage to say it out loud. She quickly understood that the young man wasn't only thanking her for the new set of clothes, but also for the training, and probably even for what happened in that dungeon the other day.

"Don't sweat it, just give it your all in today's fight and show everyone how strong you got" Replied the adventuress with a wide smile

Shortly after that little chat between fellow adventurers, the Planeptune sisters arrived to escort Kenji to the arena for him to get ready. With those words in mind, he kept looking at the piece of cloth for a moment or two before wrapping it around his head and fastening it with a knot just like he was thaught.

From outside the dressing rooms, he could already hear IF's voice introducing the match. This was his signal to get going. He then reached out for his sword again and grabbing it before getting up and heading towards the arena where Green Heart and IF were both already waiting on the center.

As he entered into everyone's line of sight, the people among the crowd began noticing him and talking about him.

"There he is"

"He's kind of dressed differently from last time..."

"You gotta admit it though; it looks better than his last getup"

"Can't really compare it to lady Green Heart"

"Dude...We're talking about the clothes here, you know?" Said the expectator while sweatdropping and looking at his friend, who was making a rather perverted expression

While Kenji approached Green Heart and stood in front of her, the CPU took a minute to analyze him.

"(Hm…His muscles look slightly thicker than before...It seems that report about him training with Falcom was true after all…)" She thought with a stern expression before making a smirk and holding her spear slightly tighter "(…But I didn't fool around this last few weeks either!)"

With the two sides already on the arena and ready to go, IF got between them and began to announce the battle.

"Ladies and gentlement! Today, the match between the swordsman Kenji and the Goddess of Leanbox, Lady Green Heart, will begin!"

"Ohhhh man! I've waited weeks for this!" Said an espectator with excitement

"Finally...Finally, I get to see Lady Green Heart fight!"

"Just so you know, I won't be holding back..." Said Leanbox's CPU with a condescending tone "You better prepare yourself"

"Fighters, go take your places!"

Both Kenji and Green Heart complied before turned around to take some distance from each other. Once far enough, they stopped and turned around to face each other. The count began to go down from ten as before, and the moment it reached zero, the match began.

Both fighters dashed forward, letting sword clash against spear multiple times as the two went all out from the get go. Green Heart's speed and precision was amazing, far beyond White Heart's, but Kenji didn't lag behind either. His training with Falcom not only made him stronger and faster, but also gave him proper combat experience and knowledge against human opponents. He knew that if he held out and kept the pace going, he would eventually see that which would help him win the fight.

"(Wait for it…wait for it…)"

As the constant clash of attacks kept going. He knew there would be a moment when the CPU's defenses would go down. This was known as the moment when one attack or combo ended and the enemy was preparing for the next one. This was commonly known as the cool down period. Being able to discern when this would happen and be able to take advantage of it was the difference between victory and defeat in every battle. And just as he expected, the moment had suddenly arrived.

"(There!)"

After repelling the last attack, he took a step forward, grabbed the sword with both hands and used a strong vertical slice attack. But Green Heart's reflexes came into play as well and she managed to dodge the attack and fly to a safer distance in the last second, barely dodging the blade by inches.

"(Damn it!)"

"Nepu! That almost got her!"

"Amaing...Kenji is as fast as Vert!" said Nepgear with widened eyes

"I expected nothing less from him"

Nepgear and Neptune blinked twice in confusion before turning their heads to see that Falcom was now sitting next to them, looking at Kenji with a sense of pride in her eyes.

"Ah, Falcom! You came to watch the fight too?"

"Of course! I helped him train after all. There's no way I would miss it!" She said with a proud tone while placing both hands on her waist before returning to a more relaxed sitting pose and turning her head to look at Kenji "In the three weeks that we spent training, he managed to increase his level of skill at an astounding rate...I'm not sure if it's natural talent or just a strong will, but he became a lot stronger than before"

While Falcom spoke with the Planeptune sisters about the results of her training with the young man, Green Heart hovered at a safe distance from Kenji while analyzing the situation.

"(This man…he's nothing like before)" She thought calmly "(Even though I'm going at him seriously in my goddess form, he can hold his ground without much problem and even counter attack...)"

Leanbox's CPU looked down at Kenji and realized the only way to make this a sure victory was to go further than mere physical attacks and spear skills.

"I guess I have no other choice…" She muttered to herself before raising raising her free hand and creataing a small green whirlwind on her palm "Try taking on this! Sylhet spear!"

Green Heart then released the power held within her palm and created three sigils behind her, from which three massive spears emerged and shot out towards Kenji. The young man jumped backwards and managed to dodge all three of them. But once he touched solid ground again, another spear flew towards him, forcing him to jump away again. He had to dodge a few more spears before she finally stopped.

When he raised his head, the young man saw the smirk on the CPU's face. At first he didn't get it, but then he noticed the glow coming from the spears that were left stuck on the ground before violently exploding around him. And although they took him by surprise, the explosions didn't really bring him any harm. But they raised a large dust cloud, making it nearly impossible for him to see his surroundings.

"(Now then, let's see how you counter this!)"

With everything set up, Green Heart dashed into the cloud and attacked him straight from the front. He managed to block it, but only barely. When and when the young man tried to retaliate, Leanbox's CPU had already dashed out of his sight and possibly out of the dust cloud as well. But it didn't take long before she dashed in towards him again, but this time from a completely different angle and attacked with a piercing strike, which Kenji didn't manage to block completely. This time the spear managed to graze him on the arm and caused him to sustain some damage along with a large cut on it.

"Argh!"

The sudden feeling of his skin being cut open was a rather unpleasant one, but Kenji didn't even have enough time to think about his wound.

Without warning, Leanbox's CPU repeated the same process from early, and then did it again multiple times, always attacking from a different angle. From the sidelines, the crowd could only see her popping out of the cloud, fly around it, and then enter from a completely different position.

"Wait, wait, wait! I can't see a thing!"

"What's going on!?"

"Lady Green Heart is using tactics"

Neptune and Nepgear turned their heads to look again at Falcom, who didn't avert her gaze from the cloud.

"Besides from having increased his strength and speed, Kenji is now adept with sword techniques... A direct confrontation like with Lady White Heart would only play to his advantage. Lady Green Heart knows this and decided to use a different approach..." Explained the adventuress with a stern tome "With the cloud of dust all around him, Kenji can't see his surroundings clearly, so he can't move carelessly. And since Lady Green Heart can fly, she can easily move quickly from one side of the cloud to the other and attack him from any angle she wants"

"No way...Then it's like if Kenji was blind and chained down to the ground!" Said Nepgear while she made a worried expression and looked at the cloud.

"That's no fair!" Complained Neptune as she got up and yelled at Green Heart "Hey Vert! That's playing dirty! I call cheat here!"

"Wa-Wait, Neptune!" Quickly said Planeptune's CPU candidate while holding her elder sister by the waist to keep her from falling over the edge

Leanbox's CPU simply looked down at Neptune and scoffed at her.

"Say what you will...Each one has their own way of fighting" She replied before turning her head and looking at the cloud again "(Although I must admit...Winning like this will probably leave a bad taste in my mouth…But defeat isn't an option!)"

Green Heart then dashed towards the cloud once again while on Kenji kept trying his best to dodge the barrage of attacks coming from all sides.

Meanwhile, away from the eyes of the crowd and around the last row of seats, Noire watched with her arms crossed at the fight with a stern expression.

"(Looks like Vert already has him on the ropes..." Thought Lastation's CPU before her focus went towards the cloud "(So, what will you do now?)"

Meanwhile, for the young man, this was turning into a rather desperate situation. He knew that blocking wouldn't work for much longer and despite being able to dodge them mostly, his stamina was already reaching the limits and some attacks managed to land on him. After a few minutes, Kenji was already covered in cuts and bleeding wounds, some of them being notably deep.

"(Damn it! If this keeps up, I'm going to lose…!)" Thought the young man while constantly dodging the attacks "(what do I do now!?)"

With his body already starting to feel numb from the bleeding, Kenji closed his eyes and tried his best to focus on finding a solution. And Green Heart didn't fail to notice his focus wasn't placed on finding her anymore.

"(It seems he's distracted…This is my chance!)"

Seeing as the cloud wouldn't last much longer, Leanbox's CPU dashed towards Kenji at full speed and without hesitation. She headed towards his right side, ready to impale him right in the temple.

"(This will finish it!)"

For a moment it seemed as though everything would be over. Until Kenji suddenly felt a sharp sensation while focusing and instinctively took a step back, dodging the spear by inches.

"Eh?"

"(What!?)"

Surprised by his sudden reaction, the young man opened his eyes and saw Green Heart's spear flying in front of him.

For a second, the world seemed to slow down as the CPU looked at Kenji, and he did the same. Both of them looked at each other for a moment or two, both confused and slightly shocked about what just happened, while thinking the same thing before the flow of time returned to normal and she flew out of view once again.

"(I dodged her attack…)"

"(...With his eyes closed!?)" Thought Leanbox's CPU with a shocked expression after she flew out of the cloud and turned around

Shortly after that failed attempt, the cloud of dust covering the arena to dissipate enough for the crowd to see Kenji.

"Ah! There he is!" Said Nepgear while pointing at him

"Nepu! He's all cut up like a pizza!"

"But at least he can see now, right?"

"Not quite..." Said Falcom with her arms crossed "From up here, it might look like the cloud is dissipating, but most of Kenji's field of view is still blocked by the dust"

While the crowd was finally getting a clearer view of the battle, the young man kept looking at the direction through which Green Heart left and tried to figure out what on earth just happened.

"(That sensation just now…It was like that other time...)"

He recalled feeling a similar sensation during his trip to the dungeon where he met Falcom. The moment he got that sensation, he knew there was something behind him without even turning around to see. Almost as if he could sense the presence of his enemy.

At that moment, Kenji had an idea of how to turn things around. It was more of a bet than a plan, but he didn't exactly have the luxury of choice.

"(How did he dodge just now!? His eyes were closed until the last second! I'm certain they were!)"

Her mind was still trying to understand how that happened, but she tried to put that thought away and focused on searching for Kenji until she finally found him. He still had his eye closed and seemed to be completely unaware of her prescence, but something felt different about him.

"(...Why does he look so calm all of a sudden?)"

Unlike before, when he was desperately trying to find a way to turn things around, now the young man seemed completely calm. It was as if he were a monk in the middle of meditating rather than a man on the edge of defeat.

"Hey, Kenny! What are you doing!? Did you fall asleep or something!?" Yelled the perky CPU while leaning forward and raising one fist in protests

"Bi-Big sister! I'm telling you you're going to fall if you're not careful!"

While Nepgear tried to calm Neptune down and keep her from falling off of the edge of the arena, Falcom looked at him and focused on what was about to happen.

"(So he's going to use "That"…)"

The adventuress then began recalling it. The explosion of pure power, raging as loudly as an ancient dragon's roar, and the blinding blue light that flashed as a nothing more than a scene of utter destruction was left afterwards.

"He-Hey, Kenji! Are you okay!?" Asked Falcom as she approached the young man, who fell down on his knees while breathing heavily with his hands twitching "Let me see!"

Kenji's hands were unable to withstand the pressure of the attack, they ended up heavily wounded and bleeding. He had finally managed to use an elemental attack, but the result was far from a good one. Falcom figured it would be a bit uncontrolled or destructive since it was the first time, but calling the power she witnessed just now "destructive" would be quite an understatement.

"(No way...I knew it would be powerful, but this is a whole different level…)" Thought the adventuress while turning her head to look at the scene left behind and broke a cold sweat

Not only the training dummy, but everything that was in the way of the attack got destroyed. The ground got cracked and torn open like if an earthquake had hit the island, the massive tree that looked like it could withstand hurricane got cut, or rather torn in half like if it was made out of paper. Rather than a human's power, it felt like a catastrophe just hit the area.

"(If it's that attack, then not even Lady Green Heart will walk out of it unscratched…)"

Not having many other options left, Green Heart dashed towards Kenji. But instead of going straight like before, she entered the cloud and began spinning around him while hiding inside it, also making the dust rise higher and higher to cover a higher and higher area.

"(I won't let you escape this time!)"

"(Focus, focus...Try to focus on that sensation…)"

After a moment, the young man began to feel the sensation again. This time it wasn't approaching him, it was spinning in circles around him. It was a flickering green light going round and round around him.

"(I can feel it…But where is it coming from?)"

The CPU, completely unaware of his true intentions, kept cirlcing around him until she felt fully confident about having confused him. She then placed herself on his blind spot and dashed forward with the intent to make this the last attack.

"(From behind!)"

"Take this! Purpurascens Burst!"

She thrust her spear forward with all of her might, but things changed in a split second when Kenji quickly turned around and deflected the attack with his sword. This caused the spear to fly off of her hands and into the air, leaving Green Heart wide open.

He then opened his eyes and saw At that moment, time slowed down again as Kenji opened his eyes and saw her in front of him. She was looking at him with her eyes as wide as plates. Green Heart saw as Kenji grabbed his sword with both hands as he looked at her straight in the eye before finally speaking.

"Special attack…"

Suddenly, a powerful sapphire flame burst out of the blade, making time speed back up to normal before he lowered the fire infused weapon to attack Green Heart with all his might while yelling the name of his new power.

"Coldfire edge!" He yelled out before the sword hit her directly, Inflicting great damage

"ARGHHHH!"

The powerful skill sent Leanbox's CPU flying away like a rocket towards the wall of the arena and crashing against it with brutal strength, both destroying it and making the crowd above it take quite a scare as the cloud of dust popped in front of them.

"Whoa! What the hell was that!?" Asked one of the people on the row right above the wall where Green Heart crashed

"How am I gonna know!" Answered the man sitting next to him while holding onto his seat

Due to the blast of the attack, the dust cloud on the center finally fully dissipated, showing Kenji standing in the center of the arena with his sword still coated in flames. His hand's bandages were stained in blood as some of it dripped off of his fingers along with most of the wounds on him that bleed. His body felt numb and his breathing was heavy, but nonetheless, he was still standing.

"It's Kenji! He's okay!" Said Nepgear with relief

"Then that means one thing!" Said Neptune with a smile while looking at the crater in the wall of the arena

Once the dust around that area dissipated as well, everyone saw Leanbox's CPU, now reverted back to her human form, lying unconscious over a bed of rubble inside the hole formed by her impact against the wall with some rocks and dust laying over her.

"La-Lady Vert!" Yelled IF as ran to check on Vert in a panic

"First Lady White Heart and now Lady Green Heart too?"

"This guy can't be human…can he?" said a random espectator while sweat dropping

Once again, the crowd was left astonished by this unexpected outcome, And they weren't the only ones shocked by this. On the last row, Noire looked at Kenji and his flaming weapon with an expression that was no different from that worn by everyone ele.

"(What was that attack!? It took Vert out in one hit!)"

As an adept fire user herself, Noire knew quite a bit about fire infused skills. But never in all her life she had seen someone using blue flames.

After confirming Vert's state, IF walked back towards the center of the arena and announced the result of the match.

"Lady Vert-I mean- The contender Lady Green Heart is no longer able to fight! This match's winner is Kenji!"

The guild memeber raised Kenji's fist up into the air, which wasn't easy since he was notably taller than her, while the flames on his weapon scattered and faded away.

*Scene*

While Kenji sat down on the side of the bed, Compa bandaged his wounds and checked for any fractures. After a short but extensive search, the nurse took a step back and smiled.

"There, I'm all done!"

After she gave him the okay, he put his t-shirt and vest back on while the nurse then left the room, where IF and Histoire were waiting.

"So, how is he doing?" Asked Histoire

"There's only a few cuts and bruises...Some cuts are big and slightly deep, but there doesn't seem to be any organ or bone damage"

"I see...that's good" Said IF while smiling

It was more than likely that the guild member didn't feel completely happy about the outcome of that battle since Vert was the goddess she followed, but it was a fair fight and holding grudges was not her style.

Once the young man got out of his room, Histoire and IF turned their attention to him

"How are you feeling?" Asked the tome

"I'm okay..."

"That's good to know"

"Alright, give me a moment and I'll get dinner ready!" Said Compa cheerfully

Everyone agreed and waited. It took around an hour and half or so until the Nurse finally served dinner, but it was worth the wait.

"Hmmmm, I never get tired of eating Compa's extra special pudding!" Said Neptune with a pleased expression after taking in a spoonful

"I'm glad you like it, Nep-nep…" Replied the Nurse while beaming at Neptune

She looked around the table at the happy faces of the people eating her food, but she couldn't help but notice something. Kenji seemed pensive about something. In fact, he seemed so focused on this unknown thoughts that he hardly touched his food.

"Kenji...is something wrong?"

When they heard Compa, everyone else turned their heads to look at Kenji and noticed his mind was indeed somewhere else at the moment.

"What?"

"Are you okay? You look worried"

"Nothing much...Just thinking about how to train for the next match" He replied while resting one elbow on the table and his chin on his hand

"Kenny...Methinks you work too much…" Said Neptune before taking a spoonful of pudding again

"I think you just work too little" Said IF while looking at her with an irritated expression

"More like she doesn't work at all" Added Histoire while sweat dropping

"That's rude!" Snarled Planeptune's CPU before turning her head to look at Nepgear for backup "Right, Nepgear!?"

"Well...To be honest, you don't really work too much…" Replied the CPU candidate while looking sideways with a weak smile and pressing the tips of her index fingers against each other while sweat dropping

"Nepu! Even my baby sister is against me!"

"Nepko's laziness aside, she does have a point..." Said IF while turning her head to look at Kenji again "You should try and take it easy for now and rest"

"Right, right! Just because you look like a loser doesn't mean you need to work so hard!"

Kenji closed his eyes and clenched his fist as a vein mark popped on his forehead. Normally he didn't care much about what other people said about him, but there was something about hearing it from her that made it beyond infuriating for some reason.

"Bi-Big sister! Even if you're trying to give him advice, that still sounded very rude!"

Neptune looked at Nepgear with a confused expression, and then at Kenji. And her expression paled after she noticed he was making a very scary expression.

"Eh? Mister...Kenji?" She said while breaking a cold sweat ""Could it be...you're in pisty mode?'"

"Say...How about you help me train?" Said Kenji while turning his upper body to face Neptune and leaning slightly towards her "I really need a new training dummy, after all"

"Nepu!"

Planeptune's CPU quickly panicked after being offered this rather dark request and desperately tried finding a way to avoid getting sliced in half before she looked at the remaining cups of puddings on the table. This gave her an idea she thought of as brilliant.

"I-I know! How about we eat a pudding!? I'll even let you have mine!" Said Neptune while quickly grabbing one of the cups and extending it towards Kenji, nearly shoving it into his face in the process

The young man looked at the cup of chocolate pudding in front of his face, and suddenly stood both still and silent.

"…No thanks..."

"Eh?"

The perky CPU opened her eyes and looked at Kenji getting up. She, along with everyone else, couldn't help but notice his expression had changed completely.

Instead of a scary and angry frown, he now looked completely different. Not angry, nor sad or anything like that. He looked oddly calm, but also despondent. And although his eyes, covered by a dim shadow casted over them by his bangs, were now looking sideways to avoid eye contact with the others, Planeptune's CPU couldn't help but notice something lingering within them. That was the very first time they saw him doing such an expression.

"…I Think I'll go to sleep now..."

And with that said, the young man quietly walked away went back to his room without another word, leaving everybody to look at the doorway he just walked through to leave.

"Kenji…" Said Compa with concern

*Scene*

The following weeks, the young man left Planeptune's tower every day to train both his sword techniques and his Coldfire edge power from dawn to night. Every few days he would also go to do quests and practice on monsters or to spar with Falcom, which helped keep his skills in top shape. After three weeks of this constant process, the day of the final match against Lastation's CPU arrived.

When Kenji and Black Heart met on the arena, she looked at him and smiled with confidence.

"You might have beaten the other two, but it won't be the same with me..." She said with a stern expression

"You know, I think the last one said something similar"

The CPU popped a vein mark as the two of them took their positions and got ready to start the battle.

"Everyone! Today is the final match between the CPUs and the challenger" Announced IF to the crowd "Today's fighters are Lastation's CPU, Lady Black Heart and the swordsman Kenji!"

"Finally, the third and last fight!" Said Neptune with enthusiasm

Not only the perky CPU, but the crowd in general was excited as well. Everyone wished to see if the young man, who went from being the underdog to a fighter acknowledged now by many, could manage to defeat the CPU and get a definitive victory over the Goddesses.

Once the counter reached zero, both of them dashed forward and began clashing swords.

Unlike the other two, Black Heart was a far more skilled and balanced fighter. Her attacks were strong and relentless like White Heart's, but fast and precise like Green Heart's too. Both weapons kept constantly clashing for a good while before both of them jumped backwards after a strong clash.

"Oh, not bad…then again…" Said Black Heart with a smirk before she disappeared from sight and reappeared behind Kenji "I haven't gotten serious yet!"

The young man quickly turned around and managed to block the slash, but Lastation's CPU didn't give him a second to think and began attacking him with a barrage of attacks that were twice as fast as before. Right now, Kenji could only stay on the defensive.

"Hahahahaha! Come on, come on, come on! Is that all you can do!?" She said before using a fencing attack against Kenji as the final hit of her barrage, sending him flying backwards.

"Whoa! Noire is fast!" Said Nepgear with widened eyes

"Nepu! She's faster than that famous blue hedgehog who runs for golden rings!"

Black Heart simply lowered her head and made a confident smirk.

"Well...If you really must know, I guess I'll tell you..." She said in reply to Planeptune's sisters comments with a smirk

"I don't really think anybody asked for an explanation, though..." Muttered Nepgear while sweat dropping with a smile

"Since I knew you'd be a difficult opponent, I dedicated the last three weeks to training myself to the bone and did as many quests as I could to gain back my shares... As a result, now my shares are on their highest among all the four goddesses!" She explained before pointing her sword at Kenji and making a smirk again "Prepare yourself! You're facing the strongest goddess!"

"Do you ever shut up?" He asked while sweat dropping with an exhausted expression

"I'll make YOU shut up for good!" She snarled before dashing towards him and beginning a new barrage of attacks.

"As always, Noire is getting a bit overconfident" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

"More like arrogant" Corrected Blanc

"Such an unladylike way to act... But I guess it is common when coming from her in that form"

After hearing two familiar voices, Neptune and Nepgear turned their heads and saw Vert and Blanc sitting next to them.

"Ah! It's Blanc and Vert"

"Where did you two come from?" Asked the CPU candidate

"We've been sitting here for a while already, you just didn't notice us" Said Lowee's CPU without taking her eyes off the fight

"We didn't really want to miss this, so we decided to attend" answered Vert

"Oh..." Replied Nepgear while sweat dropping

"That bastard better not lose…If he does, everyone will think Noire is stronger than us!"

"Well, she does have the most shares right now...So she kind of is the strongest one" Said Neptune while sweat dropping

Blanc then turned her head and looked at Neptune with an even angrier expression and a popping vein

"What was that!?"

"Nothing!" Answered Neptune with a slight panic

While the CPUs were having their little chat, the fight kept raging on. And after a few moments of constant barrages, Kenji began getting tired and Black Heart managed to land quite a few hits.

"Take this! Fire Fencer!" Yelled Lastation's CPU as she used a fire infused thrust attack

Kenji tried blocking the incoming sword, but he still received damage and was sent flying away before sliding backwards and eventually falling to the floor on his knees while taking deep breaths after stopping.

"What's wrong!? Are you done already!?"

Right now, Black Heart was the one dominating this fight and she knew it. Unfortunately, that only served to fuel her arrogant and attitude.

"Noire is really enjoying this, isn't she?"

"Yeah, but things tend to end up really badly for her whenever she gets like this" Said Neptune while sweat dropping

"So, now do you understand why you shouldn't mess with us goddesses!?" Said Lastation's CPU with a smirk "Since you're already kneeled down, you may as well give up now!"

"Give up?"

"Hm?"

"You really think I'll give up, just cause you banged me up a bit…or because you're a goddess?" Said Kenji while slowly getting back up on his feet by using the sword as a support "It's gonna take a hell of a lot more than this to put me down…"

After fully getting back up, the young man looked at Black Heart in the eye.

At first, Kenji went along with this little duel the CPUs challenged him to because he wouldn't let them have their way with him. But during this fight, he came to realize just how conceited and arrogant Lastation's CPU really was. There was some notable sense of superiority in the attitude of the other two CPUs, but so far, Black Heart was the most arrogant one of the trio. She was fully convinced of her superiority and not only insulted her enemies, but even went as far as laughing of them in their faces. Goddess or not, there was no way Kenji could accept giving up against someone like that.

"Goddesses or whatever, I couldn't give less of a damn about that!" He said with a strong determination "I ain't backing down! Not to a stuck up bitch like you!"

The people viewing the fight were silent for a moment.

"Stuck-up bitch...!?" Muttered Black Heart with a twitching eyebrow and a popped vein "How dare you!? I'll make you pay for that!"

With her blood boiling, Lastation's CPU dashed towards Kenji once again and began a new barrage of attacks. But this time, she wouldn't give him the chance to give up. Instead, she would make sure to beat him up until he was certain to regret insulting her for the rest of his life.

With every passing moment, Black Heart managed to land even more hits on Kenji, but this time the young man was trying to be more on the offensive and was also managing to land hits on her as well. After a few exchanges, the young man was already quite beat up and worn out. The CPU had sustained some damage as well, but she was still raging to go.

"(Damn…I went and said I wouldn't give up. But If this keeps up, I'm really gonna end up in the gutter!)"

"(Hello? Helloooo!?)"

As the young man tried to keep up the pace against his opponent, he suddenly heard a voice in his head.

"(What the-!?)"

"(Oh! I made it through!)"

"(That voice…I think I heard it somewhere before…)"

"(Of course you did! don't you remember me!?)"

Kenji thought about the voice for a short moment, but he couldn't recall hearing it before.

"(Beats me...no one really comes to mind right now...)"

"(Seriously!? Just how thick headed are you!?)" Said the voice inside his head with an exaspterated tone "(It's me, Croire! The one that gave you the CPU memory!)"

His mind was a bit all over the place due to the current situation, but nonetheless, Kenji managed to remember that moment.

"(Oh, right...The floating girl that gave me the weird stone thing)"

"(It's a CPU memory, not a stone!)"

"(Whatever, looked like a stone to me)" Thought the young man while rolling his eyes before Black Heart's sword Clashed against his and forcend him into a struggle "(That aside, I'm little busy right now!)"

"(I know, but I called you because of that...) Said Croire with an impatient tone (The way things are right now, that broad's gonna kick your ass)"

"(I think I noticed that already!)"

"(That's why, I've got a little something that can help you win...)"

"(…I'm not going to eat another stone if that's what you mean…)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping

"(Just shut up and listen!)" Snarled Croire once again "(Deep within you, there's a power capable of making you much stronger...Strong enough to kick that cheeky girl''s ass!)"

"(Okay...That sounds a bit too convenient, but how do I use it!?)"

"(Since it's the first time, I'll have to force run the program...)" She explained while Black Heart pushed Kenji with all of her strength and sent him backwards again "(Just say this when I tell you…And make sure to yell it out, cause it'll be even better like that)"

"So, any last words before I finish you off!?" Asked Lastation's CPU while pointing her sword at him with a smirk

"Yeah...just one…." Replied the young man while raising his head to look at Black Heart, cleaning the blood off his lower lip with his right hand and taking an assault stance

Kenji then closed his eyes, took a deep breath and focused his mind. This caused the whole arena to go quiet, everyone wondered what the swordsman was about to say in response to this situation.

"Oh!? Something awesome is going to happen! My instincts as the main character are screaming it to me!" Said Neptune with uncontrollable excitement

After the perky CPU's prediction, a sapphire aura, similar to the flames of his Coldfire edge, began to emanate from within Kenji's body and enveloped him.

"Wh-What's going on!?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes

"What's that!? Is he gonna start screaming and have his hair turn clear blonde and all gravity-defying!?"

In the midst of this tense silence, and with his mind fully focused, Kenji suddenly opened his eyes and yelled the words Croire said to him.

"Access!"

As he said it, the aura released a powerful shockwave and turned into a bright light that enveloped him for a few moments. When the light and flames dissipated, a completely different figure emerged.

Instead of dark blonde Hair, Kenji now had shoulder-length blue hair that turned aquamarine at the ends along with spiked edging and longer bangs that nearly covered his face. His eyes color changed from brown to sapphire. His clothes turned into a black shirt with neon blue accents along with black pants and a matching belt and boots. He was also wearing a pair of black gloves and a neon blue visor. And although it was hard to notice at first due to that visor covering them, the aspect of Kenji's transformation that shocked the goddesses the most was the white power buttons on his eyes, both shinning brightly, even through the visor.

"Wh-What!?" Yelled Black Heart with complete shock "That form...!"

"Hey…did Kenji just…"

"….Use HDD?"

After finishing each other's sentence, Neptune and Nepgear blinked a few times as they looked at the sceene in front of them with slight shock before finally reacting at the same time in an almost perfect synch

"EHHHHHH!?"

"But how!? Only CPUs should be able to use HDD!" Said Black Heart as she took a step back with a bewildered expression

"Are you sure that's what you should think about right now?"calmly replied the young man as he looked at his opponent in the eye and took an assault stance once again

Suddenly, Kenji dashed forward with great speed and attacked Black Heart. On this new series of attacks, now she was the one on the defensive. And the young man's attacks were far faster and stronger in this new form, hitting the CPU several times.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

Black Heart screamed in pain as she was hit countless times by Kenji's attacks and sent flying backwards by the last one. But despite suffering large amounts of damage, she quickly regained her footing and looked at the young man, who was still completely calm, and still sporting the same determined stare from before. This sudden change in the way the fight was going, along with his suddenly calmed and composed attitude, made her feel like he was underestimating her. That he was thinking of himself as superior to her, or at least this was what coursed through her mind as she looked at his eyes, which were focused on nothing other than her at that moment.

"Do-don't get so confident just because you transformed!" She Yelled in anger as dashed forward with her weapon coated in flames "Eat this! Gunblaze!"

"Coldfire edge!"

Both fighters dashed towards each other and clashed their fire attacks, creating a powerful shockwave that resulted in an explosion that raised a smoke cloud and forced both of them to be sent flying away from each other. But just as Lastation's CPU made it out of the darkness of the smoke, she inmediately saw Kenji suddenly appearing out of the smoke in front her and heading towards her, ready to slice her in half.

Without much time to react or even to think, she quickly flew upwards to dodge the attack and to get away from Kenji's reach.

"(Calm down, calm down…!)" She said to herself while stopping in mid-air, looking down and seeing the him, who was now standing there looking at her "(Even if he can access HDD, he doesn't have any processors, and without a flight processor, he won't be able to fly yet! As long as I keep a safe distance, I can still win!)"

While Black Heart was focused on trying to make a plan of action, Kenji lowered his head to look at the floor and stepped hard on it a few times before raising his sword and engulfing it in azure flames once again.

"(Is he going to use his attack again? But he can't reach me from here…)"

Suddenly, Kenji lowered his sword with all his might and hit the floor below him, causing a powerful shockwave that forced the first few rows of crowd watching to guard their faces with their arms to protect their eyes from the flying dust and peebles flying all over the place.

"Nepu!" Said Neptune with surprise

"What the hell did he bust the floor for!? Did going HDD mess up his head or something!?" Yelled Blanc while covering her face

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…" Replied Vert while keeping her gaze focused on the fight

Once the shockwave subsided, Black Heart quickly moved her arm and looked at the arena again, but Kenji was nowhere to be seen.

"(Where did he go!?)"

She looked everywhere on the arena, but she couldn't find him.

"Coldfire…"

"Eh?"  
In the middle of her search, Black Heart heard Kenji's voice. But it wasn't coming from below, but rather from above. She raised her head and saw Kenji falling down towards her quite fast with his sword already covered in fire and ready to attack.

"(How…did he get above me so fast?)"

She thought about dodging, or trying to block, but it was already too late. The young man was too close for her to try doing anything other than seeing the blazing sword falling down on her and hitting her directly.

"…Edge!"

"ARGHHHHHH!"

The powerful flame slash hit her directly and caused her to scream in pain before she was sent back towards the ground, crashing against it at an impressive speed and forming a crater. After the dust cleared out, everyone saw her laying down on the floor. She was heavily wounded and could barely move, but even so refused to give up just yet.

"Not...yet…" Said Black Heart while slowly turning around and getting up on her knees "I can still…"

Despite trying her best to get up, Lastation's CPU fell down to the floor again before reverting back to human and falling unconscious.

Kenji then landed on the ground in front of Noire and looked at her for a moment or two before reverting back to human and turning his head to look at IF, who noticed his stare and snapped out of her bewilderment.

"Oh, ri-right!" she said before approaching the CPU to check on her, and after a moment, getting up to look at the crowd. "Lady Black Heart is unable to fight any longer! The winner of this battle and the match is Nijimura Kenji!


	4. The land of green pastures and MMOs

"Time for a recap!" Said Neptune with excitement as she popped out in front of the reader "I, Compa and Iffy found a guy named Kenji and helped him out; I called him alley man at first because we found him unconscious in an alleyway. He didn't really like that name, so I began calling him Kenny after a while. He had nowhere to go either, so I let him live in Planeptune tower with me, Histy and Nepgear. For the first month, he did quests every day and helped get my shares up a lot. It was all nice and dandy until the other goddesses found out and got angry at me for no reason. Like, for reals. Why get angry at me? I didn't do anything this time!"

"Erm...Neptune, I think you're getting off-topic here" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping on the background

"Right, right...Gotta focus on the recap" She said before looking at the reader once more "Anyway... After talking with Kenji, they got angry with him instead and challenged him to a fight. After that, Kenny spent the last two months training and getting stronger between each fight. He managed to beat Blanc and Vert, but during the last fight against Noire, he used HDD and beat her up"

With the explanation now over, Neptune took a deep breath and sighed.

"Man, recaps are never fun to do…" She said with a tired expression, but quickly smiled again "Now then, let's start the chapter!"

After doing his daily quests, Kenji sat down on a stall in the ramen restaurant he found around Planeptune's downtown district a few weeks ago and waited for his order.

"Here ya go sonny!" Said the shop owner while placing a bowl filled with pork in front of Kenji

"Thanks" He replied before picking up his chopsticks and splitting them in half.

Eating with those two little pieces of wood seemed hard at first, but it was actually easier than one may think. It took him some trial and error, but Kenji eventually managed to get the hang of it. Of course, he was more used to eating with fork and knife, but most restaurants in Planeptune served food this way, and those few that didn't were either a tad too expensive for daily visits or simply didn't have anything on the menu that caught his interest. And on the bright side, this was a good chance to try out new food. Pork bowls in particular were a dish he developed a taste for, but there was just something about that mildly sweet sauce and that pork that was just irresistible.

Once he was done eating, Kenji placed down the chopsticks, pulled out a few credits from his pockets and placed them next to the bowl before getting off the stool and walking away.

"Come back soon!"

He got out of the store and looked at the sky. It's been already a week since the fight against Black Heart, and although there was an uproar regarding Kenji's ability to access HDD mode, which everyone though only goddesses could use, things calmed down after a few days. According to Histoire, the only downside the goddesses suffered from their defeat at Kenji's hands was a moderate downfall in shares, but they already seem to have recovered mostly. Either through quests or the development of some product that became quickly popular among the people of their nations.

While wondering how to kill time until night, Kenji felt a vibration coming from his vest's pocket. He placed his hand inside and took out a portable device, similar in appearance to a portable game console.

Because of his habit to walk out of Planeptune tower and wander off without telling anybody, Histoire gave him one of Nepgear's old portable devices to keep in touch with him in case anything happened. It was a few years old, but still looked almost new and was in top-notch condition thanks to the CPU candidate's careful care. Nepgear's care and communications aside, Kenji accepted it mostly because he could download and play games with it, and because he liked how it looked extremely similar in appearance to a PS Vita. Neptune even suggested he should call it the K-gear, but her idea was bluntly ignored.

After pressing the x button, an image of Histoire appeared on the screen.

"Hello?"

"Kenji, I'm sorry for calling you all of a sudden, but I need you to return immediately"

"Okay..." He replied with a monotone tone before raising an eyebrow "...why?"

Kenji couldn't help but feel curious about this sudden call. Ever since he got this device, He wouldn't get a call unless it was already getting late or to check up where he was, but he never received a call from Histoire requesting for him to return in a rush.

"There's someone here that wishes to speak with you in person"

"I see...I'm on my way"

And with that, the video chat ended. Kenji then stored his portable device back in his vest pocket and turned his head to look at Planeptune's tower. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was an odd feeling of unease coursing through the back of his mind right now.

"(I've got a bad feeling about this…)" He thought while sweat dropping

After half an hour or so, he arrived. When going through the door and into the living room, the first thing Kenji saw were three women arguing about something.

"He'll choose me…I'm certain of it"

"Don't be fools; it's obvious he'll choose me, I'm the best choice after all" Said Noire with a confident smirk while placing one hand on her chest

"You're both naïve, It's a given he'll choose me. I have the best chest, after all"

Blanc faced Vert with an angered expression and yelled at her.

"What do your tits have to do with all of this!?"

Vert smirked and looked at Blanc.

"You see, when it comes to enticing and persuading men, breasts play quite an important role…" She replied before her eyes diverted towards Blanc's chest "…well, not like you would be able to understand it"

Without any warning, Blanc suddenly transformed into White Heart and pulled out her axe as a shadow fell over her eyes.

"That's it! I'm gonna rip those udders off of you right now!"

In response to this violent threat, Vert transformed into Green Heart and looked at White heart with a condescending smirk.

"I'd like to see you try it if you can!"

"Nepu! They're going at it again!" Said Neptune with widened eyes and a notable panic in her tone

"Abababababa! Blanc, Vert, please don't fight inside the basilicom!"

Histoire tried to calm down the two goddesses and prevent them from going on a rampage, but it didn't seem very effective.

"If Kenji doesn't get here soon, things will spiral out of control..." Said the tome while sweat dropping

"Erm, Histoire..." Said the CPU candidate, causing the tome to turn her attention to her "If you're looking for Kenji, he's been standing over there for nearly a minute already" She explained while pointing

Both Histoire and Lastation's CPU turned around and saw him standing at the place Nepgear pointed.

"Kenji, you're finally here!" Said the magical tome while flying towards him

"Yeah...I am…" Said Kenji before looking at the scenery around him

Noire, who had been quietly standing up with her arms crossed, looked at him as well. She didn't exactly happy of seeing him, but not angry either. He then diverted his eyes to look at the other two goddesses fighting while Neptune and Nepgear tried to calm them down

"Soooooo...What did you need me for?" He asked while looking at the tome once again

"Ahhh!" Yelled Nepgear in surprise

"Nepu! Blanc, don't swing your axe around like that! You nearly gave me the game over message!" Yelled Neptune while dodging the giant axe

"Ah! Vert, Blanc, please stop!" Yelled Histoire while turning around and heading towards them

"Maybe we should wait until those two calm down first…" Said Noire while sweat dropping

After nearly twenty minutes of both women going at each other's throats and nearly destroying the living room with the constant swinging of their weapons, Vert and Blanc finally calmed down and reverted to their human forms. With everyone now in a proper condition to hold a civilized conversation, The CPUs sat down on Neptune's couch while Kenji sat on a chair in front of them.

"(I knew I should have listened to my gut and walked the other way when I could)" He thought while closing his eyes and sweat dropping.

"Well then, now that everyone's here, we can start"

"In that case, Leave the explanations to me" Said Noire while getting up with a smirk and looking at Kenji "And you, you better listen well...I'll only be explaining this once"

Although there was something to be said about that last part of her comment, Histoire agreed to let her do the explaining and the other two CPUs didn't seem to mind either. Kenji didn't feel like starting another round of fights, so he simply chose not to say a thing and let her go on.

"Now then...Due to our…Unfortunate disagreement with you" She said with some difficulty in her tone

"(She can't bring herself to admit I kicked her ass in front of everyone, can she?)"

"our shares went down considerably, which forced us to focus our efforts on regaining them" She explained while crossing her arms and opening her eyes to look at him "while working on it, though, we had time to rethink some things, mostly things regarding you"

Blanc then turned her head from Noire and looked at Kenji.

"Although we were angry with you at first, we had to admit that you won fair and square against us"

"And because of that, we have acknowledged your strength and decided to make you an offer" Added Vert with a smile

"An offer?" Asked Kenji as he raised an eyebrow

"Precisely!" Answered Noire with more confidence than before "We have decided to let you join one of our nations as a fully-fledged citizen and work directly under us!"

"Say what!?" Yelled Neptune while getting up "No way! Kenny is part of MY nation already!"

Kenji turned his head and looked at Neptune with a popped vein mark on his forehead.

"I never joined your nation to begin with, and it's Kenji!"

"No way!" Said Neptune with a shocked expression

"What are you so surprised about? It's a given he wouldn't want to live under a lazy goddess such as you"

Neptune turned her head and looked at Noire with an irritated expression.

"I bet he doesn't want to live under a lonely goddess like you either!"

"Who are you calling lonely!?" Snarled Noire with an angry expression before brushing the insult aside and looking at Kenji once more "Anyway...Putting this idiot aside, go ahead and choose who you'll go with. I mean, of course I know you will choose me, but not asking for your saying would be unfair to the other two"

"I-"

"Damn it Noire! Why are you already assuming he'll go with you!?"

"Hm? Isn't it obvious?" She said as she turned her head and looked at Blanc as if she were asking an obvious question "I'm not only the strongest goddess, but my nation, Lastation, is the greatest among the four landmasses"

Judging by her tone, Noire was speaking as if she were saying facts rather than reasons or oppinions.

"That attitude of yours really gets under my skin…" Said Blanc while a vein mark popped on her head

"Actually, I'm-"

"You girls are very mistaken if you think he'll go with either of you" Said Vert with a confident smirk before looking at Kenji "Kenji...If you choose to go with me, you'll get to live in a beautiful mansion filled with luxury, attend to the concerts of some of Gamindustry's greatest idols, play the best MMOs whenever you want, and most important of all…"

Leanbox's CPU took a short pause as she leaned her upper body forward towards Kenji and placed her arms together to push up her breasts, making an even greater emphasis on them

"My full, undivided attention. Something many men would give their lives for"

It was clear as day that she was trying to entice him with her breasts, and it might have worked a lot better if it weren't for the fact Kenji heard her planning it when he entered the room.

"(Damn that Vert, she's just doing that to piss me off!)" Thought Blanc while clenching one fist before taking a deep breath and turning to face Kenji and speak to him with complete confidence while keeping her eyes closed to avoid visual contact with Vert "Please, Ignore her and her sacks of fat...If you go with me, you'll get to live in a beautiful castle, eat many quality foods, play lots of family games, and have an endless supply of novels and books for you to read whenever you want"

"I'm trying to-"

"Oh, please, you two...Vert's mansion is filled to the brim with Yaoi and all sorts of questionable merchandise, and the most interesting thing you can find in Blanc's old-styled castle is an endless pile of her rejected novel ideas"

"How about you point fingers at others AFTER putting your own offer on the damn table!?"

Noire looked at Blanc and scoffed.

"Hmph! If you really must know…" She said before looking at Kenji with a confident smirk "Now listen well... If you go with me, you'll get to live in Lastation with me and my little sister in our basilicom and have a simple, yet practical and spacious room of your own to decorate as you see fit. You'll also have a stable and well-paid job right under me as your boss, and you'll even get to access the most advanced technology Gamindustry has to offer, made through the master craftsmanship of Lastation's top professionals!"

While pride seemed to swell up in the chest of Lastation's CPU, everyone else remained silent until someone finally spoke again.

"That was the dullest one so far…" Said Blanc while sweat dropping

"Indeed" Added Vert

"Well, what do you expect? It's Noire we're talking about here" Said Neptune with a smile

"How was my offer dull!?" Yelled Noire while looking at the three CPUs

"You literally offered him just a place to stay and some of your nation's gadgets…" Said Vert while looking at her

"Hardly different from what Neptune already gave him for free" Added Blanc

"That's right, that's right!" Said Neptune while frowning

Noire sweat dropped. On hindsight, they were right.

"Ah, th-that's…" Stuttered Lastation CPU as she tried to come up with something to say and eventually found out what to say "Well of course I wouldn't say everything I'm planning to offer to him! That would spoil the surprise!"

At first there was silent while Noire let out a forced laugh, until Neptune spoke with a shocked expression.

"No-Noire…It couldn't be you…"

"(Di-Did Neptune figure out my bluff already!?)" Tought Lastation's CPU with worry while suddenly stopping her laughing

"You'll give him +18 service!?"

"...Eh?" Said Noire with widened eyes

"That's right!" Said Neptune while pointing at her "You'll probably do things like let him watch you dress and undress while doing your cosplay, or even do all sorts of risky and sexy cosplay for him! And every night, you'll totally let him get all over you and do all sorts of things I can't say without making the writer change the story's age rating to M!"

"EHHHHHHH!?"

"I never thought Noire-san was that kind of person" Said Nepgear with a surprised expression and widened eyes

"I-I must hand it to you, I doubt I could go that far" Said Vert while sweat dropping

"What an unbelievable pervert" Added Blanc with certain disgust in her face

While everyone took a step away from Noire, she turned her head from one side to the other to look at everyone while trying to explain in a panic.

"Wa-Wait a second! That's not what I meant!"

"(I wonder if that includes her HDD form too…)" Thought Kenji while placing his hand on his chin.

For a moment, he was honestly considering that offer. And Lastation's CPU didn't fail to notice it.

"Hey you! Don't go getting any Ideas! I already said that wasn't what I meant!" Snarled Noire before closing her eyes and making an irritated expression "Oh, seriously now! Why are you people always like this!?"

Knowing things would either spin out of control again or just keep going nowhere unless someone did something, Histoire decided to floated into the scene and ask for everyone's attention.

"Everyone...If you'd listen to me, I think I have a way to fix this situation" She said as everyone turned heir heads to look at the tome "It's true that your nations have a lot to offer, but Kenji can't possibly decide if you force it upon him so suddenly like you are right now. So how about you let him know what it's like to live in each nation?"

"What do you mean by that, exactly?" Asked Leanbox's CPU

"I'm saying that maybe you should let him spend some time in each nation. With maybe two weeks or so, I'm sure he'll be able to choose without doubts once he's gotten a good feeling of how's life with each of you, " Explained Histoire before turning around to look at Kenji "How about it, Kenji?"

Kenji looked at Histoire, then at the four CPUs. All of them had their eyes fully focused on him, all awaiting for his answer.

"(I'm not getting out of this one unless I agree, am I?)" He thought while sweat dropping "Ok...I'll do it..."

"Perfect..." Replied the tome as she looked at the CPUs "Anyone has an objection?"

"We-Well, I guess I'm ok with it" Said Noire while crossing her arms and looking sideways

"Fair enough..." Replied Blanc

"I have no objections either" Said Vert with a smile before turning her head to look at Histoire "But with that said, how will we choose which of us he goes with first?"

Histoire then placed her finger on her chin and thought long and hard about it. The four CPUs had many ideas on how to solve it, but they all decided to go with the simplest one and chose Neptune's suggestion of using rock, paper, and scissors.

After nearly twenty ties, the one to win was Vert.

"I won!" She said with a gleeful expression

"Tch, I should have used paper…" Muttered Lowee's CPU while looking at her clenched fist

"Well, It's been decided. Kenji's first destination will be Vert's nation, Leanbox"

*Scene*

Although it wasn't as futuristic as Planeptune, Leanbox still proved to be a very modern-looking town. Wherever he turned, Kenji would see corporate buildings, warehouses, skyscrapers, and other typical urban structures. The most noticeable aspect about this town was a colossal white structure with black streaks filled with green light in the middle of its perpendicular sides, which ended on a green circle in between. This massive structure towered over everything else, and could probably be easily seen from anywhere on Leanbox. Another thing that caught Kenji's attention was that Leanbox seemed to have two "layers" or "floors". The lower one was where all the urban structures and industrial areas were, while the upper area was composed of large roads that went all over the town and many lines of smaller structures. Kenji assumed this "upper area" was probably a series of residential districts where the richest people lived in, all connected by the roads that travelled all over town and led to the lower area. The houses didn't seem that big or luxurious though, so they were probably more affordable than he initially assumed.

"Are you impressed?"

Kenji then turned his head to look in front of him and see Vert, who had been guiding him around until now. She then turned around and looked at him.

"This is my nation, Leanbox. It's also known as "the land of green pastures" because of its abundance of nature and grasslands pastures"

He looked around and saw that the most nature he could find was a small mountain on the distance and maybe a few plants and parks around town.

"Doesn't really look that natural to me"

"Oh, that's because there's been a large process of urbanization going on over the last few years, and most of the nation has developed into what you see now"

"(Shouldn't that mean the name lost all meaning already?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

"Now, let's not waste any more time! We're close to your new home!" Said Leanbox's CPU before turning around and keep walking.

Kenji looked at her walking calmly and sighed. These two weeks would be very long indeed.

Once they arrived to the mansion, he looked at it with a widened eyes. He had never seen a real mansion in all of his life before, at least not in person.

Unlike the other modern buildings in Leanbox, this one retained a more classical design. It was two floors high, in a spot surrounded by a small green yard and even had a great view to the Ocean.

He followed Vert into the building, where they walked through a long hallway before stopping in front of a room. She then proceeded to open the door and allow both of them to enter. Once inside, he saw many figures of what seemed to be characters from videogames or probably animes; some of them were placed over a small night table while others were inside glass shelves. There were also a few pictures of either nearly naked males or two males getting friendly with each other, although calling it "friendly" may be a bit of an understatement.

"(Not sure why, but I get the feeling she's into Yaoi)"

"And this is my room, where I spend most of the time. What do you think about it?"

As Vert faced him and asked him for his opinion, Kenji tried to keep those thoughts away from his mind and focused on finding something to say.

"It's…cozy…"

As he took another look around it, Kenji noticed that, if you ignored the awfully uncomfortable feeling of seeing images of naked men all over the place, the room was actually quite nice. There was a large plasma TV With a confortable green couch with golden trims in front of it, and on the other edge of the room, there was a pinewood desk with a powerful PC set up on it, with three flat screen monitors.

"I'm glad you think so" Said Vert with a smile, then closed her eyes and made a thoughtful expression "For some reason, the other goddesses don't seem to like my room that much"

"I wonder why?" He said with an obvious sarcasm that seemed to go unnoticed by her

"Indeed…" said Vert as thought about it for a moment, but soon brushed the issue aside and looked at Kenji once more "Oh well, I guess it can't be helped"

"Big sister!"

After hearing a voice behind him, the young man turned around and saw a someone entering the room with a glee expression.

"Big sister Vert! I heard you finally returned from Planeptune" Said a young woman as she held up a game with an image of yet even more men getting it on on her hands, except that this time they were dressed as buttlers "let's play some-"

When she opened her eyes, her words stopped as the first thing she saw was Kenji.

"Eh?" She said while her expression went from glee to confusion

The two of them looked at each other for a moment or two in an awkward silence until Vert stood next to Kenji and looked at the girl as well.

"Oh, it's Chika"

Upon seeing Vert, her expression suddenly lightened up.

"Big sister Vert! You're really back after all!"

"Seriously now, I just left for a few hours" Said Vert as if she were dealing with a clingy daughter or younger sister.

"Who is this man?"

"Oh, this is Kenji, The man I told you about"

Chika looked at Kenji again for a moment before speaking

"So this is the man that can access HDD…" She muttered as her eyes analized him from head to to before she turned her head and looked at Vert "Did you convince him to join Leanbox?"

"Actually, it's slightly different from that"

Seeing the confusion in Chika's expression, Vert proceeded to explain the situation to her. And during said explanation, Kenji took a more careful look at her.

Chika was a light skinned woman with very long mint colored curly hair worn in a high ponytail with a black and green twin-bow piece with a few bangs and long curls of hair framing her face. Her eyes were an almond-red color.

Her outfit consisted of a revealing black dress with long boots and gloves that ended at her wrist, along with a black neck piece with a white sphere in the center that had a small green x in the center and two small pieces of purple cloth. On both hips, she had black ribbon-cloth segments with longer cloth pieces dangling from both sides with green sparkled coloring inside. The skirt was practically non-existent on the dress, with a simple cloth being the only thing covering her lower area. Kenji couldn't help but wonder if she even wore underwear under that revealing dress. The doubt scratched the back of his brain for a bit, but he decided not to look too much at that area. The last thing he needed was a misunderstanding.

"-and as such, Kenji will be living with us for two weeks"

After Vert's explanation was over, Chika nodded in agreement.

"Alright, I think I understand now" She said before turning around to face Kenji with a more welcoming expression than before "My name is Chika Hakozaki, and I'm Leanbox's oracle. It might not be for long, but I hope you enjoy your stay"

"I'll try..."

Kenji looked at her for a moment after replying. At first sight, Chika seemed like a nice person, or at least a polite one.

"Chika, since you're already here, could you do something for me?"

Chika turned around to face Vert with sparkling eyes in just a split second.

"Anything for you, Big sister!"

"Would you be kind enough to escort Kenji to his room?"

"Of course, just leave it to me"

"What about you?" Asked Kenji while looking at her

"Unfortunately, there are some important matters at hand for me to deal with at the moment, so we'll have to postpone your tour around Leanbox until tomorrow"

"Oh, okay…"

"Come on, now... I'll take you to your room"

Kenji nodded and followed Chika out of the room and through the hallways. During the walk, Chika seemed somewhat bothered. She probably hoped to spend time with Vert rather than having to escort Kenji around, but Leanbox's CPU probably had large amounts of work to do, and judging by the way she spoke about it, it was probably something very important as well.

"(…I guess being a goddess isn't that easy)"

After a few minutes, they finally stopped in front of a door. Chika then turned around and looked at Kenji

"Here it is"

Once the oracle opened the door, both of them walked into the room and looked around it. It was a spacious, elegant looking room with a dresser, a bookshelf, a wide double bed with white blankets and a small night table on the side with a white limestone top and a golden trim. There was also a wooden desk with an already set up desktop computer on it. Even from a distance, Kenji could tell it was a high specs PC.

"If you excuse me, I have to go back to work" Said Chika as she headed towards the door, but not before looking at him one more time "But If there's anything you need, feel free to call for one of the maids"

After she left, Kenji turned around and looked at the now closed door for a moment or two before turning around again and looking at his room. He then walked around it for a bit to get more used to what would be his personal space for the next two weeks.

"It's still early…" He said to himself while looking out the window and seeing it was still early in the afternoon "…Guess I'll try killing some time…"

Not knowing anything about the streets of Leanbox yet,Kenji simply chose to stay inside and relax. He then took out his mobile device and played some games on it while lying on the bed for the rest of the day.

*Scene*

"Dad!"

Running down a small hallway and past a stair case, a small boy headed towards a middle-aged man that turned around and looked at him. The man was a very tall burly individual with golden blond hair in a medium back combed hairstyle and a five o'clock beard, his eyes were aquamarine color and had that masculine aura of strength and confidence, but also showed a warm kindness.

His clothing consisted of a black business suit along with matching shoes and a black raincoat.

"What's wrong, Kenji?" Asked the man while looking at his son "Shouldn't you be sleeping already?"

"Are you...Are you really leaving?"

The kid's father looked at Kenji and noticed the sadness in the child's eyes as he looked up at him. He then smiled in an understanding way and placed his hand on the top his son's head.

"Don't worry Kiddo, It'll only be for a week"

Despite his father's words, Kenji simply looked down at the floor, still wearing those saddened eyes. Seeing it didn't work, Kenji's father placed his suitcase on the floor, kneeled in front of Kenji and placed both hands on his shoulders.

"Hey now, don't go making that face. I'll be back, I promise"

The young Kenji raised his head to look at his father's face. He didn't seem fully convinced, but at least he didn't look sad anymore.

"Hm...Okay, how about this?" He said after closing his eyes, taking a moment of pensive thought and then opening them again to look at him "While I'm gone, you stay here with mom and take care of her, and when I come back, we'll eat some of her special homemade pudding that you like so much together"

At that moment, Kenji's eyes lightened up.

"Can it be chocolate pudding!?"

"Sure!" Answered Kenji's father with a wide smile, and then placed his hand in front of Kenji with his pinky finger being the only extended one "So…It's a promise?"

Kenji looked at his father's hand, then at him before smiling and nodding in agreement.

"Yeah! It's a promise!" Said the young child with enthusiasm while raising his hand as well and extending his pinky finger.

Both father and child then wrapped each other's pinky fingers and smiled at each other.

Suddenly, Kenji opened his eyes and saw he was in a dark room. As he slowly sat up and looked around him, he was able to discern the space around him as his room in Leanbox.

"(A dream...Must have dozed off at some point)" Thought Kenji while lowering his head and placing his left hand over his face.

As he regained a better grasp of his consciousnes, Kenji couldn't help but notice his pinky finger and looked at it for a moment or two before closing his eyes and shaking his head while moving the hand away from his field of sight. He then sat on the edge of the bed, got up from it and walked towards the window to look through it. Judging by the moon and the stars, It wa most likely past midnight, perhaps somewhere around 1:00 to 2:00 AM

It was a curious thing, really. Despite this being another world, things such as the moon and constellations were incredibly similar, if not exactly the same. His mind almost got lost in the that starry sight before snaped out of it, turned around and picked up his portable device from the bed to look at the exact hour. It was 1:47 AM.

After that dream, Kenji didn't really feel like going to sleep again, so he left his room and went for a walk around the mansion. There probably wasn't anything to do at this hour, but Kenji simply wanted to move around and clear up his mind a bit. As he walked around the mansion's hallways with the sound of his footsteps as the only thing he could her, Kenji's mind began to wander, and it began recalling that dream.

This wasn't a rare ocurrence either. Every once in a while, this old memory would come back and sneak into his dreams, whetever he wanted it or not. And despite how hard he tried not to think about it, the memories refused to go away. The memories of a day long past, and the memory of a promise between father and child that was never kept.

"Focus on the enemy ahead of you!"

Kenji's train of thought was suddenly cut short by a loud voice. By turning his head around, he noticed the voice was coming from a room just a few feet head. And from that slightly opened door, he also noticed a light coming from within.

"Hold on for as long as you can, reinforcements are on their way!"

After hearing the voice again, he realized it was Vert's voice. And it sure didn't sound like she was doing paperwork.

"(What is she doing awake at this time of the night?)"

Out of curiosity, Kenji approached the door and slowly opened it to peek inside. He then saw Vert sitting in front of her PC. She was wearing headphones and was completely focused on the three monitors in front of her. At first it was hard to discern due to the brightness, but after his eyes got used to it, he saw the images showing on the monitors were a videogame.

"Cover the left flank! They're focusing on the left!"

Wanting to take a closer look, he entered the room and got a little closer to her.

"Erm…hey..."

Vert didn't seem to hear him at first. She was completely focused on the game, pressing the buttons of her controller at frenetical speeds that only real pros could handle and only stopping to take a quick sip from a cup every few minutes or so. Kenji assumed it was coffee, since she seemed completely awake despite the hour.

"Hey!"

"Eh?"

This time, Vert managed to notice his voice as she turned her head around and looked at Kenji. She seemed slightly surprised by his sudden prescence at first, but quickly took a more relaxed stance as she used one of her hands to cover the microphone to avoid her voice from being heard by the other players.

"Oh, Kenji...Good afternoon"

"Actually, it's 2:00 AM"

"Oh my, is it still that early?"

"Early?"

"I thought I played all night and morning long, but I guess things have been going slow due to the raid" She said while looking down and seeming to be thoughtful about it

"A-anyway...What are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Asked Leanbox's CPU while loking at him again "I'm playing a game"

"I see..." He said while turning to look at the screen

It would be a lie to say Kenji wasn't surprised about this. He didn't expect MMOs to exist in this world too. But then again, so far he had seen that many things from his world also existed on this one too.

"By the way, it's called Goddesses Online 2 and it's a very popular MMO that's was released just recently."

"Okay..."

Vert's explanation aside, though. There was one thing that kept scratching on the back of his brain. When did she start playing exactly?

She did say something about a raid just now, and from what he knew, things like those usually took hours or even an entire day.

"Wait...How long have you been playing?"

"Since Chika took you to your room"

"Wait, what about work?"

"Work? What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you tell me you had some work to do before sending me off with your oracle?"

"I never said I had work to do, just that I had important matters to attend to"

Kenji looked at her and sweat dropped. On hindsight, she was right. Vert never said the word "work".

Vert suddenly turned her head to look at the game and panicked.

"Oh no! I forgot about healing!" She said while looking at the monitor and quickly picking up the controller with both hands.

Seeing she had gotten absorbed into the game once again, Kenji simply walked out of Vert's room and headed back to his own.

That same afternoon, Chika guided Kenji through the town, showing him some of the most attractive spots and explaining to him various things about Leanbox, mostly how to move around town without getting lost. He felt inclined for asking about Vert, but he figured she was probably sleeping after pulling an all-nighter playing that game.

Truth to be told, he didn't get too much sleep either, but he didn't want to waste away the day sleeping.

"Well...That's pretty much everything there is to see for the moment" She said after stopping and turning around to look at Kenji

After a moment or two, the oracle lowered her head slightly and let out a sigh.

Just like yesterday, she seemed bothered about something. But this time it seemed to be eating at her even harder than before.

"What's with you?"

"Hm? Ah...Nothing, it's just…." She said before raising her head and looking at him "Big sister spends all the time playing games, and if she isn't playing games, then she's visiting another nation...She wouldn't even come with us today!"

It seemed the reason Chika was on low spirits again was because of how little attention Vert gave to her as of late, and it probably affected her really badly if she was willing to talk about it with a guy she just met yesterday.

"Well, It's just a given she'd need to sleep after pulling that all-nighter" Said Kenji while thinking back about last night

"Actually, she is still playing..."

"….What?"

"Big sister can do more than spend a few all-nighters; She can spend entire days playing games before even needing to sleep"

"Hey, isn't that a bit of an obsession already?" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"I Think obsession is a severe understatement" replied the oracle while sweat dropping as well

A short moment of silence went by.

It wasn't hard to imagine Vert liked games a lot if she was willing to spend the entire afternoon playing them, but he never could've thought someone like her had such a strong addiction to it.

Seeing the talk was going south, Chika took a moment to think what to do until her cellphone began ringing.

"Oh...Excuse me for a moment" She said before turning around and answering the call. "Hello?"

The young man did nothing but simply look while she held the phone close to her ear and spoke to whoever it was on the other end.

"Ah, I see…how's the situation?" Asked the oracle before taking a pause "All right, I'll see what I can do"

Chika the hanged the phone and turned around to face Kenji once more with a much more stern expression than before.

"Kenji, I'm sorry for asking you this out the blue, but I need your help with something"

*Scene*

The oracle took Kenji to the Gapain fields, where she asked of him to slay a few monsters that were causing trouble. Although some were quite though, he made quick work of them.

After cutting down the last monster, the young man looked at his surroundings to make sure he had cleared the area.

"There...That should be the last one"

"Sorry for the trouble" Said Chika while smiling with relief.

"Don't sweat it...I did it because I wanted to" He said while walking closer to her "Besides, it's a good way to stay in shape"

Once he stood in front of her, the young man turned around and looked at the field around him.

"But these monsters...there was something odd about them"

"That's because they all went viral"

"Viral?" Asked Kenji while turning his head around to look at her

"As of late, monsters that get hurt up to a certain extent tend to go into a state where they go berserk...We call that state "Viral""

While Chika explained it, Kenji recalled some monsters he fought while doing quests in Planeptune suddenly getting more agressive, but he always scratched it off as them going in a rage rather than transforming.

"It's not rare for them to go viral when cornered, but the monsters around Leanbox have been going viral more and more often every day. Now some of them suddenly transform without even needing to get provoked or hurt"

"That sounds bad..."

"It is quite bad...And it's precisely why we must find the cause and eliminate it as soon as possible"

"I think I might be able to help you with that"

Both Kenji and Chika turned their heads after hearing a female voice and saw someone approaching them. She was tall woman with long red hair worn in short, shoulder length pigtails and emerald eyes.

The outfit she was wearing consisted of a somewhat revealing dress that seemed like a mixture between a maid, nurse and a magical girl uniforms. She even had matching boots and a hat resembling that of a nurse. It was a somewhat odd mixture between cute and sexy.

"Cave!" Said Chika with delight

"Good day, Chika" Cave turned her head and looked at Kenji "And I should assume this man accompanying you is the one everyone has been talking about so much as of late?"

"That's correct" She said before turning around to look at him "Kenji, this is Cave. She's a member of Leanbox's SMD"

"SMD?"

"The special mission department, but it's faster to call it SMD" Explained Cave while looking at Kenji

"Oh..."

"As Chika already said, my name is Cave. A pleasure to meet you"

"I'm Kenji"

"Cave, what were you saying earlier?" Interrupted Chika

Without wasting a single moment, the SMD member looked once again at her oracle and answered her question.

"As you might already know, the members of the SMD have been dispatched around the area to search for the cause of the monsters becoming more aggressive, and I think I might have a lead"

"Really!?" Asked the oracle with a shocked expression

Cave turned around and pointed towards a plain in the distance.

"There's an entrance to an underground cave in that direction, and that area had the most significant increase of viral monsters so far" She explained before turning her head to look at Chika once more "I think it's worth investigating"

With this information at hand, the oracle decided to agree with Cave's decision to investigate the area and sent Kenji to go along with her.

When the two arrived, there were a few monsters standing in their way, but their combined skills were more than enough to handle this issue. Afterwards, the two searched the place for a while, and even split up to cover more ground, but found nothing more than monsters roaming around.

It was after reaching the deepest spot of the cavern and slaying an ancient dragon that Kenji stumbled yet again with another dead end

"Hm…guess there's nothing here" He said to himself while scratching the back of his head

He was about to leave for a moment, until he heard a sound and quickly turned his head to look. He looked around him for a little while before closing his eyes and turning around.

"(Just my imagination, I guess…)"

After that, Kenji sheated his sword and walked away to reunite with Cave, unaware of the fact that there were two people hiding behind the rocks. One was a young woman with odd white-purple skin, ruby red eyes and noticeable pointed ears. She had pastel green hair with a few spiked bangs and wore baggy pants, black boots and a big grey jacket with mouse eared hood on it.

The other one was a small grey mouse walking on two legs with red, seemingly lifeless eyes. He had a pair of red demon-like bat wings and a black heart-shaped tail with a red zigzag split on the center.

"I-Is he gone?" Asked Linda to the mouse while breaking a cold sweat

"How would I know!? You go check-Chu!" Snarled Warechu

"Are ya crazy!? That guy's gonna rip me apart!"

While hiding earlier, the two thought about ambushing Kenji, but after seeing him going around making quick work of almost a dozen powerful monsters, they decided to change their strategy a little bit.

"Damn it, this sucks! All that work for nothing!"

"It can't be helped, for now we have to get out of here-Chu!"

The two waited for a while longer until hey were sure Kenji and Cave were gone before making their escape and returning back to their hideout, where they met with a big, black bulky armored-like being with neon blue lining around all of his parts, as well as silver accessories and two big skulls.

"Master Judge, we've returned"

"Graaaaah, I'm so bored! I want to fight someone!"

"Eh?"

As Linda walked in and announced her return, she found Judge swinging his axe all around the place in a rage.

"Whoa! Master Judge, please stop that!" Said the underling as she crouched to keep away from the sharpened blade of the axe

"Oh, It's you again!" Said the graveyard guardian while turning his head to look at her "Are you done already!?"

"A-About that…"

Although she felt like it would only end badly for her, Linda explained the situation to Judge as best as she could. Unfortunately, the report of this failure only served to fuel the bulky warrior's anger.

"You idiots! How could you screw it up that badly!?"

"Don't blame me; it was the underling's fault-Chu!"

Linda turned her head and snarled at Warechu.

"The hell!? That was your damn fault too! And don't call me underling!"

"You're nothing more than a grunt, underling suits you perfectly-Chu!"

"Why, you little-!"

"Shut up!" Yelled Judge while slashing down his axe, forcing both Linda and Warechu to jump away to avoid getting sliced in half.

The giant axe instead hit the ground, cracking it and creating a rupture where the two member of ASIC were standing just moments ago.

"Waaahhhhhh!"

"Chuuuuuuuuu!"

"You keep yapping and yapping; it's annoying!" He said with an irritated tone "I know! For screwing up, you'll fight me!"

Right after he passed down his punishment, Judge raised his axe again and prepared to attack both of them one more time.

"Ah! Ma-Master Judge, please calm down!"

"We're done for-chu!"

While Warechu panicked, Linda wracked her brain in an attempt find a good excuse to avoid getting killed by her boss. And she just happened to come up with a great idea to persuade him.

"I-I know! How about you go fight that CPU dude instead of us!?"

"CPU dude? Who's that?" Asked Judge as he lowered his head and looked at her with confusion.

"The one I told you about earlier! Don't you remember!?"

"Of course I do!" He snarled before looking sideways and placing one hand on his chin "He's…uhhhhhh…he's..."

The bulky warrior tried recalling Linda's explanation about what happened at the cave, but it was in vain since he stopped paying attention halfway through and hardly listened to anything she said besides from her failure.

Despite his deific strength and pearless skill for destruction, one of the most noticeable flaws Judge had was his short attention span. No matter how serious the situation, would usually lose track of things and get completely derailed from his original objective to search for something to fight or kill, or both. If it weren't for Linda and Warechu constantly reminding him of his mission in Leanbox, he would have already wandered out of the hideout to satisfy his endless bloodlust.

"Haaaaah forget it!" He said with irritation from not being able to remember before looking at Linda again "That guy you're talking about! Is he strong!?"

"Eh? Ah, yeah, I think so..."

"He did kill all those viral monsters-Chu"

"Finally, someone strong to fight with…!" Yelled Judge with enthusiasm before turning around and heading towards the exit "Where is he? Where is he!? I want to kill him!"

"Wa-Wait a moment Master Judge! We still have the mission Master Magic gave us!"

"What? Oh, right…."

The overwhelming excitement he felt from finding out about someone strong enough to put up a good fight made Judge completely forget about the mission until Linda reminded him yet again of it.

"Then what are you waiting for!? Move it or I kill you both!"

"Ye-Yes!" Said both Linda and Warechu at the same time before turning around and running away


	5. Judgment time!

The following days were filled with constant fights against viral monsters all around the fields surrounding Leanbox. At first the situation seemed troubling, but thanks to Kenji and Cave's efforts, the number of viral monsters decreased greatly in a short period of time. After a week and half of battles, it seemed like the problem had finally been dealt with. Once done with yet another extermination quest, Kenji returned to Vert's mansion, where he was received by her and Chika.

"Kenji, good job today" She said with a smile

"Today there were even less of them" He replied after sitting down on the couch with his arms spread over the back

"According to the reports, the number of viral monsters has greatly decreased and nearly returned to normal already" Explained the oracle while checking a cluster of documents "The cause of the sudden increase is still a mystery, but at least we have secured Leanbox's safety for the time being"

"And it's all thanks to everyone's combined efforts" Said Vert while beaming at Kenji.

"(You say that, but you didn't do shit, you know…)"Thought Kenji while looking at her with slight frustration and a popped vein sign on his forehead

Upon looking at the young man, chika sweat dropped and laughed awkwardly. It was almost as if she knew what was going through his mind at that moment. And to be fair, he had his own reasons to think so.

In the last week and half, Vert hardly moved from the mansion. She dedicated most of her time to gaming rather than to help deal with the current threat. And whenever someone inquired to her about the issue, she said that the problem was already being dealt with by some "reliable" forces. Of course, Chika also tried to vouch for Vert's behavior by saying that she only entrusted this task to Kenji and Cave because she wanted the people of Leanbox to develop some trust towards the young man, and that she didn't go out herself because threat didn't get close enough to the capital to harm any civilians yet.

To Kenji, though, this only felt like one big pile of bullshit.

"Oh, I just remembered!" Said the oracle after suddenly recalling something she read while doing paperwork "5pb is having a concert later today, how about we go?"

"I'm sorry Chika, but I have a raid with my guild today, so I won't be able to go"

"(Second-placed by her games again...)" Thought Chika with a sulking expression

"Who's 5pb?"

"5pb is Leanbox's top idol and one of my supporters...She's not very well known outside of Leanbox though, so I'm not surprised you don't know about her" Explained Vert as she turned her head to look at him and before beaming at him "I know! How about you and Chika go see her concert? I'm sure you two will have fun"

"Eh? Bu-But big sister Vert!"

"Yes?" Said Vert while turning her head again to look at her oracle

"Ah…erm…" Said Chika while struggling to find what to say before she suddenly began coughing and faking sick noises "I-I'm not feeling so good…I think I caught the summer flu…"

"(We're still in the middle of spring though…)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping

"Don't worry, there's some medicine in the drawers over there, I'm sure they'll help with your flu" Said Vert with complete calm while pointing at some drawers on the other side of the room.

The truth was that Chika was faking an illness to have an excuse to stay with her, and Vert was perfectly aware of this. It would be hard not to, as the oracle had a custom of faking illness whenever she wished for Vert's attention. This was one such a case.

"(I'm not giving up so easily!)" Thought Chika with more determination "I-I also have some very bad coughing"

At this point, the oracle began getting desperate and coughed as hard as she could, but she ended up pushing hit a bit more than she should have and began feeling lightheaded.

"Ugh…I-I think that was a bad idea…"

She then began coughing once again, but it was for real this time. Something which both Kenji and Vert noticed.

"Chika, are you okay!?"

"Whoa, whoa,Take it easy there!"

While Kenji got up from the couch and Vert approached her, the oracle tried keeping them from worrying.

"Do-Don't worry, I just overdid it a bit"

"Try taking a seat for now, okay?" Said Vert while leading Chika and sitting her down on the couch where Kenji was just a moment ago.

"Thank you…" Replied the oracle before suddenly raising her head to look at her "wait...You could tell I wasn't faking it?"

"Of course I can tell. You're my precious oracle after all" Answered Vert kindly while beaming at her.

Chika couldn't help but blush with a shy smile after being called precious by the person she adored the most.

"Big sister Vert"

While Kenji watched the oracle and the goddess having some sisterly bonding, he felt like the extra person on the picture and decided to give them some privacy by walknig out of the room.

With no more hunting quest for the moment and no desire to laze around the mansion either, the young man decided to go out and take a walk around town. But this walk didn't prove to be very relaxing, mainly because of the people around him.

Ever since the match between him and the goddesses ended, Kenji gained quite a reputation among the citizens of the continent. But wherever it was a good or bad reputation depended more on each individual. On the most part it merely meant people would usually stare at him for a few seconds if they saw him on the street, and for someone that wasn't used to crowds or being the center of attention like Kenji, it would be quite an uncomfortable feeling. But people eventually stopped as they got more used to him and the unwanted attention slowly died out. It didn't stop the casual folk from turning their head to look at him every now and then, but a casual folk was much better than a casual crowd.

In all honesty, he was more surprised that the people of Leanbox were so accepting of him at first. After all, he did beat their beloved goddess. But then again, he did beat her, and not many sane people would want to mess with a guy that won against three of the supposedly most powerful beings on the world. There were some people that gave him a nasty look at first. Even Chika acted slightly awkward with him at first, but she tried her best to not let it be seen, probably because of her position as an oracle.

"Oh, it's Kenji. How unusual to see you around town by yourself"

The young man's train of thought was suddenly cut short by a female voice. After raising his head to look forward, he saw Cave standing in front of him.

"Yeah, I didn't really feel like staying locked up in Vert's extra-sized home" He replied before raising an eyebrow "What are you doing here?"

"I was heading to the basilicom to request for some extra reinforcements for tonight's concert"

"Concert? You mean 5pb's concert?"

"That's right..." She replied before looking at him with certain curiosity "Are you going to attend to it?"

"I'm not really one for idols"

"I see..." Said Cave while lowering her head slightly and closing her "Well, I should be on my way then"

For a moment it seemed like Cave would leave, but she then took a ticket from her pocket and gave it to Kenji

"Here, you can have this...just in case you change your mind"

Kenji took the ticket and analyzed it for a moment; it was an entrance for the concert.

"Well then, have a good day"

After giving the ticket to Kenji, Cave walked past him and left for the basilicom. All while the young man looked at the entrance ticket for a bit longer before putting it in his pocket and keep walking.

*Scene*

The stage for the concert was set up in a large plaza in the open air, and the climate was looking favorable too, so there surely wouldn't be any inconveniences regarding rain.

The large crowds of people attending were mostly made of people among Kenji's age range, some probably a year or two of difference, and all of them excited for the concert to start. Fortunately for the young man, who worried about feeling sickly among the usually massive crowds attending concerts, the place was quite wide and allowed just about enough room to move without being tightly packed. It didn't stop the slight feeling of nausea from lingering around, though.

"(Urgh...maybe I should've stayed home...)" He thought with an ill expression

Although he wasn't interested in it at first, and he knew the sickly feeling from being among large crowds would hit him the moment he set foot into the place, he attended because of Cave. Even if she didn't say it, his gut told him that the gesture of gifitng him an entrance ticket was more than just a show of friendship or her way of rewarding his help so far. It felt as though it was her way of hinting him that something was bound to happen here.

"All right everyone! Are you ready!?"

This train of thought didn't last too long, though. as it was suddenly cut short by a cheerful shout. Upon looking at the stage, he saw a girl with long blue hair holdig a guitar as she called out to the entire crowd.

The second they spotted her, the crowd went wild cheering for her.

"So that's 5pb…"

Kenji looked at her while she was preparing to start. She was a young girl with fair-pale skin, bright pink eyes and a mole below the left one. Her blue hair was slightly lighter in color than Kenji's in his HDD form. It was about elbow in length and worn straight, with bangs that stuck up from the center and spiked downward to frame her face. Worn over her hair is was a pair of black headphones with silver and pink accents and a small black microphone attached to the left ear piece. She also had black painted nails and a black treble clef with a heart piece tattoo on the left side of her stomach. Her outfit was rather showy, but he already knew it was common for an idol to appeal to the audience.

5pb not only had a good voice, but also sang with passion and enthusiasm. It was no wonder the people of Leanbox chose her as their number one idol. Even Kenji, whose only interest was that something cave hinted at, ended up liking her singing more than he expected.

After five songs and, the concert was over.

"Everyone, thank you for coming today!" Said 5pb while waving at the crowd before heading backstage

And with that, the people began leaving one after the other, many still hyped and excited about how much fun they had. Even Kenji had to admit it. Although nothing really happened, at least he enjoyed the show. But with that said, he couldn't help but notice something about her songs.

The young man couldn't precisely pinpoint the reason, but something about her voice and singing evoked an odd familiarity within him. It was oddly similar to nostalgia, but there was no way for a song he heard for the first time in his life to feel nostalgic. Perhaps it reminded him to an idol from his old world he used to like or to a concert he went to before, but that just raised up yet another question.

"(Wait...When did I go to a concert before?)" He thought while placing his hand on his chin

Kenji was utterly confused by this sudden question ringing in his mind. This concert he was currently in was the very first one he attended to in his whole life, or at least that's what he could remember.

He kept trying to figure out the meaning behind this odd feeling until someone he felt a pressure against his back. Upon turning around, he saw someone bumped into him quite abruptly and fell down to the floor.

"Ow!"

"Hey, watch it you dumb-" Yelled Linda before raising her head and noticing who she was yelling "Oh damn, it's you!"

"Hm?"

"Ah! E-Erm!"

Kenji simply looked with a raised eyebrow at Linda while she panicked and tried to figure out how to escape from this situation without being caught.

"So-Sorry, didn't see where I was going!" Said the underling while quickly getting up and forcing a weak laugh with one hand placed behind her head

"It's okay..."

It seemed as though the young man accepted her excuse. This caused Linda to sigh with relief.

"(I'm saved. He doesn't know who I am)"

While she felt relieved about her identity still being a secret, Kenji looked at her and sweat dropped.

"(I'm not sure why, but something about this girl gives me a really bad vibe)"

"Hey! What are you waiting for!? We have to beat it from this gig-Chu!"

Linda suddenly turned her head sideways and looked down at Warechu, who was standing next to her. Out of curiosity, Kenji looked down as well and saw Warechu, then made a nauseous expression.

"(Wha-!?)" He thought whiel taking a step back "(A rat!? And it's huge!)"

"I know that already, damn it!"

Without another word, Linda and Warechu ran past Kenji and merged into the crowds, getting away from Kenji's sight, who simply stood there watching the direction they ran towards with widened eyes.

"(Man, Leanbox has a serious rat problem)" He thought while sweat dropping

"Kenji!"

Kenji then turned his head again and saw Cave running towards him.

"We have a problem!"

"Yeah, you need some serious pest control around here"

"The culprits have…!" She said with a stern tone before making a confused expression "wait...what?"

"I just saw a huge rat the size of a kid" He replied while measuring Warechu's size with his hands "I mean, I know pest control can be tedious and all, but having rats that size running around can't be healthy"

At first Cave was confused, but soon realized something about Kenji's words.

"Wait! Was that rat you saw grey and had a heart-shaped tail?"

"Huh? Erm...Yeah, it did"

"That's him!" Said Cave while taking a step closer to Kenji "Quick! where did it go!?"

Although confused, he simply pointed at the direction they ran towards.

"Quick, follow me. I might need your help!" She replied while turning around and chasing after the rat without even giving the young man a chance to ask

As he saw Cave maneuvering among the already thinned out crowds, Kenji simply shrugged his shoulders and followed her. Along the chase, Kenji tried asking her for more detail.

"Hey Cave, do you know that rat?"

"Yes, I do... His name is Warechu, a member of ASIC"

"ASIC?"

Kenji couldn't help but sweat drop, as the name sounded to him like an antacid medicine

"I'll explain it properly to you later...For now we need to catch him!"

"Okay"

Both of them squeezed through the clusters of people when the crowd got thicker and maneuvered when it got thinner. Kenji had slight difficulty doing so while Cave moved as swiftly as the wind.

After getting through dozens of people, they finally managed to get outside the plaza and into the streets, but it was already too late.

"It seems they got away" Said Cave while lowering her head and closing her eyes

"Should've known there was something fishy about those two" Said Kenji in before clicking his tongue

Cave raised her head to look at Kenji and gave a small smile.

"Don't worry. It was my fault for not explaining the situation in more detail when I could" She said before turning around to face the stage again "For now, I should return at once. I still need to escort 5pb to her home"

Kenji looked at her walking away before raising his head and looking at the night sky.

"I should be heading back too"

Although there were quite a few questions in Kenji's mind, the only thing he wanted at the moment was to go back and sleep.

The following day, he received a call from Cave asking him to meet with her in some underground caves called the Underverse. the young man had already been around that place a few days ago, so getting there didn't take too much trouble.

"Good day Kenji, sorry for calling you all of a sudden" Said Cave, who was already on the entrance and waiting for him, after greeting him

"Don't worry; I had free time anyway..." He replied while walking closer to her "So, what happened?"

"After last night's concert, I asked around for information regarding that mouse's whereabouts, and there have been multiple sightings of him around this area..." She explained before turning around to look at the dungeon's entrance "I have come to the conclusion that this might be where he's hiding at the moment"

Kenji looked at Cave for a moment before turning his head and looking at the dungeon's entrance as well.

"Alright then, let's go find that rat" Said Kenji while drawing his sword

"Technically, it's a mouse" Corrected Cave

"Same thing"

Without anything else to make them wait, both of them entered the dungeon to search for Warechu. Cave took advantage of the calm before the storm and gave Kenji an explanation about Warechu and about ASIC (Arfoire's Syndicate of International Crime) in general. Mostly about how it was led by four powerful individuals known as the 'four felons' or 'the hard' and how they wished to resurrect Arfoire, the deity of Sin and the one they considered as their goddess. Cave also mentioned how she suspected that they could be connected to the sudden increase of viral monsters that took place last week.

"Okay, I think I got most of it...Rxcept for one thing"

"What is it?"

"If this Arfoire really wants to destroy Gamindustry, then why do they want to revive her?"

"I'm not certain. All I know is that they must be stopped at all cost"

Kenji didn't really feel like that answered his question, but he preferred to leave it at that.

While focusing his mind once again on the search, the young man noticed a heart shaped tail wigling about on a corner. And once he got closer, the mouse they were searching for was on sight.

"There he is!"

Warechu quickly turned around after hearing Kenji's voice and panicked upon seeing them.

"Damn it! They found me-Chu!" Said the mouse before turning tail and running deeper into the dungeon.

"Quick, don't let him escape!" Said Cave while running after him

The two then chased down Warechu all the way to the deepest area of the dungeon, where Linda was waiting for him.

"Underling! We have trouble-Chu!"

"Huh?"

Linda turned around and saw both Kenji and Cave running after Warechu, straight towards her.

"Wha-? You dumbass! The hell you brought them here for!?"

"Just shut up and help me-Chu!"

"Nowhere to run now little rat!"

"Who are you calling rat!? I'm a mouse-Chu!" Snarled Warechu at Kenji while turning around

Kenji then looked behind Warechu and noticed Linda.

"Ah, it's the girl from last night..."

"Have you seen her before?" Asked Cave while turning her head to look at Kenji.

"Yeah, she was at last night's concert with the rat"

"I see" She said before looking at both members of ASIC and walking towards them "Now then; we have a few questions that need answering...Surrender peacefully and we won't hurt you"

"Surrender? I ain't going down just yet!" Yelled Linda while pulling out an iron pipe

"Are you crazy? They'll rip you apart-Chu!"

"The hell am I supposed to do then!?" Snraled the underling while looking at him

When faced with this quesion warechu looked around him before looking at Kenji and Cave once again.

"Guess there's no other choice. Let's use that-Chu"

Linda turned her head and looked at Warechu with a confused expression.

"That? What'cha mean?"

"Just wait and see-Chu" Said the mouse while looking for something in his pockets

After shuffling around in it for a bit, he pulled out something that seemed like a controller, albeit a very simple one

"Okay...Killachine ON-Chu" He said while pushing one of the buttons

Suddenly, the area began to rumble as if there was an earthquake happening. And the next second, a huge robot abruptly emerged from within the lava and floated into solid ground. Once the lava cleared off, the Killachine's appearance became clearer. It was a massive robot with the lower body like that of a snake and a humanoid upper body, with two large arms and even larger axes on each hand, each one no smaller than a car.

"What's that?"

"It's a Killachine. An ancient war robot created by the deity of sin" Answered Cave while preparing for battle

"Whatever it is, it sure knows how to make an entrance" Said Kenji, who felt impressed with the videogame boss-like entrance the Killachine just managed to pull off

"Killachine, kill those two-Chu!"

As Warechu gave the order, the Killachine gave a few beeping sounds before its eyes lightened up. The robot then quickly moved forward and launched a dual chopping attack against Kenji and Cave, forcing the two of them to jump backwards to avoid the large axes falling down on them.

"Whoa!"

The moment Kenji touched the ground; he dashed forward along with Cave. The two attacked the Killmachine constantly, but the robot didn't go down easily. Despite its size, it could move quite fast and had strong attacks, but as destructive as they were, they hardly compared to White Heart's relentless onslaught.

As the fight went on, the Killmachine's attacks became slower every moment, making them even easier to dodge. After a few more minutes, the Killmachine began beeping uncontrollably and releasing sparks.

"Eat this!" Yelled Kenji dashed towards the malfunctioning Killmachine and jumped, heading right towards the upper body with his sword coated in flames "Coldfire Edge!"

His flaming sword sliced through the robot's damaged, cutting it in half. He then jumped backwards a few seconds before the Killmachine split in half and violently exploded.

"Guess you could say...He went out with bang" Said Kenji while getting up from his knees

Cave simply turned her head to look at him with a neutral expression. Kenji noticed it and turned his head away to hide the slight embarrassment he felt from saying that out loud.

"...I-It sounded a lot better in my head, okay?"

To Kenji's remark, Cave simply turned around and closed her eyes.

"I have said nothing…" She replied calmly before opening her eyes again and looking around them "…Now then, where did those two go?"

While she looked around for the two ASIC members, Warechu was hidden behind some rocks, away from their sight.

"Oh man. The Killachine got busted up...I better get out of here before they find me-Chu"

"Too late…"

"Chu?"

Warechu suddenly felt something grabbing his tail and lifting him up. As he dangled around like a pendulum, he saw Kenji was the one holding him by the tail.

"You!? Ho-How did you find me so fast-Chu!?"

"Call it a gut feeling"

Although Kenji was attributing finding Warechu to luck, he actually used his ability to sense energy to find him.

Because Linda and Warechu's life force wasn't that different from an average person's, Kenji didn't manage to hunt them down among the crowds during the concert, but now that they were in an isolated place away from town, it hardly took any effort.

"Well done Kenji…" Said Cave while walking towards him

"I think the other one got away, though"

"We can deal with her later, at least we captured one…" she said before looking at the mouse hanging by the tail "…Well then. Are you ready to talk?"

"Yo-You're not getting a word outta this mouse-Chu!"

"I see…" She said as she raised her hand and created a sphere of fire "Maybe I should use some persuasion, then?"

"(More like incineration)" Though Kenji while sweat dropping.

When Cave was about to turn Warechu into a fried mouse, her phone began ringing.

"Oh...Hold on for a second"

She then dispelled her flame and searched for her phone.

"I-I'm saved-Chu" Said Warechu with relief while Cave took out her phone and answered it.

"Hello? Ah, Chika, what's wrong?" After hearing Chika over the phone for a moment or two, Cave's expression turned more stern than usual "I see….I'll send him right away"

After ending the call, she stored her phone back in her pockets and quickly turned to look at Kenji.

"Kenji, we need to head back to Leanbox right now!"

"Why? What's wrong?"

"The city is under attack!"

*Scene*

The streets of Leanbox laid in ruins as Judge laughed while waving his axe all around him, destroying anything that stood in his way.

Buildings, cars, and even people. The bulky warrior didn't care in the least what it was. As long as it could be either killed or destroyed, he would attack anything that stood in his way.

"Hahahaha! Finally, I can go as wild as I want!"

Meanwhile, Linda watched him as he destroyed everything in his way from a safe distance.

"Man, master Judge sure looks like he's having fun" She muttered to herself while sweat dropping

This act of destruction was not without retaliation, though as Leanbox's armies tried their best to stop him. But the results didn't seem too favorable.

"Come on! is that all you have!?" Yelled Judge as he sent the soldiers around him flying in all directions with one swing of his axe " I want someone strong to fight me!"

When faced with the overwhelming power of Judge, the soldiers were nothing more than cannon fodder, and even their strongest weapons hardly did anything to him.

As he was about to slice down his axe against one of the stragglers, the bulky warrior was suddenly hit by three large spears that exploded upon impact, forcing him stop in place.

"What the hell!?" He said as he looked around him

"If it's a strong opponent what you want…" Said a woman's voice with a stern tone "…Then I'm sure I'll be more than enough"

After realizing the voice was above him, Judge raised his head and saw Green Heart hovering in mid-air. And judging by her expression, she wasn't amused at all by what he did to her nation.

"Leanbox's CPU!? Now that sounds like fun!"

Green Heart descended to ground level and turned her head to look at her army.

"Stand back, I'll deal with him!" She ordered with a tone of authority "Those who are still able to move, carry the wounded to safety!"

The soldiers didn't hesitate to follow their CPU's orders and proceeded to retreat while carrying their wounded.

"And you...I'll make sure to make you pay in spades for this"

"Come on! Stop blabbering and fight me!"

Seeing there was little sense in speaking any further than this, Green Heart dashed towards Judge and took his attention by using a series of thrusting attacks. Although she attacked with precision on every thrust, Judge hardly seemed hurt by the end of it.

"Really!? Do you call that an attack!?"

Judge moved forward and used a slicing attack against Green Heart, but she managed to dodge it and jumped backwards.

"I guess that bulky body of his isn't just for show…" Muttered Green Heart to herself while standing up "…In that case!"

She instantly dashed forward again and dodged another one of Judge's attacks before launching a new barrage of her own. This time she used slashing attacks along with stronger thrusts, which although didn't hurt him too badly, they seemed to take effect. The CPU noticed it and kept on the pressure. Whenever Judge retaliated, she moved backwards and launched a trio of magical exploding spears to send him off-balance and give her enough time to get close for a new series of attacks.

"Argh, you bitch!"

After repeating this process a few times, Judge got irritated and dashed forward to attack Green Heart with constant slashes, which she managed to dodge, until one of them hit her and made her lose her balance. The bulky warrior then took this chance and threw another succession of attacks. This time all of them hit her directly.

"Judgement time!" He yelled as he used his most powerful attack to end the barrage

"ARGHHH!"

The CPU Yelled in pain as the last hit sent her flying away and crashing against the floor. While she laid on the ground, Judge moved in for the kill.

"Got you now!"

Green Heart turned her head and saw him approaching, ready to land the killing blow, until suddenly...

"Coldfire…"

"Wha-?" Said Judge as he raised his head, seeing someone flying right towards him

"Edge!"

Using a wrecked car as a jumping stone, Kenji jumped as high as he could and slashed at Judge with his flaming sword, hitting him directly. The humongous warrior was pushed back and fell backwards to the floor. After he landed on the ground, the young man turned his head to look at Green Heart over his left shoulder.

"You okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine..." She replied while getting up "Thank you"

Once she was back on her feet, she looked at Kenji. He was already in his HDD form, and although she had already seen it once, Green Heart still had a hard time believing someone else besides the CPUs could access HDD mode. And what he did just now was no easy feat either.

Toppling Judge like that was something even White Heart would have a hard time doing, yet he did it with just one attack of his "coldfire edge". The CPU just couldn't stop wondering just how someone could have that much power, especially without a source of shares. There wasn't much time left to think though, as Judge quickly got back up, and seemed quite angry.

"You bastard!"

Kenji turned his head to look at Judge again with slight surprise.

"He's back up already?"

"Despite his foul language and attitude, he's quite a sturdy foe" Explained Green Heart

"Who are you, you bastard!?"

"Master Judge...That's the CPU dude I told you about" Said Linda, who came out of her hidding spot and approached her boss

Judge turned his head to look at Linda, and then quickly turned it again to look at Kenji.

"CPU dude? You mean that's the strong guy!?"

A moment of silence went by before the bulky warrior spoke again

"Hell yeah! I get to kill two CPUs, then!"

Although Kenji didn't seem that strong from Judge's perspective, he only cared about one thing alone, and that was death and destruction. As long as Kenji managed to put up a good fight, Judge wouldn't care about anything else.

"Hey you! Come here and fight me!" Yelled Judge as he raised his large axe

"No need to ask!" Snarled Kenji while taking an assault stance

"(Why are men so persistent to yell while fighting?)" Thought Green Heart while sweat dropping

In a split second, both warriors dashed forward and clashed their weapons against each other. They struggled for a few seconds before breaking up and starting a constant exchange of attacks. Due to his advantage in speed, Kenji would manage to dodge most of the time and land direct hits while making sure not to block too much, as Judge's herculean strength made his attacks quite difficult to repel.

Although his resilient armored body would make it extremely difficult to cause any major injury, the fight against Green Heart and now the constant damage he was receiving from Kenji was starting to show up on him.

"Argh! Damn it! stay put so I can kill you!" Yelled Judge, angered with how Kenji would move from place to place, making it nearly impossible for Judge to hit him

"(I'm starting to hurt him, but if I don't do something, this will drag out for too long)"

Despite looking like Kenji and Green Heart were winning, the fight was evenly tied. Even if Judge was starting to suffer damage from their attacks, he was still in good shape and raging to go. Unless they managed to attack him with enough destructive force to tear through his armor and cause fatal damage, the fight would drag out to the point where Kenji's stamina eventually ran out and his speed would decrease enough for Judge to tear both of them apart.

While searching for a solution, Kenji noticed something that could change the outcome of the battle. In judge's armor, right in his chest, there was a dent already forming from all the hits it received. A few more impacts would surely cause the dent to grow big enough to make stabbing right through it a possibility.

With this idea in mind, Kenji then looked at his sword for a moment. Although a stabbing attack wouldn't be impossible with it, it would probably be too shallow to cause the needed amount of damage.

"This brute certainly doesn't know when to give up..." Said Green Heart, who also seemed to be growing quite tired as well

After looking at Green Heart, Kenji then looked at her spear. That, in turn, gave him an idea.

"Say..." Asked the young man while pointing at the Judge's damaged armor "If I make that dent in his chest any bigger, do you think you can stab through it?"

Green Heart looked at the dent in Judge's armor for a moment before looking at Kenji again with a confident smirk.

"You seem to be forgetting what my specialty is"

She had a point. Her skill when it came to thrust attacks using spears was unmatched, and Kenji was able to see it first-hand.

"In that case…" Said Kenji while turning his head to look forward at Judge "Wait until I give you an opening, then move in"

Green Heart nodded in agreement with Kenji's plan. And without wasting a single second, he dashed forward. Instead of attacking Judge head-on like before, he jumped and placed his feet forward. Suddenly, a blue sigil appeared in front of Kenji, who stepped on it and jumped upwards, reaching an even greater altitude.

"The hell is he doing now!?" Wondered the bulky warrior before pointing at him with his axe "Hey! Get down here and keep fighting me!"

Meanwhile, Leanbox's CPU looked at him as he repeated this process of using multiple sigils to reach even higher and recalled his match against Black Heart.

"(So he's going to use that tactic again)" She Thought as her mind recalled that moment

After creating that huge cloud of dust, Kenji used those sigils to quickly jump higher and get above Black Heart before using one more to push himself down towards her. At the same moment she recalled it, Kenji did that same set of movements as well.

Once he gained enough altitude, the young man spinned around and crouched upside down against the last sigil before raising his head to look at Judge, who was looking up at him as well.

"Hey, meathead!" He yelled before his sword's blade burst in flames "Try taking on this if you dare!"

After taunting Judge, Kenji jumped with all his strength, falling towards him with great speed as he held his sword bith both hands.

"You think I can't?!"

Angered by the young man's challenge, Judge held his axe with both hands and used it to block the incoming attack. The flaming sword then clashed against the axe's large handle, creating a powerful shockwave. The bulky warrior was confident that he would be able to block it without any troubles, but this attack proved to be far more powerful than the others. And while seeing him struggle against it, Green Heart knew perfectly well why.

The Coldfire edge was already powerful enough by itself, but when combined with the strong momentum of a fall from such height, its power multiplied considerably. This was how Kenji managed to take down Black Heart in one hit and win.

Despite his strength, the sheer power of the attack was too much for Judge's weapon to withstand, and the handle broke in half. This allowed Kenji's sword to move past it and hit Judge directly. Not only this time the attack was powerful enough to cause some major damage, but it also made the dent on Judge's chest twice as big and as fragile.

"Now!" Yelled Kenji as he landed on the ground and turned his head to look at Green Heart

Right after getting the signal, the CPU held her spear like a javelin and threw it at Judge with all her strength. The spear flew at top speed and hit him right in the dent, breaking through both the damaged armor and his chest.

"Arghhhh!" Yelled Judge yelled as he took a few steps back while placing his hand on the hole in his chest "I…I lost!? Impossible!"

The bulky warrior could tell he had lost, but there was no way he could accept it.

"I won't accept this, I won't accept this! There's no way I'll accept thiiiiiiis!"

Judge gave one last scream of anger as his body suddenly cracked and exploded into nothingness. And with that, the battle was finally over.

"Good job..." Said Green Heart approaching him.

"Yeah, the other one seems to have gotten away though" Said Kenji after getting back up on his feet and looking around him

"Don't worry about that. The threat has been dealt with and that's what really matters...Although..." She said before looking around her at the destroyed streets with a neutral expression "All this mess will surely bring a hefty amount of paperwork"

While Kenji reverted back to human and sheated his sword, Green Heart began calculating the amounts of work that would result from this incident.

"Poor Chika, she'll probably be swimming in extra mountains of work for days because of this" Said Leanbox's CPU while lowering her head and closing her eyes "I really feel sorry for her"

To this remark, the young man simply looked at her and sweat dropped.

*Scene*

The water of the shower ran down while Kenji sat down on the little stool and washed the fatigue away. After the fights against the Killachine and Judge, he needed something to relax his wounded and worn out body. Fortunately, the maids told him about this massive bathing area. He had never been in something larger than a basic bathtub before, so he wasn't really sure how to react when faced with something of this magnitude at first, but he soon found it to be quite relaxing. Although he couldn't stop wondering why build such a large bathing area when only two people lived here. Then again, it was probably just rich people's logic.

While pushing his wet hair back with his left hand and lowering his head, Kenji's mind began to wander.

"(So it's been two weeks already…)"

Due to always being busy with one thing or the other, the days went by flying without him realizing it. Tonight was the last he would spend on Leanbox before returning to Planeptune, and from there he would head yet to another nation.

He then began thinking about these last two weeks, about the new people he met and the new experiences he felt. At first he thought it would be a hassle, but it ended up been quite an interesting trip, so much to the point where he could say it was actually fun.

"I guess...I wouldn't mind living here after all"

"Is that so? I'm glad you think so…" Said a voice behind Kenji "…Say, would you like me to wash your back?"

"Hm? Oh, sure" Said Kenji calmly

The person behind Kenji then proceeded to grab a sponge and rubbed it all over Kenji's broad back. While she washed him, the young man then raised his head and looked at the bath again.

"But I've got to say, it's kind of odd to have an eastern style'd bath when nearly everything else in the mansion is western"

"I admit it might look a bit odd, but it always gives the chance of enjoying a bath with others if I ever get visits. And learning how to get the better out of different cultures is something important, don't you think so?"

Kenji lowered his head and placed his hand on his chin.

"Makes sense, i guess..."

He tought about it for a moment before quickly opening his eyes and finally realizing something very important.

"(Wait a minute…)" He thought carefully "(Right now, I'm taking a bath alone…so who am I talking to? Or rather, who's washing my back right now?)"

Kenji slowly turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw Vert kneeled behind him, happily washing his back, with only a towel covering her voluptuous body.

"Ve-Vert?!"

When hearing her name, Vert stopped looking at Kenji's back and looked at his face with a smile instead.

"Oh my, it seems someone finally chose to call me by my name" She said while giggling

"Okay, time to leave!" Said Kenji fast while suddenly trying getting up to leave

Vert noticed his attempt to escape and grabbed him by the waist, pulling him back to the stool.

"I'm not done yet"

"I-It's okay, really, I'm already clean so-!"

"Noooo good! you're not going anywhere until I'm done!" Said Vert with a determined tone before getting closer to his ear and whispering "Or would you rather have me scream?"

Kenji broke a cold sweat after hearing that. If Vert really did scream and someone entered, things could easily turn against him very, very fast.

"…keep on going, please…" Said Kenji with resignation while lowering his head

"Good boy" Said Vert while smiling with a feeling of victory

She then picked up the sponge once again and resumed washing Kenji's back. It only took a couple of minutes, but for Kenji, it felt like an eternity.

"There, all done!"

"(Fi-finally, maybe now I can lea-)"

Kenji's relief didn't last for long, as Vert suddenly wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him. But what really made Kenji nearly jump was the feeling of two large, soft foreign objects pressing against his back.

"Wh-Wh-What are you doing now?!"

"Oh, my...That what quite a cute reaction" Said Vert while looking at Kenji blush "Even though you're always looking like the cold guy, you're actually quite an innocent kid, aren't you?"

Kenji couldn't really call himself innocent, but this sort of extreme situation was not something he could handle calmly. In fact, he wasn't very sure if anyone at all could handle something like this calmly.

He then turned his head again and saw Vert's face was right in next to his. Although this got him even more nervous at first, Kenji soon managed to catch an odd smell coming from Vert's breath.

"Hey...Vert" said Kenji with a surprised tone "Have you…been drinking?"

"Just a little" She said with a smile before hiccupping

"Somehow I get the feeling you're not being honest here..." replied Kenji while sweat dropping

"I can't really say I'm fond of alcohol myself. But after seeing Chika so overworked, I just had to help her with the extra paperwork all day long" Explained Vert with a saddened expression while her eyes were closed "Having to work and handle my guild at the same time was so exhausting, yet I ran out of coffee. So when I found that old bottle lying around in the cellar, I just had to try it out"

"(She…She played an MMO and worked at the same time?)"

Vert then opened her eyes and looked at Kenji again.

"Imagine my surprise when I came here to take a relaxing bath and found you just sitting here so calmly"

"That doesn't really explain why you're holding on to me like that" Said Kenji nervously

"I thought it was obvious. I'm rewarding you"

"Re-Rewarding me?"

"To be honest, I'm unsure about my atraction to men beyond Yaoi...But you've been working so hard for me and Leanbox this last two weeks when you were supposed to be having fun instead, and even though I said I'd give you my full attention, I hardly spent any time with you...So right now, I'm gonna give you lots of attention…" Said Vert before suddenly hugging Kenji more tightly, making her breasts to push harder against his back "…Two weeks worth of it"

Leanbox's CPU raised her right hand and placed it softly on Kenji's cheek to make him face her, and then slowly approached her face to his. For a moment, Kenji was starting to lose his ability to think straight.

Her bountiful and smooth boody, the sweet smell of her hair, those mature and seducing eyes. It was indeed a mixture of charms ready to seduce any man into submission.

It seemed as though their lips would meet, but the young man suddenly grabbed her softly by the shoulders and stopped her on the last second. He then took a deep breath before moving her away slowly.

"I...I should get going..." He said with the most composture he could before getting up and walking towards the dressing "Try not to stay too long in here, or you'll catch a cold…"

Although it was nearly irresistible, Kenji decided to refuse Vert's offer to give him "attention"

Many would say he wasted a golden chance, and he probably did. But in her current state, it would be simply taking advantage of a drunken woman, and he didn't want his first intimate moment to be like that.

"(I knew it; he's a not a bad man after all)" Thought Vert while smiling and watching him walk away.

"(Tha-Thank goodness! I almost gave in for a moment there...)" He thought while sweat dropping

For a moment, the carnal desires almost took over all sense of reason Kenji had. Even now he could still feel his lower body screaming at him to turn around and take the chance. But he did his best to ignore it and headed towards the dressing room.

But this sensation wouldn't be his main focus for very long, as when he was about to reach for the sliding door, it suddenly burst open, revealing Chika in nothing more than a towel and a gleeful expression.

"Big sister! Let's take a bath toge-" Said the oracle cheerfully before opening her eyes and suddenly seeing Kenji standing right in front of her

Both of them stood looking at each other in silence, Chika with her eyes wide as plates and Kenji breaking a cold sweat.

"Oh my" Said Vert while watching from where she was with a weak smile

In this moment of awkward silence, Kenji closed his eyes and tried to figure out what to do now.

"(Don't worry, just calm down...I'm sure that if I explain she'll-)" He thought before opening his eyes seing Chika's expression

Unlike her usual calm self, the oracle was red like a tomato and had teary eyes. Yet, she seemed angry at the same time.

"Eh?"

"N-N-N-N-N-"

At that moment, Kenji's expression paled, he knew perfectly well what was about to happen. He even tried taking a step backwards to avoid it, but it was already far too late.

"NOOOOOOOOO!"

"Oh shi-!"

The last thing the young man saw before Chika knocked the lights out of him was her fist heading right towards his face.

On the following day in Planeptune, Neptune walked from one side to the other, humming in an impatient manner while the others watched her.

"Neptune, walking from one side to the other like that won't make them arrive any sooner" Said Histoire, already growing weary of Neptune's impatient behavior

"But Histy! This is a serious situation!" Retorted Planeptune's CPU while turning to face her oracle

"How so?" Asked IF, who like everyone else, had no idea what had Neptune so anxious

"Don't you gals get it? He spent two weeks with Vert!" She said while sounding unusually serious "I bet she totally tried using her boobs to make him drool all over! And if she got him, then my position as the main character in this fan fiction will be taken over!"

"Just what is she going on about now?"

"Well, it's not rare for big sister to talk about things like those" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile

Suddenly, the sound of a bell ringing caught everyone's attention.

"Ah, that must be them" Said Histoire while floating into the hallway and towards the door.

"So they're finally here" Said Blanc, who until now had been quietly reading a book while waiting

Shortly after hearing the sound of the door being opened, the first one to walk in was Vert, who looked like she had a bit of a headache. Then Kenji, who overall seemed okay, except for the fact that the area around his right eye was as purple as Planeptune's symbol.

"Kenji! What happened to your eye!?" Asked Compa with surprise as soon as she saw it

"This?" He said while placing his finger over the remaining bruise marks under his eye "It's just…a leftover from when that ASIC guy punched me"

Kenji said it was a wound caused in battle against Judge rather than saying it was Chika's doing. And there were few that could blame him for doing so.

"Man, it must have been a heck of a punch if it's still healing up" Said IF with widened eyes

"You have no idea…" He answered while sweat dropping with his eyes closed

Despite her headache, Vert was able to remember very well what happened last night; which was why the current situation made her let out a small giggle that fortunately went unnoticed.

"Nonetheless, you did a good job dealing with him. Now there's one less member of ASIC to worry about" Said Histoire, who felt glad about the victory over Judge

"By the way, I heard there were four of those guys..." Said Kenji while opening his eyes and turning his head to look at the tome "Who are the other three?"

"I'm afraid we don't know much about them either. The only member known to the public is their leader, CFW magic" Explained Histoire

"And she's incredibly strong too. Not even the four CPUs together could stop her" Added IF

"I see…"

Kenji closed his eyes again and imagined how strong this CFW magic was if she could take on all CPUs together and yet win.

"Hey! We're getting off the track here! We can't stretch the chapter much longer or the readers will get bored!" Yelled Neptune to catch everyone's attention

IF looked at her and sweat dropped

"Well, Neptune's 4th wall breaking comments aside, she's got a point" She said before turning her head to look at Kenji with a smile "So, how was your trip to Leanbox?"

"It was okay" He said while looking at IF

Putting aside last night's event, Kenji actually had a good time in Leanbox. Although steering clear of that place, or its oracle, for the time being would be a good idea.

"More importantly, did she make you drool?" Asked Neptune

"What?"

"I'm asking you, did she make you drool!?" She asked with her eyes closed and an irritated expression before raising both clenched hands up to face level "I bet Vert used her boobs to get you all drooling and waving your tail for her!"

"What am I? A dog?" Asked Kenji while sweat dropping

"I wouldn't put it below her to do that" Said a slightly angered Blanc

"I simply used the assets I have at hand to my advantage" Said Vert before making a slight movement with her arms, causing said assets to bounce.

Seing that little mockery from Leanbox's CPU caused a popped vein mark to appear on Blanc's forehead. She was not amused at all by her arrogance.

Knowing the two women would without a doubt transform and clash again, Kenji decided to move in and quickly change the subject.

"A-Anyway, where am I going next?"

Fortunately for everyone in the room, Blanc seemed to focus on the young man's question, as took a deep breath to calm down before opening her eyes and looking at him.

"I already decided it with Noire earlier...You'll be going with me to Lowee this time"

"Lowee?"

"Yes…" Answered Lowee's CPU while nodding "The land of White serenity, Lowee"


	6. Snowy castles and flying books

**Note from the author:**

 **Hey everyone, thank you for reading my story. After putting some thought into it, I decided to take some time to answer a few questions I've been getting in the reviews and that maybe I should have explained during the first chapter. First of all, regarding couplings. Instead of insantly shipping Kenji with someone right off the bat, I'm going to develop his relationship with the other characters a bit more along with his growth as a character throughout the story, then start adding romance into the mix when i see he developed enough. And regarding the setting, the story will take place through out the three remakes (Re;Birth1,2 and 3) along with a few elements from the original ones and an extra arc that will be more of a mix between megadimension and an original story. So yeah, it's probably going to be a bit long, and I might cut the arcs into different stories instead of just piling it all up into one single story, that way it won't feel so heavy for you guys. Anyway, thanks again for reading and if you have any other question, don't doubt about asking.**

* * *

Serene, calm and magical. Those three would be the best words to describe the nation Kenji just set foot into.

The snow covered it all, from the mountains in the distance to the buildings and the streets alike. This caused the town to have a constantly cold climate all-year round and giving it a sense of calm and serenity. Unlike the futuristic and urbanized nations like Leanbox and Planeptune; Lowee was the very definition of a classic fantasy RPG town. The buildings and houses alike were designed in odd, yet colorful ways that hinted at an aura of cheerfulness. Almost as if a very creative child came up with them. And without a doubt the most noticeable structure out of everything else was the massive white castle in the center, surrounded by equally colossal walls. It had a red roof with a tower entangled by a spiraling structure filled with lights.

Lowee seemed to focus more on its application of magic than the other two nations. Almost all of the people's conveniences were handled by the use of magic rather than technology, although technological appliances like game consoles were quite present in Lowee too.

"(Damn, it's cold around here!)" Thought the young man while rubbing his arms to keep the warmth

The strong cold was something that would need some getting used to, but it didn't change the fact Kenji was amazed by the scenery around him.

The other nations were impressive, that's for certain. But so far, Lowee was the only place that truly made him feel like he was in another world.

"We're almost there" Said Blanc while calmly walking without even turning around to look at him.

Both of them walked through the gates, which weren't as colossal as the walls but still quite big, and entered the castle. Kenji then looked around him at the inside, and it was kind of what he expected. Large hallways, a red carpet on the floor and some armor suits placed one side as decoration while the other was a large row of windows that gave a view to the outside. There weren't quite as many rooms as with Vert's mansion though. Kenji looked at Blanc and couldn't help but wonder why someone so small would need to live in such a huge castle. Perhaps it was something the people of Lowee wanted, since she was technically their goddess.

After a few minutes of walking and going up some stairs, they finally reached the end of the hallway, which was a large door. Blanc reached out for the door, opened it and entered calmly while the young man followed her inside.

"By the way, look out for the book" Said Lowee's CPU while walking inside

"What book?"

Kenji hardly managed to make his question before a large book came out of nowhere and flew right towards him, hitting him straight in the forehead and making him fall to the floor.

"That book…" She replied while turning around to look at Kenji lying on the floor

"Yay! Direct hit!" Said Ram with enthusiasm and pride in her pearless aim

"Right on target…" Added Rom with a smile

When the cheerful CPU candidate of Lowee opened her eyes, she suddenly noticed the one lying on the floor wasn't her original target.

"Eh? That wasn't Big sister?"

"Who is it…?"

"Hey…Are those by any chance..." said Kenji without getting up from the floor or even looking at Blanc

"Yes, they're my little sisters…"

"…Quite Lovely…those girls..."

Shortly after the young man's sarcasm, a woman rushed into the room and ran towards the twins before scolding them.

"Rom, Ram! What have I told you about throwing books at people!?"

"Not to do it" Said Ram bluntly while turning around to look at the woman.

"It's a bad thing…" Added Rom while turning around as well

While Kenji got back up on his feet, the woman then brought both girls to stand in front of him.

"I'm really sorry about that…" She said while lowering her head and speaking in an apologetic way to Kenji "As their guardian and tutor, it is my responsibility to apologize"

"Don't worry" Said Kenji while rubbing his left index and middle finger against the spot where the book hit him.

More than angry, he was impressed. Despite her small size and petite body, Ram packed a hell of a throw. And she certainly had some pearless aim to be able to hit straight in the center of the forehead from that distance.

While the woman focused on speaking with the twins and with Blanc could, Kenji took a moment to look at her. She was a tall, light skinned young woman with very long milk-blue hair worn in low pigtails held with big orange-yellow circled pieces with short bangs. Her eyes were dark blue with a red square pair of glasses in front of them, and her appearance resembled that of a graduate student, wearing a short white dress under a red, long jacket-like robe worn open with gold lining and buttons, along with some clear blue circuit board designs on the inside. The sleeves puffed below her elbows and had long cuffs, while at her neck there was a collar and a red bow with a golden badge. She also wore a matching graduate hat with two long white tassels on opposite ends, and a pair of see-through, frilled stockings and red heels. And they were quite appealing to the eye.

"(White see-through stockings...Nice...)" Thought Kenji while looking at them with certain interest

"Now then, let's try that again…" Said Blanc while turning her head to look again at Kenji, who immediately raised his stare to avoid getting caught "…This is Mina Nishizawa, Lowee's Oracle"

Mina looked away from the twins for a second to look at Kenji and beamed at him.

"Good day. It's a pleasure to meet you"

"Same here" He answered while nodding

"And these are Rom and Ram, my younger sisters and Lowee's CPU candidates" she added while gesturing at each of them when saying their names.

Kenji then diverted his eyes down to look at the twins. Both little girls looked exactly the same as Blanc in terms of eye and hair color, except that Ram had long hair that reached down to her chest and seemed more cheerful and energetic while Rom had shoulder length hair and had a frowning expression, she also seemed be a shy one from how she shuffled on the spot.

Both of them were wearing winter coats over a plain gray and white overall dress. The coat had puffed sleeves and a frilled white center part with many golden buttons, with a big light blue bow on the collar and six puffballs strategically placed. At the ends of the cuff there was white fur lining and a big golden button. They both wore caps like Blanc's and had boots with a similar color scheme with their coats. Both girls had the exact same clothes, except that Rom's color scheme was pastel blue while Ram's was pastel pink. The only difference was that Ram had a light blue purse on her right shoulder, while Rom had a pastel pink one on the opposite side.

"Rom, Ram, this Is Kenji" Said Blanc while turning around to look at her sisters

"Kenji?" Asked Ram as she looked at the young man for a moment

Although it already happened quite some time ago, the CPU candidate was able to remember the last time she heard that name before quite quickly.

"Ah! Now I remember!" She said while pointing at Kenji "It's the bad guy that bullied one-chan!"

"Kenji…a bad guy…" Said Rom while looking at him with slight mixture of fear and animosity

Kenji looked at them, but wasn't really surprised by their reaction. They were Blanc's little sisters after all, it was just a given they wouldn't be too happy about what happened back then.

"Now you two, that happened a long time already and your sister accepted it as well...Also, that prank was not nice at all" Said Mina while scolding the twins "So, what do we say?"

"Eh!? Why would I apologize to him!?" Snarled Ram while turning around to look at Mina "He's a bad guy!"

"Yeah…a bad guy!" Added Rom while nodding

"No, That's not what you're supposed to say. Try again"

"I said I don't want to!"

After that agressive reply, the oracle's eyes seemed to sparkle for a second before she closed them and smiled while a shadow fell over them, giving her a terrifying appearance.

"What do good little girls say?" Said Mina in a calm, yet low and oddly terrifying tone while emphasizing every single word

Ram immediately turned around and looked at Kenji.

"I'm sorry" She said with a neutral voice and expression, almost as if all desire to refuse had faded away

"Sorry…" Said Rom as well

Mina's terrifying aura faded away before she raised her head to look at Kenji with a refreshed smile.

"And with that said, I hope you'll be able to forgive them"

"I-It's cool..." Said Kenji while breaking a cold sweat "(Damn...)"

At that moment the young man understood that, despite her calm and gentle appearance, there was more to this oracle than meets the eye. Then again, considering the kind of ´joke´ Ram just pulled out, taking care of these two probably required having that sort of attitude. It didn't change the fact it was a terrifying thing, though.

Fortunately for him, and probably the twins as well, Blanc broke this tension.

"Mina, take Kenji to his room" She said while looking at the oracle "I need to talk with Rom and Ram"

"As you order" Replied the oracle while bowing to her CPU before looking at Kenji again "Well then, allow me to escort you to the room you will be staying in"

While Blanc was left behind with her sisters, the young man followed the oracle without saying a thing. As they walked through the hallways, and up some stairs, Kenji noticed that the place wasn't as large as he expected, it was probably because Blanc and her sisters just used one part as their home while the other areas were used for government-related issues. In a way, it could explain the unnecessarily large size of the castle.

"We have arrived" Said Mina before stopping right in front of a door and turning around to look at him

She then opened the door for Kenji, allowing him to walk inside. It was not very different from Leanbox's room, except that the walls were painted clear white and the room was smaller. The bed's blankets were pastel blue and while there wasn't a PC; there were many books, enough to fill the double bookshelves. There was also a simple white desk placed between both bookshelves with a matching simple chair and a white dresser with some drawers.

"Also..."

"What is it?" Replied the young man as he turned around to look at the Oracle

"Lowee may not have much to offer in terms of technology when compared to other nations, but I really hope you enjoy your stay"

He looked at the oracle in silence for a few seconds before answering.

"Thank you...I'll try"

"Well, if you excuse me..."

Mina lowered her head in a similar fashion to that of maids before closing the door and walking away from the room, leaving him by himself. After taking one more look around his new room for a bit, Kenji placed the black rucksack he bought in Leanbox, packed with some extra clothes, on the bed and walked up to the window to look through it. Since his room was in a high spot of the castle, he had quite a good view of the entire town. And it was really amazing during daylight, so much that Kenji couldn't wait to see how it looked at night.

*Scene*

Life on Lowee was a strange mixture of serenity and chaos. The silence and calm around the castle and most of town in general made it a relaxing place. From time to time, Kenji would go out around town to do a quest, train or simply to admire the scenery, which was quite hard to get tired of. The one bad thing about living in Lowee that added chaos into the mix were the twins, or Ram to be more specific.

Ever since his arrival, Kenji had become the main target of Ram's pranks. Most of the time it would be just an innocent joke like putting a line of tape in a door, causing him to hit his face with it and fall to the floor or slip with a banana skin and fall painfully. Others it would be something a bit brutal, like putting a bucket filled with ice cold water over a slightly opened door, causing it to fall on him when he opened it or just bluntly throw a book at his head whenever he came back from outside. Rom, on the other hand, didn't really bother Kenji, nor did she approach him, or talk to him. In fact, it was quite possible that she probably even feared him by the way she constantly tried to avoid him. The young man didn't really do anything in particular to cause that reaction on her, but maybe Ram told her whatever she came up with to make her scared of him.

"Man, this week's been awful…" Said Kenji to himself while walking along a street with his head lowered along with his hands on his pockets and his eyes closed before a popped veing mark appeared on his forehead along with an irritated expression "That dumb brat is really pushing it!"

Mina would usually scold Ram for her pranks, but that hardly had any effect on the CPU candidate. And Blanc didn't really seem interested in what was happening around her, either. She simply sat down on her room every day to read from dawn to night and whenever she wasn't reading, she was writing something on her PC. He wasn't sure what it was, but the CPU would spend almost all of her time on it. Either way, Kenji had to figure out how to solve this situation.

"(I really need to do something here...but what?)" He thought while slowly calming down

From his current point of view, Kenji had three choices. He could try withstanding the pranks for one more week and leave, but he doubted that was possible, considering he was already on the verge of exploding. He could just try to up and leave right now, but that would be against the agreement he had with the CPUs.

His only choice right now was to make Ram stop somehow, not get along with him, but just stop. Now the question was how. While thinking how to solve this puzzle, Kenji suddenly bumped into someone.

"Ow!" Said a small, young voice

"Ah...Sorry, I didn't see where I-" Said Kenji while turning his head and opening his eyes, but stopped as soon as he saw who he bumped with

The CPU candidate was sitting on the floor with two plastic bags on both sides and a few cans pouring out of them.

"You're...One of the twins"

"Uh?" Said Rom as she raised her head and before her expression turned into slight fear after seeing Kenji "Eeek!? It's the bad guy…!"

Seeing she was starting to panic, the young man placed his hands in front of him to try and show he had no intention to harm her.

"Wait, wait! Calm down! I won't do anything bad!"

"You...You won't?"

Seeing the little girl's fear diminished, Kenji sighed with relief before replying to her question.

"I won't, I promise..." He answered with a more calmed tone before kneeling in front of Rom and extending his hand towards her to help her get up "Come on now, the floor's too cold to sit on it"

Rom looked at his hand and hesitated for a moment before slowly reaching out and grabbing it. her hand was small and soft as snow, but pleasantly warm to the touch.

Kenji closed his fingers around her hand and due to their difference in size, he only needed to raise his arm slowly to help the little girl get back up on her feet.

"There we go" He said while brushing the snow off of Rom's shoulders

Kenji looked around and noticed she was alone, which was quite odd considering the twins would never leave the house without the other.

"You're by yourself?"

Rom nodded

"Mina asked me and Ram… to buy some things….and Ram didn't want to…"

"Why?"

"She said something about a bucket and mud…"

"(So that's what's waiting for me today…)" Thought Kenji as he closed his eyes and sweat dropped

After opening his eyes, he saw Rom picking up some of the cans lying around and decided to help her. Once they picked up all of them and put them back into the bags, Kenji looked at her again.

"I think that's all of them" He said while counting them

Rom looked inside the bags, counted the cans as well and nodded.

"Yes…"

She then picked up the large plastic bags again and lifted them. While standing back up, Kenji saw Rom had difficulty carrying the bags and extended his hand towards her again.

"Let me carry one"

"But…"

"It's hard carrying too many bags at once, right?" He said while keeping his hand extended "Besides, I was heading back too. Might as well help you while I'm at it"

Rom was slightly doubtful at first, but agreed to accept Kenji's help and gave one of the bags to him. Both of them then faced the castle once again and walked towards it. On the way there, Rom looked at Kenji a few times before she finally mustered the courage to speak to him.

"…Um…Mister Kenji?"

"Mister? Well that's a first" Said Kenji while turning his head to look at her "Just calling me Kenji is fine"

"Then…Kenji"

"That's better" Said Kenji while nodding.

Being called mister wasn't really that bad, but it made him feel a lot older than he actually was

"What is it?"

"You hate big sister?"

"Big sister? You mean Blanc?" Asked Kenji with doubt, as he didn't know if she was referring to Ram or to Blanc

Rom nodded in answer to Kenji's question.

"Not really"

"Then…why did you hurt her?"

"Eh?" Said Kenji while stopping and looking at Rom

"That day, when big sister came back, she was hurt all over…so much that Mina had to cover her in bandages" Said Rom with her head lowered before raising it to look at him again "If you're not a bad guy…and you don't hate big sister…then why did you hurt her?"

As he looked at Rom's big teary eyes, Kenji had an odd feeling of guilt building up within him. He had no idea of how to explain it to her, nor a good reason to justify it.

Truth to be told, he did it out of impulse rather than doing it for a good reason. He merely didn't want to back down from the challenge and give those arrogant women the satisfaction of feeling like they could do whatever they  
wanted just for the heck of it.

Explaining something like that, especially to a little kid, was way beyond Kenji's capabilities.

"You see…sometimes, people can't agree with each other, and they tend to end up fighting because of it…" He said while trying to explain it the best he could "But they tend to get along well afterwards, like now"

"Then…now you're friends with big sister?"

After hearing that new question, Kenji looked at her again for a moment before turned his head to look forward.

Although Blanc didn't seem to hate him, Kenji couldn't really say they were friends either.

"Friends…may be pushing it a bit" He said while scratching the back of his head "I think acquaintances would be more like it"

"Acquaintances?"

"It's kind of like knowing someone, but not knowing them well enough to be friends with them"

Rom lowered her head and thought about what he told her, she kept thinking about all the way back to the castle. Once there, both entered and headed towards the kitchen, where Kenji helped Rom store the cans and separate them properly.

"There, that was the last one" Said Kenji while closing the door of the upper shelf

"Kenji" said the CPU candidate while looking at him.

Kenji then lowered his head to look at her, causing both of them to look at each other's eyes again.

"What is it?"

"Why…did you help me?"

"Why?" He said while closing his eyes and thinking about it with his arms crossed and eventually opening them again to look at her "…I don't know. I guess I just wanted to do it?"

Although slightly vague, that was by far the only answer Kenji could come up with without having to put too much tought into it. But the fact it didn't require too much thinking meant it was an honest answer.

"Kenji"

After a moment of silence, Rom said Kenji's name again, which made him open his eyes and look at her.

"Thank you…for helping me" She said with a smile.

Seeing Rom's warm and innocent smile made his eyes widen, but before he could say anything, the door suddenly burst open. Both of them nearly jumped before turning their heads to look at the doorway. But it was at that moment that their expressions paled.

Mina was standing in the entrance, completely covered in mud from head to waist, with a shadow covering the upper part of her face. Despite having her eyes closed and wearing a large smile, Kenji could tell there was immeasurable rage hiding behind it.

"Rom…there you are" She said with complete calm

Even her tone was filled with a silent rage.

"Mi-Mina…?" Said Rom with obvious fear in her voice

This sign of strong fear made it clear that not even the CPU candidate had seen the oracle this angry before.

"I see you bought the groceries like I asked you to…So, where is Ram?"

"I don't know…She didn't come with me"

"I see..." She said with the same amount of calm "If you find her, please tell her I'm looking for her...We need to talk"

Kenji could have sworn that as she spoke, a vein mark popped on her forehead. Not a usual comical popping vein symbol, but a real vein popping so hard it could be seen marking the skin.

"Erm…Miss Mina?" He called out to try and get some of the tension away from poor Rom

The oracle then moved her head slightly and seemed to be looking at Kenji now.

It was hard to tell, considering her eyes were closed, or at least seemed closed from his perspective.

"Ah, Kenji…What are you doing here?"

The question was weird one in itself, but it could probably be because Mina was so focused on Rom and finding Ram that she completely ignored Kenji's prescence until he called out to her.

Unfortunately, now everything she was holding within her could easily explode on him if he wasn't careful with his word.

"I…I was just-"

"He helped me… with the groceries" Interrupted Rom

The young man looked at Rom for a moment before looking at Mina again.

"Is that so?" Replied Mina, sounding somewhat thankful "Thank you for your assistance...I appreciate it"

"I-it's nothing really" He answered while breaking a cold sweat "Anyway…what happened?"

Kenji immediately regretted his choice of words. It was obvious what happened just from looking at her.

"You mean this?" She said while grabbing a part of her muddy coat with her hand "Well, that's what I want to know myself...You see, I was just taking a few documents to an office, tending to my own business. But when I opened a door to go to another hallway, a bucket filled with mud fell over me"

"I see…"

"My old clothes were getting weary, so I ordered these a few weeks ago…" She said while holding onto the frame of the doorway "these clothes were brand new…and now they're ruined…with mud…"

With every word, the sound of creaking wood coming from the doorway increased.

Not even the CPUs could make the young man feel this endangered before.

"Well then...I should be on my way now. Have a good day"

"Yo-You too…"

With that said, Mina quietly left as fast as she arrived.

After a few minutes passed, Kenji sighed and sweat dropped. Whatever the oracle was planning to do, Ram sure was in for a heck of a punishment now.

"Well, I think I'll go back to my room for now. If you see your sister, tell her to hide, or run…or both" Said Kenji while walking towards the door.

"Kenji"

Kenji turned his head around and looked at Rom.

"I don't think you're a bad guy…" She said while smiling again "I hope you and big sister can be friends soon"

"...I hope so too" He replied while almost making a smile before walking out

*Scene*

Thinking about it, Kenji never really bothered getting to know the CPUs better. He would just move around the place, minding his own business and then come back only to sleep or eat. Despite spending two weeks with Vert, he could hardly tell he got to know her that much better than before. And even after more than a month with Neptune, he didn't know much about her; except for the fact she was an energetic brat that loved pudding and was a bit of a dim bulb.

If Rom used to fear him because of what happened with Blanc, then Ram's pranks probably had a similar reason behind them. Kenji thought about it for a moment and figured that if he managed to show them he could get along with Blanc, then Ram would eventually stop, or at least ease up a bit. At least that's what he thought would happen.

While walking through the hallway, Kenji recalled his chat with Rom yesterday and what he answered to her.

"I hope so too, Huh?" He said to himself as he recalled the CPU candidate's smile

The young man wasn't really interested in knowing Blanc at first, but after talking with Rom the other day, Kenji felt the urge to do it. But first, he needed to be ready.

"What kind of person is Lady Blanc?" Said Mina while turning her head to look at him "Why do you wish to know that?"

"I tought that If I showed those two that I can get along with their sister, then they might ease up on me"

"I see...That certainly sounds like a good idea" replied the oracle with a smile

"So, anything you can tell me about her?"

Mina closed her eyes and though for a moment before opening them and looking at Kenji again.

"For starters, Lady Blanc loves books with a passion. She loves it so much that she dedicates herself to write whenever she has the chance" She replied while pointing that out as the first detail "Also, she is very shy and caring for others"

"I can't really say she left that impression on me when we first met" He said with his eyes closed while sweat dropping

Even if Kenji's opinion sounded a bit rude, no one could really blame him considering that trying to crush his skull with a hammer was among the first things she did.

"Well, I do admit she was quite angered because of the sudden shift in shares" She admitted while sweat dropping with a weak smile "But I can assure you, Lady Blanc is a caring person...In fact, I'm sure she's been thinking about how to help you get along with Rom and Ram"

Kenji simply scratched the back of his head and looked sideways with a skeptic expression.

In the last week, she hardly talked to him, let alone tried doing something. Just like Vert, Blanc spent all of her time locked up in her room, with the only difference being that she would spend her time reading, not playing games.

Mina looked at the young man's expression and could tell he didn't believe in her description of Blanc. And while his way of seeing Lowee's CPU was slightly rude, she could understand it perfectly. After all, he wasn't the first one to think like that.

"If you go and talk with her, I'm sure you'll understand" Said the oracle with a smile

Kenji didn't really understand what Mina meant by that, but since he already had made up his mind about it earlier, he headed to Blanc's room anyway.

Once in front of the door, he knocked a few times and waited. It took a minute or so before Blanc opened the door while holding a book under her arm and looked at him.

"Hey there"

"Hey…"

Kenji and Blanc stared at each other for a moment two before she spoke again.

"Is there something you need?"

"Nothing really. I just wanted to talk with you"

"Oh, okay…" She said while stepping aside to let him go in "Come in and take a seat...I'll ask Mina to bring some tea"

"Okay" Replied Kenji before walking into the room.

Blanc's room wasn't very different from his room in general appearance, except that it was slightly larger. There was a desktop PC and also a massive amount of books, some piled up by the dozens. Although something like this would usually look like a complete mess, the books were actually arranged quite tidily. There was also a small table with two chairs, probably for receiving guests. Kenji took the freedom to sit in one of the two chairs and waited for Blanc, who after a moment or two brought a set of tea with some biscuits in a silver tray. She placed in on the table, served tea in one of the two cups and gave it to Kenji.

"Here you go…" She said while placing it in front of him

"Thanks"

Blanc then proceeded to serve some tea in the remaining cup and sat in the chair to face Kenji.

"So…" She said

"So…" Said Kenji as well while trying to come up with something, only to realize that he rushed into this situation without thinking what to talk about with her and sweat dropped "(So, what do I say now?)"

Kenji had never been good at starting conversations. He would usually wait until someone else started it and follow the flow.

"So, I see you like books" He said while Looking around him at the books and thinking it would be a good way to start

"Yes…I like books" Replied Lowee's CPU as she nodded.

Judging by the massive amount of books piled up around them, calling it like would be a severe understatement.

"The ability to create a whole new world and give life to it using only words and your imagination…it's really a wonderful thing"

While looking at her, Kenji noticed a smile on Blanc's face as she looked at the books around her.

At first he tought that Blanc was just a crazed berserker, but she was actually quite a calm girl; so much that he had a hard time believing she and White Heart where the same person. He then remembered being told by Histoire that, besides from the physical appearance, the HDD transformation had the side effect of altering an individual's personality, although the intensity of the changes varied depending on the individual. Kenji couldn't help but wonder if this applied to him as well. The transformation did make him feel stronger physically, but he didn't really feel much of a change in personality, at least not any that he could notice.

"So, how has your stay on Lowee been so far?" She asked while looking at Kenji again

The young man quickly snapped out of his train of thought and looked at her again

"It's been good. I like how quiet this place is"

"I like that about it too…it makes reading easier…" She said while nodding in agreement "And what about my sisters? How are things going with them?"

"Well…about that…" He said with a certain awkwardness in his tone

Kenji went ahead and explained to her the situation about how although he was starting to get along with Rom, Ram didn't seem to like him in the least.

"I see…I was getting the odd feeling things were too quiet around me lately"

"Eh?"

"Ram usually does that sort of things to everyone, even to me sometimes"

"I-I see…" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

Kenji wasn't sure what to say. He had already figured out that Ram wasn't the best behaved kid in the neighborhood, but he didn't think he'd do that sort of crazy stuff even to his own sister.

"She also used to do it to Mina, but stopped for some reason"

This time he didn't bother saying anything, he simply let Blanc go on as she lowered her head and closed her eyes to wonder about it.

Considering certain things about the oracle, the answer wouldn't be too hard to answer.

"I do admit that she seems to be focusing on you more than anyone else lately"

"I think I noticed that already…"

Suddenly, a thudding sound behind him caught his attention. He turned his head and saw that a book had fallen off the side of Blanc's bed. Since he was closer, Kenji got up and went to pick up the book. Blanc noticed it as well and her eyes immediately widened after realizing what book it was.

"What's this?" He said while picking up the book and examining it.

"Ah! Wa-Wait, that book is-!" She said while getting up, but didn't get to him in time

Kenji turned around the book for a bit and found the title in the cover. The words 'How to make your twin little CPU sisters get along with your CPU male guest' were written on the cover in large white letters.

"(This is… an oddly specific tittle)" He thought while sweat dropping, then suddenly noticed something "(Wait, wasn't this the book she was holding when she opened the door earlier?)"

Without a warning, Blanc took the book away from his grip and hid it behind her.

"Mi-Mina told me about your problem with them a few days ago, okay!?" She yelled while blushing

Kenji got back up on his feet and looked at her.

"Wait, so then the book you've been reading so much lately-"

"Yeah, it was this one! Got a problem with that!?" She snarled, trying to sound angry

He looked at her for a moment with a mixture of surprise and confusion. Kenji didn't think Blanc would be concerned about him. The awkward silence got Blanc more embarrassed, causing her to blush harder and end up making him leave her room.

"Gaaaah! just forget it already!" She said while pushing Kenji out into the hallway "I'll do something about it when I can, just get out!"

After she closed the door behind him, the young man turned around and looked at the door for a moment before scratching the back of his head and walking down the hallway back to his room. Maybe, just maybe, Mina was right after all.

Meanwhile, on the twin's room…

Ram walked from one side of her room to the other, still annoyed from the failure of her last prank and how it backfired on her.

"That guy! I'm sure he did it!" She yelled while sitting on the bed "Damn it! I'll get him for sure next time!"

"Ram…"

Rom, who had been watching her sister moving around cursing her bad luck, now called out to her.

"Hm? What's wrong Rom?" Asked Ram while turning her head to look at her

"Why…do we keep being mean to Kenji?"

Ram looked at Rom like if she just asked a very dumb question.

"What do you mean why!? Because he's a bad guy, and we need to make him leave!"

At that moment, she realized Rom referred to the young man as "Kenji" instead of "bad guy"

"Wait…Kenji?" She said with slight confusion

"The other day…he helped me carry the groceries…"

"What about it?"

"He said he wasn't a bad guy…"

"Of course he'll say that! Bad guys always say they're not bad!" Said Ram before getting up from the bed and walking towards Rom. "Now listen, Rom...When bad guys don't want to be found out, they say they're not bad, and if you believe him and lower your guard, he'll end up beating up big sister again, and then he'll beat us up and take all the shares!"

"But big sister said-"

"No buts! If I say he's a bad guy, he's a bad guy!" Yelled Ram at her sister, now getting angry

Feeling hurt by the way Ram kept yelling at her, Rom got teary eyed and began sobbing.

"Ah! Rom, don't cry!" She said with widened eyes

"But…you're being so mean…!" Said Rom while sobbing

"I'm sorry. I'll stop being mean, so stop crying, okay?"

Despite her words, Rom didn't stop her sobbing. Seeing it didn't work, Ram closed her eyes and began blaming Kenji inside her mind.

"(Now Rom is mad at me. This is all that guys fault! I'm not going to forgive him!)"

Ram kept trying to stop her sister's crynig, both unaware that they were being watched at that very moment.

"Okay, all's looking fine there" Said Linda while looking at the twins.

Outside the castle, she was hiding away at a safe distance, spying through the windows with binoculars.

While looking from window to window, she saw Kenji walking through a hallway and nearly jumped up from the surprise.

"Wha-! It's that dude again!? The heck is he doing here!?" Said the underling before putting the binoculars away and getting up on her feet "I better go tell master Trick about this"

While running through the streets and heading towards the hideout, Linda recalled the events from Leanbox.

Although she managed to escape safely from the nation, Judge got done in by Kenji and Green Heart, and Warechu had yet to appear. Some rumors coming from Leanbox said he was captured and held prisoner for interrogation, but he ended up showing up in Lowee yesterday, although he seemed to have suffered quite severe burns and smelled like fried chicken for some odd reason. But one way or the other, Linda was the only one that made it out at the time, and as such, most of the blame fell on her. Fortunately, due to her position as an underling and the fact that, in a sense, the mission was successful, she was allowed to remain in ASIC and was sent to work under CFW Trick.

"Master Trick, master Trick!"

Linda called out to her boss as soon as she entered the hideout, and after searching for him a bit, she finally found him. He seemed quite busy with something else, though.

"Master Trick!"

"What do you want? Can't you see I'm busy?" Said CFW Trick without even turning around to look at her

The being in front of Linda was a drooling, dirty and yellow armored being. Some people thought he resembled a pig, others a lizard. Later everyone agreed on the lizard resemblance, as he had a scaled tail similar to a snake's. His most notable feature, though, was his enormous tongue-like piece. Just like Judge, he was one of the four felons, and despite his dirty and fat appearance, he was quite powerful and tricky.

"Now then, which one should I choose? Kindergarten, school uniforms, school swimsuits, maid uniform…" He said before chuckling "Ahhh, so many choices! Ah, I know! Since I'm a gentleman, I'll let them choose!"

While Trick got immersed in his cosplaying fantasies, Linda looked at him and made a slightly nauseous expression.

Despite his high position in ASIC and high combat ability, there was one certain detail about Trick that made him hard, if not impossible, to deal with. He was a complete pedophile. And not only that, but he was completely open and proud about it, mentioning his desire to use his large tongue to lick little girls loud and clear for everyone to hear. This made most of ASIC members unable to work with him, as almost everyone was either disgusted or creped out by it. In Linda's case, disgust would be the perfect description of what she felt towards him. Although she preferred working for him instead of Judge, since at the very least, Trick didn't threaten to kill her every five minutes.

Linda remained stunned by this feeling of disgust for a bit longer before shaking her head and putting it away. There were more important things happening right now.

"Master Trick, we have a problem with the CPUs!"

Trick quickly turned around and looked at Linda with panic

"What!? Don't tell me something happened to my little girls!"

"Erm…actually, it's not related to them…" She answered while sweat dropping again

"Is that so? Well I don't care then" He said while turning around again

"Ah? Wa-wait a minute, master Trick! It really is important!"

"Fine…I'll listen..."

Although reluctantly, Trick paid attention to Linda's report. The underling then gave him every single piece of information she had, mostly about Kenji.

"The male CPU?"

"I'm telling you Master Trick, that guy's dangerous!" She said with slight panic "He's the one that took out Master Judge!"

"Judge's only perk was being able to take punches; the fool bit more than he could chew and had what was coming to him"

"But-"

Linda tried making her boss realize the gravity of the situation by emphasizing it, but Trick's large tongue suddenly stopping in front of her face made her go silent.

"You...Do you really think I can't deal with him? Are you saying I'm even weaker than Judge?"

"N-No, it's just-"

"The mission will go as planned, and that young man's presence won't change a thing. Are we clear?"

"Ye-Yes…"

"Good...Are you done with your part?"

"Yes, the plan can start tomorrow"

"Then you can go…"

"Yes sir…"

Linda turned around and walked away while Trick retracted his tongue and focused his attention again on his piles of cosplays

"I look forward to tomorrow" He said while chuckling "Ahhh, I can't wait to hold those little girls in my tongue"

"(He'd be really baddass if it weren't for that thing he has for little girls)" Thought Linda while walking away with her resurfaced nauseous expression.

The following day…

Mina ran through the hallways in a hurry, running past many rooms and up many staircases before finally reaching Kenji's room.

"Kenji! Kenji! Please open the door!" Said the oracle while abruptly banging on the door

After a moment or two, the door opened, revealing Kenji. He was still half asleep, and wearing nothing but a pair of gym pants and sockets, probably used as sleeping clothes. Of course, it didn't do much to cover his waist or anything above it.

In the presence of this lean and well-built torso, Mina's face quickly turned red. The oracle had never seen a bare male body before, and only read about it in some of her books, but this was the first time she saw one in the flesh.

"I-I'm terribly sorry! I didn't mean to interrupt you!" She said as she took a step back and placed her hands in front of her face while turning around.

"Actually, I just woke up…"

Mina opened her eyes and looked at him, noticing the pants and sockets. After seeing her suspicions were wrong, she placed her right hand over her chest and sighed with relief.

"Thank the goddess..."

Kenji simply raised an eyebrow and sweat dropped.

"(Just what did she think I was doing this early in the morning?)"

Although he wanted to go back to sleep, the young man was curious as to why Mina would bang so abruptly on his door, and especially at this hour of the morning.

"So…what's wrong?"

"Ah, that's right!" She said while opening her eyes again and returning to a serious expression before looking at Kenji again "You need to come with me right now! Something terrible happened to Rom!"


	7. Lickity lick

Laying down on her bed was Rom, who could hardly remain conscious as the fever caused her to burn up, making her unable to move or even talk properly. All while Ram, Blanc and Kenji could do nothing but watch as Mina did her best to keep it from getting worse.

"Miss Mina…" Said Rom with hardly enough strength to speak while the oracle kneeled next to her bed and changed the wet towel over her forehead for a new one

"What's wrong with Rom!? Is she going to be okay!?" Asked Ram with worry

"I'm not sure, but she has a strong fever. And it doesn't seem to be going down either"

"These are without a doubt the effects of Share deprivation..."

"Share deprivation?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at Blanc

"Share deprivation is a state where, as the name implies, a CPUs shares suffer a decline and her body weakens as a result" Explained Mina while turning her head to look at him

Kenji then looked at the oracle before diverting his eyes to Rom, unable to believe what was happening. He knew shares were important for CPUs, but he never thought it could be something this serious.

"But why only her!? Big sister and I are CPUs too, right!?"

Mina turned her head again to look at Ram

"I'm sorry, I'm too not sure myself..." She said without looking at Rom "I can only assume it's due to her body being more fragile than yours of Lady Blanc's"

"What kind of lame reason is that!?"

Mina couldn't help but feel ashamed of herself at this moment. Despite all of her studies and knowledge, she couldn't do anyything more than toss assumptions on the table. And even if Ram's words were slightly harsh, she had every reason to be angry.

"I could feel a recent decline in shares, but I didn't think it was this bad" Said Blanc while lowering her head with a saddened expression

"That is what worries me. It shouldn't be this bad..."

"What do you mean?"

Mina got up on her feet and faced the three people looking at her. While she wasn't completely sure of why Rom was the only one that suffered from the effects of this decline, she was certain of one thing that didn't fit right.

"While it is true that there has been a recent decline in shares, it shouldn't be bad enough to affect the bodies of the CPUs, at least not to this degree"

"So you're saying there's something else behind this?" Asked Blanc, to which the oracle nodded

"That's what I'm inclined to believe…For now we should try to increase the shares, or at least gather enough to create a share crystal"

"Share crystal…Is that going to help Rom get better?" Asked Ram

The oracle nodded before answering the question

"Yes, I'm certain it will!"

"Alright then... Let's go, you two"

Both of them nodded and followed Blanc outside the castle. Ram still wasn't sure what happened or why it happened to Rom, but she was determined to help her get better, even if it meant working alongside Kenji. The three of them headed right towards the guild and accepted as many quests as they could. From things like gathering some herbs to fighting multiple monsters, they did one quest after the other without stopping. After a few hours of this constant process, they returned to the castle with the confidence that they managed to gather enough shares.

"Mina, We're back!" Said Ram while searching for the oracle, who until recently was keeping an eye on the shares

The oracle turned around and looked at them.

"Ram, Lady Blanc, Kenji. Welcome back"

"Is the crystal done yet? I'm sure it's huge because of all the Shares we got!" Said Lowee's CPU candidate with a cheerful tone

"Actually, there seems to be a problem regarding the shares"

Mina proceeded to explain the situation to both of them.

"They didn't go up at all!?" Said Kenji with shock

"I'm afraid that seems to be the case"

"But we've been doing quests all day! Why didn't they go up!?" Complained Ram

"I'm not certain. I've been keeping constant attention on the shares, and despite having a slight increase at first; they suddenly reduced to their earlier status before I could make the crystal"

"No way! Then we did all that for nothing!?"

"Yes...It seems that if we wish to make a crystal, the only choice we have is to find the root of the problem and take care of it"

"Then we need to hurry…and find…it…" Said Ram while turning around to head out again, but suddenly fell to the floor

"Ram!?" Said both Ram and Mina before the three of them ran to aid Lowee's CPU

After taking Ram back to her room and putting her in bed alongside Rom, the oracle checked her condition.

"It's okay; she's sleeping right now"

"What happened to her?" Asked Kenji

"She seems to have passed out from exhaustion"

"Is she sick from the shares going down too!?" Asked Blanc with worry

"It's possible" Said the oracle while looking at her

"No way…"

Lowee's CPU lowered her head while making a sad expression, now both her sisters were in peril. Kenji looked at her for a moment before looking at Mina again

"You said something about the root of the problem earlier, didn't you?"

The oracle looked at Kenji and nodded.

"That is right. I fear that unless we take care of said problem first, we won't have enough Shares to create a crystal capable of healing both of them"

"Okay, so what are we looking for?"

Mina then took a moment to think about the possible causes and recalled the reports she received during the last few days regarding the decaying state of the nation.

"Recently, there have been reports of crime being on the rise all around town. According to some of the rumors flying around, ASIC could be involved behind it" Replied the oracle to the young man and the CPU "Piecing together this information leads me to believe that ASIC could be doing some sort of illegal action to make people's faith sway towards Arfoire"

"How are you sure It's ASIC?"

"At first I was skeptic, but the unstable state of the Shares confirmed it. And no one else except the CPUs themselves or ASIC are capable of making Shares sway in such extreme ways" Explained Mina

"The other CPUs wouldn't do it...And even if they did, they would do it in a more open and direct way" Added Blanc while looking at Kenji

"I see…so all we have to do is find ASIC and stop them?"

"That is our only choice..."

"Then let's go" Said Blanc to Kenji before turning her head to look at Mina "Mina, stay here and take care of Rom and Ram"

"Understood" Answered the oracle while nodding

Without any time to waste, Kenji and Blanc ran towards the front entrance to leave the castle and search the town for the criminal activity. Unfortunately for them, when Mina said 'crime', she didn't really bother to be more specific about what kind of crime.

Unsure of the exact thing they were looking for, the two of them decided to split up, scout around as much of the town as they could and meet up again on the same spot in a few hours. Blanc transformed into White Heart to fly and cover more ground while Kenji decided to stick to searching the streets at ground level to avoid calling too much attention. Although they searched for hours on no end, neither of them saw anything out or the ordinary.

"(It's like finding a needle in a haysack...)" Thought the young man while looking around him

"He-Hey! Wait for me!"

"Come on, hurry it up! They could run out at any moment!"

Kenji was about to go back to the meeting place, but the two people running past him at full speed. Something about how nervous those two acted caught his curiosity, which led him to follow them all the way to a random hallway where an unusually large amount of people seemed to be gathering. There, he tried to blend in with the crowd by covering his head with his vest's hoodie to make it harder for others to see his face and put his hands inside his pockets to act more like a random bystander.

"Alright everyone, here's what you've been waiting for!" Said someone at the other end of the crowd "ASIC's new mod chips-Chu!"

"(ASIC?)" He thought with surprise

After hearing the renowned criminal name, he walked closer to the center of the commotion and saw the people gathering around a small mouse carrying a large bag, which seemed to be full of chips.

"(That's…the rat from Leanbox?)"

"Hm…they don't look that different from the last ones" Said one man while looking at them

"Don't let that fool you. These babies are the newest version-chu!" Said the mouse with confidence "Not only they can give you infinite health and money, but they even let you spawn any item you want-Chu!"

"Woah, seriously!?"

"Hey, give me two!"

The crowd began growing impatient and noisy as each of them wanted one of Warechu's chips.

"Now, now. Calm down...There's more than enough for everyone here-Chu"

"(Walk into the junkyard and you'll find the rats...)" Thought Kenji before sweat dropping "(That's how the saying goes, but I didn't think I would literally find a rat)"

Judging by the large amount of people gathered to buy the chips, he assumed this was the cause of the Shares dropping so much.

Fortunately, Warechu wouldn't be able to recognize him among all the people, whic gave Kenji took the opportunity to get closer by squeezing through the crowds until he managed to get to the front and stand right in front of the mouse.

"Okay man, how many do you want-Chu?"

"None, I'm here for something else"

"Chu?"

Warechu looked more carefully at Kenji, who got his hands out of his pockets and took off his hoodie to let the mouse see his face better.

"The guy from Leanbox!? What are you doing here-Chu!?" He said while taking a step back with widened

"I could ask you the same…" He said while taking his hands off of his pockets and crackling his knuckles "So, ready for the gutter?"

"I don't think so-Chu!" Replied the mouse while quickly rummaging through his pocket and pulling out a black sphere

Warechu quickly raised the small sphere high up and threw it to the ground as hard as he could, creating an explosion and a smoke screen that forced both the crowd of people and Kenji to cover their faces with their arms, giving Warechu time to pick up the bag full of chips and run away. Although it caused a commotion among the crowd, Kenji managed to run out of the alleyway and back into the street. He then looked both ways quickly before spotting Warechu running away, squeezing among the clusters of people walking around and immediately gave chase to the mouse, running through the streets of Lowee without stopping.

Despite his small size, Warechu was quite a fast runner, even while carrying a bag that should be pretty heavy. But nonetheless, he didn't manage to outrun Kenji, who chased him all over Lowee, until the mouse finally stopped on the outskirts of town.

"Just…how long is this guy…going to keep following me around-Chu?" Said Warechu while taking deep breaths from exhaustion

"Nowhere to run now rat!"

"I told you already, I'm not a rat! I'm a mouse-Chu!" Snarled the mouse while turning around to look at Kenji

"Same thing!" He snarled back "Just hand over the chips already!"

"Try catching this mouse first-Chu!"

Warechu then turned around and tried running away again, until a large axe fell right in front of him and stopped him from running away.

"Chu!"

Both Warechu and Kenji raised their heads and saw White Heart hovering above them.

"Lowee's CPU-Chu!?"

"How did you find us?"

"I went back to the meeting spot but you weren't there, so I searched around and saw you were chasing that mouse all the way out here" Answered White Heart to Kenji while descending to ground level.

Once her feet touched the floor, she pulled her axe out of the ground and looked at Warechu

"Okay, now hand over the bag before I pummel ya, buddy!"

"Looks like I'm under a bit of a disadvantage here-Chu"

that was by far a servere understatement. He was now facing Kenji, the guy who defeated Judge on one side and White Heart, Lowee's CPU, on the other. No matter how he looked at it, the mouse was in a horrible pinch.

"I should just drop the bag and run away, but these chips are a bitch to make…" He muttered to himself "No choice...Now that it's come down to this, I'll fight both of you with everything I have-Chu!"

With a burning determination and a strong confidence that he could win, Warechu leaped towards White Heart, ready to use his tail to swipe her in the face.

"Chuuuuuu!"

The fight didn't last a minute, though, as Warechu quickly ended up lying on the ground with a bright red bump it his head and a column of steam coming out of it.

"Ch-Chuuuuuu…"

White Heart simply looked down at Warechu and scoffed while putting her axe over her shoulder.

"You went against a goddess, so no bitching about it now, rat!"

While she walked towards the bag to check out the contents, Kenji looked again at the mouse.

"(I'm just amazed he's still alive after that...)" He thought while sweat dropping

Kenji didn't even get to take part in the fight. All he managed to do was watch from the sidelines while White Heart beat up the mouse to a pulp with almost the same brutality she used when fighting him.

After checking the bag, she proceeded to close it and smash every single chip within it to shreds with her axe.

"That should do it for now" She said before turning her head and looking at Kenji "Let's head back and gather some Shares"

"What about him?" Asked the young man while pointing with his thumb at Warechu

"Forget him. He'll get chomped by a wolf or something else out here, now let's go!"

White Heart quickly made her way back into town while Kenji turned around to look at Warechu one more time before facing forward again and following her.

*Scene*

After doing quest after quest and gathering enough Shares, Both Kenji and White Heart, now reverted back to her human form, returned to the castle hoping that this time their efforts bore fruit.

"Mina, did we get enough Shares this time?" Asked Blanc while looking at her

The oracle turned around and beamed at her CPU.

"Fortunately, this time we managed to collect enough to make two crystals"

"In that case, let's make them..."

"Understood!" Answered the oracle with enthusiasm while nodding

While Mina headed to another room, Blanc turned around to face the young man.

"Thanks for your help...Mina and I will handle the rest"

Kenji nodded in agreement to the CPU before she turned around onec again and followed the oracle to begin the process of making the share crystals, leaving the young man to his own devices. At first he waited around calmly, but soon got bored and went to check on the twins. On the way there, he found Ram leaning against the wall, walking slowly and breathing heavily as the fever made he face flush with a bright red.

"Ram?"

Ram raised her head and looked at Kenji before her knees gave out and she feel to the floor.

"Hey!"

Hey quickly ran to aid the young CPU candidate, but she sloppily tried pushing his hand away.

"Don't…touch me!" She said in a slow and sickly manner as the young man stopped his hand and moved it away from Ram, who then tried getting back up on her feet slowly "I…don't need a bad guy's help!"

To her words, Kenji closed his eyes and popped a vein. Even though he helped her gather shares, even though he was trying to help her just now and even though she's in such a sickly state, Ram was still going on about that bad guy thing. This was indeed the most irritating thing she had done so far, even more so than all of her pranks combined.

Without hesitating, he grabbed Ram, lifted her up and carried her on his right shoulder like a sack of patatoes.

"Hey! What are you doing!?"

"I'm taking you to Mina. I'm sure she made at least one of those crystals by now" He said while turning around and heading back towards the room where Blanc and the oracle were right now

"Let me go, let me go! I said…I don't need your help!" Snarled Ram while struggling and punching Kenji's back

"And I don't care if you want it or not! I'm helping you anyway so shut up!"

Surprised by Kenji's sudden retort, Ram stopped struggling. She didn't even have the strength to keep doing it anyway. The walk was calm, so calm that Kenji thought for a moment that Ram fell asleep, at least until she spoke.

"Hey…you"

"I have a name, you know…"

"Why…are you helping me?"

"Cause I want to" Answered Kenji bluntly

"Why?"

"Why not?"

To answer a simple, yet difficult question, Kenji used an even simpler question; unfortunately, Ram already had something to say.

"Because you're a bad guy"

"Why do you think I'm a bad guy?"

"I once read in a book. Evil people come from far away to beat the CPUs and take their Shares"

Kenji looked at Ram resting over his shoulder while he carried her. It seems he was right about the reason she kept targeting him. Those dumb, yet brutal pranks were probably a way to make him go away and leave.

"Also…you look like a bad guy"

After being silent for a moment, Kenji lowered his head and sighed. In the end, there was a childish reason behind it. But he couldn't deny her reasoning, or even get angry with her because of it. After all, ¿at the end of the day, Ram was a child, even if she was a CPU candidate.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't surprised she thought of him like that because of his mug. In fact, what really surprised him was that no one else said something about it so far. Maybe they were just trying to be polite and keep it to themselves. Well, except for Neptune, who bluntly told him she thought he had a loser's face multiple times already. The fact he never really smiled and was constantly frowning or making an expression that zero amusement didn't help much to clear out her ideas of him either, and neither did the patchy and messy beard he always refused to shave off, or the fact the first time she ever knew about him was through the elder sister he beat up.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm a big, bad dude that loves fighting people" He said with sarcasm "And I'm forcing you and your sister to get better so we can kick each other's asses later, so shut up and comply"

Ram then slowly turned her head and looked at Kenji. Although she was still convinced within herself that he was a bad guy, she didn't say another thing afterwards.

After returning to the starting point , Kenji looked at the door leading to the room where Blanc and Mina were and reached out for it, but the door opened before he could grab the pommel and showed Mina standing on the doorway

"Kenji...And Ram!?"

"Why is she with you?" Asked the CPU, who was confused by this sight

"Got bored of waiting so I went to check on the twins...Found this one nearly unconscious in the hallway" Replied the young man while putting Ram down

"Dear goodness!" Said Mina as she approached Ram, who stood in front of Kenji while looking down "Ram, I thought I told you already to stay in bed!"

"I can't…I need to help Rom…"

Seeing how Ram was simply worried about Rom, the oracle smiled and comforted her.

"Ram, there's no need to worry. Kenji and Lady Blanc already took care of gathering the Shares..." She said in a kind tone "We were just making the crystals right now"

The CPU candidate's eyes widened when hearing this revelation. She then turned her head and looked at Kenji.

"Told you they were making the crystals, didn't I?"

Ram was silent for a moment or two, but when she was about to say something, a loud rumbling sound in the distance caught everyone's attention.

"The hell was that?" Asked while turning around

"It sounded like a wall crumbling" Answered Mina

"I…I think it came from my and Rom's room!"

Kenji and Blanc immediately headed out into the hallway and ran towards Rom and Ram's room. They quickly opened the door, but only found the empty room along with the destroyed wall. Seeing the destruction around them, the first thing they did was search for Rom, but it was to no avail, as she was nowhere to be seen. While Blanc inspected the bed, Kenji walked towards the hole in the wall and looked at it. Whatever caused this,it was surely huge.

"Lady Blanc, Kenji!"

Kenji and Blanc turned their heads around and saw Mina and Ram on the doorway, both of then looking at the destroyed room with shock.

"What happened here!? Where's Rom!?" Asked Ram, getting scared after seeing the state of her now destroyed bedroom

Suddenly, the sound of an explosion coming from outside caught everyone's attention. They looked through the hole and saw a column of smoke rising in the air, along with a few explosions happening one after the other around the first one.

"Dear goodness! What's happening now!?" Asked Mina while looking at the destruction taking place in the distance

"Whatever it is, I get the feeling it might have something to do with what happened here" Answered Kenji

"Mina, I'll go check it out...You finish making the crystals"

The oracle nodded in agreement to her CPU's request before Blanc transformed and flew towards the area where the explosions came from. Kenji was about to follow her, until he felt someone tugging on his wrist. When he turned his head around to look, Kenji saw Ram holding onto him.

"You...you better help her...otherwise I'll know you're really a bad guy!"

This was a rather surprising request for her to make, especially to the one guy she didn't trust at all. Nonetheless, the young man looked at her in the eye for a moment before facing forward once more.

"I told you already, didn't I?" He said while looking forward "I'm gonna force both of you to get better, and I'm not the type to bitch out"

Kenji went into HDD mode and jumped out before landing on a sigil he made while falling mid-air. He then crouched and raised his head to look forward before jumping far enough to go over the wall surrounding the castle and landing on the rooftop of one of the buildings. From there, he kept jumping from building to building. It might not have been as fast as flying, but it sure beat moving through the streets.

After reaching the center of the destruction taking place, White Heart landed on the street, followed by Kenji, who after jumping off a building landed behind her.

"Okay, who's the dumbass messing up my nation!?" Asked White Heart as she summoned her axe while frowning

When the smoke from the last explosion cleared out, two people appeared. One was Linda; the other was a girl with shorter, messier blue hair similar to White Heart's. She had a few bangs and side parts with very long strands of hair over her right shoulder that reached down to her chest. One odd thing was her eyes, as they were bright orange and seemed lifeless. She wore a white suit like outfit resembling a bathing suit with pink on the outer parts and neck, and long gloves with a thick pink line going down the center and at the top. Her boots were connected to the body suit by the outer bands with big pink pieces while the boot itself is all white except for the foot part.

"Rom!?" Said White Heart with a tone that seemed more like her human self rather than her HDD one

Kenji looked at her, then at the CPU supposed to be Rom with shock.

"That's Rom!?"

"That's it! Keep destroying everything!" Said Linda with excitement

"Destroy, destroy" Replied Rom with an emotionless tone before raising her staff and causing even more explosions

White Heart and Kenji quickly approached them, causing Linda to notice their presence.

"Ah! It's those CPUs!" She said while taking a step back

"Rom!?"

When hearing her name, the CPU candidate turned around to face her elder sister, but didn't say a single thing.

"The heck are you doing, you idiot!?"

Rom didn't answer her sister's question; she simply stood silent, looking at her.

"No use you broad, your baby sister is now my lackey" Said Linda with a grin

"You bastard! What the hell did you to Rom!?"

"Just a little mind control"

"Mind control?" Asked White Heart before realizing what she meant "You brainwashed my sister!?"

"The shares being so low made it real easy to twist her mind around"

After hearing what had been done to her little sister, White Heart clenched her axe so strongly that Kenji thought the handle would break at any moment.

"You bitch, I'm gonna kill you!"

"Whoa, not so fast…If you try to attack me, your baby sister here will protect me with her life"

As Linda said that, Rom stood in front of her and aimed her staff at White Heart.

"Ro-Rom!?"

Seeing the CPUs struggling about how to solve the riddle placed in front of them, the underling began to laugh.

"Ah man, this is so awesome! I get to destroy Lowee AND see the CPUs kill each other!"

"You think this is a joke?" Asked Kenji to the underling

"I'm getting a real laugh outta it, that's for sure!"

"(So even this world has them...)"

Among the things Kenji hoped for, one of them was not having to deal with douche bags like the ones back in his old world. Bastards that got a kick out of watching people suffer. It was this kind of people that irritated Kenji the most and that made his blood boil.

"I see…Then answer me something"

Linda opened her eyes and looked at Kenji, whose eyes were closed.

"Rom's stopping Blanc from killing you…" He said as he unsheathed his sword before opening his eyes to look at the underling "But who's stopping me from doing that?"

"Eh?"

Seeing the angered eyes, Linda's expression paled as she took a step back. She could tell those were the eyes of someone willing to kill her in a way that would definitely hurt like hell without any qualms or regrets. Truth to be told, even White Heart sweat dropped when seeing Kenji's eyes.

She did say she'd kill Linda, but probably would just beat her senseless, then lock her up or something after cooling off.

"(Holy crap, this guy's seriously going to kill me if I stay here!)" She thought while sweat dropping

Staying would surely get her killed, and even if she survived, Trick would get her head for losing Rom. Without much time to think Linda quickly turned her head and looked at Rom, decided to do what she did best.

"Hey you, we're getting out of here! Move it!"

"Yes"

Linda quickly turned tail and ran away with Rom following her.

"The hell do you think you're going!?" Said White Heart while she and Kenji ran after them

Suddenly, Rom turned around to face them and raised her staff, creating a barrier of ice that blocked their path. White Heart easily destroyed the barrier with a hit or two, but that gave Linda and Rom enough time to gain some distance, disappearing among the smoke and destruction they caused early.

"Damn it! Where did they go!?"

Kenji immediately tried sensing their energy to track them down, but everything was fuzzy within his mind. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't focus.

Having lost track of them, they decided to return to the castle for now.

*Scene*

White Heart flew while holding Kenji's arm, who, although was hanging at a very high altitude, didn't feel vertigo or fear, since he could feel her holding his forearm tightly. And even if she let go of him, he could always use sigils to avoid crashing against the floor.

While flying, the young man recalled the conversation they had with Mina after returning to the castle.

"Brainwashing a CPU!? That's a capital offense!" She said with indignation after hearing about what happened.

"Those ASIC bastards don't care about laws; they only care about tearing the world apart" Said White Heart, feeling infuriated

"Why brainwash a CPU tough?" Asked Kenji, who now had cooled off a bit

"Ain't it obvious? To piss me off!"

"Lady Blanc, I think his question makes sense" Said the oracle "As evil or twisted as their intentions might be, ASIC is very calculative with their plans and resources. They wouldn't go through the trouble or effort of altering a CPUs memory unless it had some deeper objective behind it"

After hearing her oracle's thoughts, White Heart tried to focus on thinking carefully about why would ASIC need a CPU. It was then that she recalled something that required a CPU, something ancient and dangerous.

"The mascot's seal!"

"The what?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at her

"The mascot's seal is a seal made using the power of Lowee's mascot many years ago to lock away an army of war machines created by Arfoire herself" Explained the oracle

"You mean, like that Killachine?"

"Precisely, but these are said to be far stronger, and there are probably hundreds of them"

"What does Rom have to do with that?"

"To undo the seal, you need the power of a CPU. And even if Rom is still just a candidate, she's still a CPU capable of breaking the seal"

"Then we need to find her fast!"

"Wait"

White Heart and Kenji both turned and were about to leave, until the oracle called out to them. She approached Kenji and gave him a small Plumbob-shaped sapphire colored stone.

"What's this?" He asked while holding it with his fingers

"It's a Share crystal"

"THIS is a Share crystal?"

Kenji was surprised, not by the crystal itself, but by the size of it. It was probably slightly larger than a pebble at most.

"Don't let its size fool you. This is the solidification of many Shares"

"So what do I do with it?"

"Once you find Rom, use the crystal on her" Explained Mina "Since the low level of shares in her body were the factor that made her mind easy to manipulate, increasing them should have the opposite effect"

Back to present time, Kenji used his free arm to reach into his pocket and take out the Share crystal, then looked at it for a moment while his mind began to wander.

If he had kept his cool, he might have been able to use his sensory powers properly and catch up to them.

"Hey...you better not drop that" Said Lowee's CPU while looking at him

Unfortunately, the young man's mind was somewhere else at the moment and hardly paid attention to her. White Heart looked at him, noticing he was getting lost in thought, she decided to snap him back into reality the only way she knew how, by shouting at him.

"Hey!"

It seemed to work, as Kenji quickly reacted to it by snapping out of his train of thought. Although this caused the share crystal to slip off of his fingers.

"Whoa!" He said as he quickly reached a couple of times out to grab it, and caused White Heart to lose balance

"He-Hey! Don't move around like that!" She said while trying to regain control "We're gonna fall!"

After some slight turbulence, Lowee's CPU managed to regain a stable control while Kenji caught the share crystal and sighed with relief.

"That was close..." He said before raising his head to look up at White Heart "Hey, don't go shouting like thhat. I nearly dropped it"

"That's what I was warning you about! And you're the one that started wiggling around!" Snarled the angry CPU

A moment of silence fell between the two of them while Kenji both of them looked forward again and before White Heart spoke again.

"Hey...Kenji"

"What?"

"This is gonna sound weird coming from me, but you need to keep you cool..." She said while looking at him again "Getting fired up is okay, but getting too angry will get you killed"

Kenji looked at her for a moment in silence.

What White Heart was saying was true. Since at least a portion of his powers seemed to be affected by his emotional state, getting too angry could easily play out against him like it did with her during their fight. The fact she wanted to give him that advice was quite kind of her.

"Blanc…"

White Heart lowered her head and looked at Kenji again; this time slightly surprised he called her by her name.

"Hm? What?"

"…You're right; it does sound weird when you say it"

"Well sorry for tying to help!" Snarled White Heart with a vein mark popping on her head before facing forward again with a frown

Yet another short moment of silence fell between the two of them before Kenji broke the silence this time.

"…Blanc?"

"What now!?" She said with an irritated tone while looking at him again

"Thank you..."

White Heart's expression went from frowning to surprise for a bit, then she raised her head to look forward again.

"…You're welcome" She said while trying to keep her slight blush from being seen

After that, it took a few more minutes of flying, but they finally arrived to the world labyrinth. It was unlike anything Kenji had seen so far. The entire place was made out of blocks of different colors that lightened up every few moments, making the entire place look like a giant dancing floor that you could see on the discos during the 70s.

Putting the labyrinth's peculiar appearance aside, Kenji and White Heart had no time for sightseeing. They headed deeper into the dungeon to search for Rom before she undid the seal.

"Come on, come one, hurry it up! Those guys could be here any minute now!" Linda watched while the CPU candidate undid the seal.

"There they are!" Said Kenji after spotting them

"Right as I said it?!" Yelled the underling while turning around and looking at the two heading towards them.

Suddenly, a loud sound coming behind Linda caught her attention. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw some of blocks sliding away from each other, opening a purple portal made of a blinding light.

"Crap! We didn't make it in time!" Said White Heart while looking at the portal

Seeing her mission had succeeded, Linda smirked and looked at the two again while laughing

"Too late! The seal is broken; now these machines can come out and destroy you!" She said before pointing at them "Killachines! Get out here and kill those two!"

As the portal began glowing brighter, both Kenji and White Heart took assault stances, getting ready to fight. Slowly, the first Killachine came out, causing both them to widen their eyes, but not exactly out of amazement.

"Ahahahah! You should look at your faces right now!" Said the underling while laughing, unaware of what truly made both of them make their current expression

"…Maybe you should take a look at your 'war' machines" Said Kenji while pointing at the Killachine behind Linda with a neutral expression

"Huh?"

The underling turned her head and looked at the Killachine, only to see that the massive machine was everything but fit for battle. It was rusted from head to tail and barely moved.

"Wha-What the hell!?"

"I think your war machine is a bit rusty...Literally"

"Sh-Shut up! It's just a little rust!" Snarled Linda while turning her head to look at Kenji, then turned It again to look at the Killachine and pointed at him "Killachine! Kill that guy!"

The rusted machine beeped a few times before its eyes lightened up, then it proceeded to slowly move towards Kenji. Once the Killachine stood in front of him, it began raising its arm at an even slower pace while preparing to use a chop attack against him, but suddenly, there was a small explosion in the shoulder joint, and the robot's arm fell to the floor. Kenji looked at the arm, then at the robot, which seemed to have stopped moving. He then moved sideways and looked at Linda again with a raised eyebrow.

"Th-that was just the first one! I'm sure the next one will be better!"

As she heard the portal again, the underling turned around to look at the second machine coming out. Unfortunately for her, the second one was just as bad as the first one.

"Well…you know what they say, third time's the charm!" She said with a weak laugh

Feeling a bit curious to see what would come out this time, both White Heart and Kenji simply waited.

Once the portal began reacting again, there was a sudden exploding sound coming from within it. And instead of a full Killachine, only a head came out. The head bounced around a few times before rolling around and stopping on the floor and catching on fire.

"That one didn't even make through the portal" Said White Heart while sweat dropping

"It got ahead of itself"

After Kenji said that, there was a small explosion on the back of the second Killachine's head, causing it to crumble on itself.

"What the heck is going on!?" Yelled the frustrated underling "I thought they were baddass war machines, not buckets of rust!"

"They probably were locked up in there for so long that they ended up rusting"

"No way…"

"Rom!"

Everyone turned their heads, and saw someone flying towards them. It was a girl wearing similar to Rom in appearance and outfit, except that her hair was pink and her eyes were blue.

"Ram!?"

"Big sister, I came here to hel-" Said Ram with a stern tone about her objective, until she saw the crumbled and rusted Killachines "Eh?"

Ram descended to ground level and stood next to White Heart

"Did you guys win already?"

"We didn't even fight yet"

The CPU candidate simply looked at her elder sister with confusion.

"I'll explain it later, for now let's focus on saving Rom" Said White Heart while facing forward again

Ram nodded in agreement and faced Linda again

"Damn it, no other way I guess" Said the underling while pulling out her iron pole "I'll just have to fight you!"

"It's three against one. You really think you can win?" Asked White Heart

"You're wrong. It's three against TWO!"

As Linda said that, Rom floated in front of her.

"Fight, fight…"

"Rom! Don't help her!" Said Ram while getting closer to her sister

"It's no use! She's under my control now and nothing's gonna change that!"

"Well see about that!" Said Kenji before dashing towards Rom

Once he was close enough, he took the Share crystal from his pocket and tossed it at her. Once the crystal got close enough to her, it released a strong glow, blinding everyone for a moment.

"Ah! What was that light!?"

Linda looked around, and nothing really seemed to happen. Or at least that's what she thought.

"Ugh…Uwaaa…"

"Oh no, don't be telling me we're doing that whole coming back cliche!" Said the underling while looking at the CPU candidate

"Ra-Ram…Big sister..."

"Rom! Yes, that's me!" Said Ram, happy that her sister was fighting to return

"Oh no you're not!" Said the underling while pulling out a device similar in appearance to a flashlight and aimed it at Rom, releasing an orange-ish light that glowed on the CPU candidate.

"U-Uwaaaa!"

"Stop! Don't bully Rom!" Yelled Ram while getting between the two of them "Kyaaaaah!"

"Hey! Don't get in the way!"

"Ram!" Yelled White Heart while running towards them

After the light from the flashlight faded, Linda looked at it and sweat dropped.

"Don't tell me it ran out!" She said while hiting it with her open hand a few times "Damn it, today's nothing but bad luck!"

The underling then looked at both White sisters, and noticed they were both staring at her. But what caught her attention was that, instead of power on signs, their eyes were bright orange.

"Wait a minute…you brats, call me master"

"Master" Said both in almost perfect synch

"They're both hypnotized now!?" Asked Kenji while sweat dropping

Seeing how things played out on her favor in the end, Linda ended up bursting out into laughter.

"No way, this is just too much" Said the underling while laughing nearly hysterically and before pointing at Kenji "hey, you brats! Kill that bastard!"

Both sisters then turned around and faced Kenji. Without hesitation, they dashed towards him and began tossing magic attacks at him.

"Whoa!" He said while jumping sideways "Hey, stop that!"

Kenji dodged the attacks easily, but didn't try to retaliate in the least. After all, punching two little girls wasn't exactly something he could live down so easily, even if there was some sort of justification to it.

"Rom, Ram! Snap out of it, you two!" Said White Heart, who couldn't just jump in and attack her younger sisters

"Let's see you make it through this one!"

As he kept dodging the attacks, Kenji kept moving backwards, until he hit his back against something.

Seeing the chance, the twin sisters dashed in with their staves enchanced with electricity and attacked at the same time, but Kenji jumped sideways and dodged them. He then noticed that the thing that blocked his path was the rusty robot from before, which began releasing sparks because of both the attack dealt by the twins and the electric charge.

"Hey, you two! Get away from that robot!"

Kenji tried warning them, but it was too late. After releasing a few more sparks, the robot exploded, catching both of them in the blast.

"Aaaah!"

"Rom, Ram!" Yelled White Heart

Both sisters got ejected by the blast and fell to the floor before their transformations reverted.

"Owwww, what was that?" Asked Ram while looking around

"Rom, Ram, you're back!" Said White Heart, happy to see the hypnosis wore off

Ram then looked at Kenji, and thought he might have rendered them into submission to remove the hypnosis

"Hey, I get it that you had to stop us, but couldn't you do it in a softer way? Ouch…"

"Owww…it hurts…."

"Actually, that was kind of an accident" Answered Kenji while sweat dropping

That tactic just now was more of a random turn of luck than pre-planned, but nonetheless it worked. This, in its own odd way, was good for everyone. Well, everyone except Linda, who was bound to get the full blame for this.

"Oh man…Master Trick won't be happy about this…"

"About what exactly?" Asked a voice behind her

After hearing the familiar voice, the underling turned around and saw the one person she didn't want to see right now.

"Ah, Ma-Master Trick!? I-I can explain this, I swear!"

"I'll listen to your excuses later...Right now there are more important things at hand"

"Owww…" Said Rom, still feeling the damage from the blast

"Oh, you poor little things…!" Said Trick while looking at them, then looking at Kenji "You! How dare you hurt innocent little girls!? Don't you have any manly pride!?"

"I told you already, it was an accident!" Snarled Kenji with an irritated expression "I didn't even do anything!"

"Now, now, I'll make the pain go away" Said Trick while looking at the twins again and chuckling

The yellow armored like-being extended his tongue and quickly entangled both twins with it. He then proceeded to cover them with his saliva and lick them constantly in a way that was quite disgusting, if not disturbing, to watch.

"Uwaaaah!"

"It's slimy...Ewwww!"

"Hey! What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Yelled White Heart, showing a strong mixture of anger and disgust by what was taking place in front of her

"Tha-That's right, Master Trick! What are you doing?!" Asked Linda as well, who couldn't hold back the disgust she felt either

"What? Aren't you supposed to lick wounds to heal them?" Said Trick before chuckling and licking the twins some more

"Well, this is disturbing to say the least…" Said Kenji with a nauseous expression

After a moment or two, Trick finally let go of the twins twins, who slowly got back up on her feet.

"Ewww, that was awful!" Yelled Ram

"My clothes are all slimy…Gross…!"

"Ahhh, that was wonderful" Said Trick with a fulfilled tone

"Ugh, that's it! I'm really angry now!"

"I'm angry too...He ruined my clothes...!" Added Rom, looking really annoyed

Without wasting any time, both sisters transformed back to their HDD forms

"You'll pay for that!"

"No mercy…"

"Ah, Master Trick! what did you do that for!? Now they're both fully healed!"

"A fight where things are too one-sided is hardly fair"

"(That…would have made him look kind of awesome if it weren't for the fact he just licked two little girls like if they were lollipops less than a minute ago)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping, then turning his head to look at White Heart "Hey Blanc, let's go help-"

The young man tried speaking to Lowee's CPU, but broke a cold sweat after seeing her expression.

She was clenching her fist so thightly it was a miracle her fingers didn't crack and a thick shadow obscured her eyes, letting only a bright red monster-like eye to be seen.

"...Them?"

"Help? I'm gonna do more than help" She said with a burning anger before finally exploding "I'm gonna slice that freaking pervert in half!"

There was something to be said about her current anger if you considered the advice she gave to Kenji less than ten minutes ago, but it was probably safer to let this one slide. Besides, it would be impossible for anyone to keep their cool after seeing their younger siblings go through that.

"So that's how it'll be? Very well, I'll show you the power of CFW Trick!"

White Heart dashed forward at the speed of a rocket and delivered a barrage of attacks against Trick, Kenji followed behind her and joined the barrage while Rom and Ram offered support from a safe distance with magic.

Although he couldn't move very fast, Trick's tongue, which he used as a weapon, was amazingly fast and had overwhelming reach. But instead of blocking, Kenji focused on dodging, as he didn't want his blade, nor any part of his body in general, to be covered in that thing's saliva. White Heart was probably thinking the same thing, as she kept dodging as well. Every time they found an opening, or the twins created one by attacking Trick with a spell, Kenji and White Heart would move in and attack him with all their might. Trick was a resilient foe that refused to go down easy, but he seemed more focused on attacking Kenji and White Heart than Rom and Ram.

After constantly dodging the over sized tongue and attacking over and over again, Trick showed signs of weakening. And it was at this moment that White Heart moved in and began a series of constant axe slashes.

"You pervert! Big pervert! Gross pervert! Dumb Pervert! Creepy Pervert!" She yelled as she sliced the yellow lizard with her axe while constantly calling him all kinds of definitions of pervert with every hit.

On the last attack, she tossed him up into the air with all of her might. The yellow lizard flew up into the sky before falling to the ground between White Heart and Kenj, who then dashed towards Trick as well with his sword coated in sapphire flames. Both warriors then slashed at him with their all of their might at the same time, delivering the last blow before stopping past the yellow lizard.

"Argh!" He Yelled as he felt his body began to crackle and the life within him was starting to fade away "Long live…little girls!"

And with that dying message, he exploded. Leaving this world with a fulfilled heart, knowing that in the end, he managed to lick two little girls and make everyone around him feel disgusted.

"Tch, too good of a death for that pervert!" Said White Heart, feeling unsatisfied about the quick ending Trick was given

"Where's that girl?" Asked Kenji while looking around

"I think she ran away while we were fighting"

"Hey, forget about that! I want to go home and take a bath!" Yelled Ram, who had already reverted to human form

"Me too…I still feel icky" Added Rom, who reverted back as well

"Yeah, guess we can leave that stuff for another day…" Said White Heart "Honestly, I want to take a bath too"

"I…think I'll go straight to bed" Said Kenji

After that fight, everyone wanted to take a bath to wash away the icky feeling that Trick left in them. It was no different for Kenji, but the memory of what happened in Leanbox was still fresh in his mind. He knew the chances of something similar happening twice were low, but he preferred not to risk it, especially when Blanc was involved in the equation.

Once White Heart remade the seal, the four of them returned to the castle and took a much deserved bath, except for Kenji.

After that even, the last few days of his stay in Lowee were surprisingly quite calm thanks to Ram's jokes taking a surprising halt. And although she didn't talk much with him, and still acted a bit unfriendly towards him, Kenji knew this meant she came to accept him, or at least to not hate him.

On the day he was set to return to Planeptune, the Oracle and the twins made sure to be there to say goodbye to him.

"I hope you were able to enjoy your stay"

"It was…interesting"

Kenji wasn't too sure how to describe it any better. The first week was a chaos and the half of the second was an even bigger turmoil, but fortunately it became quite relaxing around the end.

The fight against Trick was unpleasant in a lot of ways. But nonetheless, The time the young man spent on Lowee in general was an enjoyable experience.

"Kenji…You're leaving?"

"Don't worry, I'll come around to visit when I can" He said while petting Rom's head

Ram simply scoffed and crossed her arms.

"It's okay if you don't come back, tough"

"Ram…" Said Rom while looking at her sister

"Ram, that wasn't a very nice thing to say" Said Mina while Scolding her

To that, Ram simply turned her head away and scoffed away.

"I left you alone this week because you helped me and Big sister save Rom, but I still think you're not a good guy!" She said before turning around to look at him and point at him "I'm warning you... If you come back, I'll just do lots of mean things to you again!"

Despite this threat of becoming prey to her deadly pranks once again, the young man didn't seem too scared about it.

"Yeah, yeah…whatever you say" He answered while moving his hand from Rom's head and placing it on Ram's "Just try coming up with something better than throwing a book while by the time I come back"

"He-Hey! Don't just do whatever you want!" Snarled the CPU candidate while moving his hand away with a blushed face

"Are you ready to go?"

Kenji turned around and looked at Blanc before nodding

"Yeah, let's go"

"See you later, Kenji" Said Rom with a smile

"Have a safe trip" Added Mina

After properly saying goodbye to them, Kenji followed Blanc outside the castle and into the city. Once he left, Ram instantly turned around and ran towards the hallways.

"Ram?" Said Mina while seeing her run away

The oracle then thought about what Ram said to Kenji, until she realized something that made her smile.

"Mina…"

"What is it?" Asked Mina while lowering her head to look at Rom

"Kenji became friends with me and Big sister, but Ram doesn't like him yet" She said while bearing a mix of saddness and confusion on her expression "...Why?"

"Rom, I think it's actually the opposite"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you notice?" Said the oracle with a smile "Ram said she didn't think Kenji was a good guy, but never called him a bad guy either"

While Rom took a second to think about it, Ram finally reached a hallway with a window giving a view to the streets in front of the castle. From there, Ram watched Kenji and Blanc walking away. The CPU candidate looked at him for a moment and recalled the moment when she asked of him to help save Rom. Despite all the mean things she did to him, Kenji accepted her request without a second thought and even kept his word. Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all, or at least that's what room was beginning to think.

Among these thoughts, she then recalled how he patted her head earlier. This caused the CPU candidate to blush as she placed both hands over her hat and pushed it down for a moment before suddenly raising her arms and yelling out.

"I'll show you, you idiot!" She said with both eyes closed "I'll come up with a prank so mean you'll go bald!"


	8. Steampunk tsunderes

After hearing the doorbell, Histoire glided all the way to the door and opened it to see Noire standing on the doorway. She had her usually stern expression and one hand on her hips.

"Ah, Noire…You're here to take Kenji…right?" Said the tome with an obvious hint of nervousess in her tone

"Obviously, why else would I be here?" Asked Lastation's CPU with a raised eyebrow before letting herself into the house

This odd anxiety in Histoire's tone seemed to go unnoticed by Noire, who was only interested in doing what she came to do, which was take Kenji with her to Lastation.

"No-Noire! Please wait!"

Without any hesitation, she entered into the hall, where Neptune and Nepgear were playing video games on the couch, while Histoire followed her and looked around for Kenji before noticing he was nowhere to be seen.

"Hug? He's not here?"

"Ah, it's Noire" Said Nepgear after noticing her

"What does Lonely Heart want today?"

"Who are you calling lonely!?" Snarled Noire before taking a deep breath and turning her head to look at Nepgear instead of Neptune "Never mind that for now. Where's Kenji? I came here to take him with me to Lastation"

"Well, about him…" Replied the CPU candidate while sweat dropping with a weak smile

After noticing Nepgear also had a nervous tone, she grew suspicious of this.

"What is it? Don't tell me he doesn't want to go now" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No, no. It's not that!" Answered Nepgear while her eyes widened

"Oh, I think I get it" Said Noire before closing her eyes and smirking "He's probably just shy about visiting my great nation and is hiding, isn't he?"

"Actually, the thing is…"

"Kenny's not even here" Said Neptune bluntly

A short moment of silence fell on the room before Noire was able to react to what she just heard.

"Eh?" Said Lastation's CPU as her eyes widened

"I'm sorry, Noire. But I really didn't know how to tell you this" Said the tome while floating closer to her "Right after Blanc brought him back, Kenji walked out while saying he had some important matters to attend to"

After hearing this explanation, Lastation's CPU looked at Histoire with a shocked expression.

"Ehhhh!? What could be more important than me and my nation!?"

*Meanwhile, in Planeptune's downtown district…*

"(Mmmm, pork bowls...Sure missed eating this stuff)" Tought the young man, who felt pleased with the good taste of the food he was eating

Due to having spent almost no time on Planeptune for nearly a month now, the young man hardly ate any pork bowl since the fight against the CPUs was over. This wasn't something he was happy about, considering he developed a taste for that dish. Now that he finally had the chance to stick around for a bit, it was only natural he would want to give the place a quick visit to eat some pork before going on his trip to Lastation

Once he was done eating, Kenji placed down the chopsticks and let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks for the meal, old man" He said as he took a few credits from his pocket and gave them to the old man tending the place.

Despite calling him an old man, the ramen place's owner was actually more of a middle-aged man already reaching old age. He was probably taller than Vert by a head and half, considering Kenji was taller than her, and even he was shorter that the owner. He also had a large body bulky body.

Right now it was a notably fat in some places such as the belly. But judging by the wide shoulders, the remains of well-trained muscles in the arms and his thick torso, he must have been quite a muscular man during his youth. His skin was slightly tanned and he had brown eyes. His grey-ish hair was short and seemed to be mostly starting to fall off on the top while it was slightly larger on the sides. Although Kenji had a hard time telling wherever the top part had completely fallen of or not since he was wearing a hat. He also had a large scar on his right eye and a few wrinkles already forming along his face and hands.

The outfit he wore consisted of a white t-shirt, blue jeans and brown shoes, along with a white hat and a white apron typical of people working in such eastern-styled places. And despite his generally rough appearance, the store owner was actually quite a nice man.

"Thank ya' sonny" Said the owner while taking the credits

Ever since he found the place, Kenji took a liking to the old man's cooking skills and did his best to visit almost every day. Sometimes he ordered different stuff to check out the flavors, but after tasting the pork bowl, he made up his mind to order that every time he visited.

"It's sure been some time since you last came around here"

"I've been traveling around lately..."

"Ah, that's good…" Said the owner with a pleased expression after putting the credits into his pocket "Young folks should move around the world while they can...It's hard to do that after growing old"

Kenji looked at the owner getting lost in his own mind, reminiscing about the past with a seemingly nostalgic smile.

It was a good thing he enjoyed his life to the point of having such good memories, but there was just something about seeing a middle-aged man standing idly while getting lost into thought so easily like that.

"Erm...Yeah...Well, I have to go now, I have one last trip to do..." He said while getting up and turning around "I'll probably be back in a couple of weeks or so"

"Make sure ya don't get killed out there, sonny!" Said the owner after snapping out of his train of thought and looked at Kenji before waving at him with a smile "That's bad for business!"

Kenji simply raised his hand while placing the other in his pocket as he walked out of the shop. Once he was out into the streets again, the young man looked around him for a bit.

"(Maybe I should turn that thing back on)" He thought while recalling he put his portable device on silent mode to avoid anyone disturbing him while he ate

The young man calmly pulled the PSP-looking device out of his pocket and suddenly noticed the letter symbol on the screen, but what really surprised him was the number below.

"(Th-Thirty six messages and twenty calls!? And all from the same number…)" He thought while sweat dropping

Kenji was about to check them out, until his device began ringing and the screen showed the same contact that sent all the messages and made all the calls.

He was slightly hesitant about it at first, but the young man decided to answer the video call. And once the video became clear, Histoire appeared, looking quite shaken up for some reason.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Ke-Kenji! you finally answered! Where ar-Uwah!" Said Histoire in a hurry, until Noire suddenly pushed her aside and got in front of the screen quite abruptly

"YOU?! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

The sudden apparition and yelling of Lastation's CPU made Kenji's eyes widen and even move his head slightly backwards.

"Erm…I'm downtown, eating some pork bowl..."

"A pork bowl!? I've been here waiting for almost an hour and half and all because you wanted to eat a pork bowl!?"

"(And I thought Blanc had a short temper…)" He thought while sweat dropping again

"Wh-What's with that look!?" Said Noire, who caught notice of Kenji's expression

"Nothing…nothing at all"

Instead of firing up an argument, Kenji preferred to leave it at that.

"Well, never mind that…Get over here right now! We need to leave for Lastation!" She said while finally calming down and crossing her arms "I still have loads of work to do and I can't go around town looking for you!"

And with that rather rude order, she abruptly ended the call.

The young man didn't say anything, simply lowered his and sighed before walking back to the tower. While he headed there, Noire complained to the other CPUs about his seemingly rude behavior.

"Seriously now…Who does he think he is? Making me wait for so long just so he could go and get a snack"

"No-Noire, I don't think you should be so aggressive towards him" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping and forcing a weak smile

"You'll never make friends with him with an attitude like that, ya know?" Added Neptune with an expression that showed she was not amused at all and with her hands on her hips

"Sh-Shut up! Why should I be friends with someone like him!?"

"Noire… Neptune and Nepgear have a valid point…" Said the tome while floating towards her with a stern expression "These trips were meant for Kenji to learn more about the CPUs and their respective nations before deciding which one he'll reside in as a citizen...Even if you don't wish to befriend him, acting in such an aggressive way towards him will only result in him disliking you, or even worse, developing animosity towards Lastation"

"A-Animosity?"

"It means he'll hate you" Explained Neptune with a smile

"I know what that means!"

Although she felt like Kenji's decision to make her wait so he could go out and eat was utterly rude, Noire knew the tome and the Planeptune sisters were right. The whole point of this trip was to make Kenji, whose notable power would play an important advantage when gathering Shares, get to like Lastation and want to live and work there as a citizen under her command. Acting so hostile towards the young man like she just did a minute ago would only cause him to become hostile towards her in return.

This would not only make the potential advantage that he represents fade into thin air, but it would also turn him into a potential threat. And considering the fact that he managed to defeat not only three out of the four CPUs but also two of the four felons, getting on his bad side was definitely not a good idea.

"(Now that I think about it…maybe they're right…)" She thought while sweat dropping

While her mind was distracted thinking about the words of the tome, Kenji calmly entered through the front door and announcing his return.

"Hey, I'm back"

"Augh!" Yelled Noire with surprise as she quickly moved forward and nearly jumped off of her feet by the sudden voice behind her

Unfotunately for Lastation's CPU, she was lost too deep in thought to notice the sound of the door opening and only managed to hear him after the young man walked into the room and spoke, which caught her by surprise.

"Ah, welcome home Kenny!" Said Neptune with a smile

"I told you already, it's Kenji!" Replied the young with a slightly irritated expression before noticing Noire, who was slightly bent forward with her head lowered "Isn't that…Lamestation's CPU?"

"Lastation! It's Lastation!" Said Lastation's CPU while straightening up and turning around to face Kenji with an irritated expression and a vein mark popping on her forehead "How did you even manage to mispronounce it like that!?"

"Bwahahahahah! Lamestation! Kenji called it Lamestation!" Said Neptune while laughing hysterically "Ah, my-my sides hurt now!"

"He-Hey, stop laughing so much! It wasn't even that funny!" Snarled Noire while looking at Planeptune's CPU "Neptune!"

Noire tried to make Neptune stop laughing at Kenji's mispronunciation, but it was a vain effort to do so.

Once Neptune finally stopped after nearly ten minutes of laughter, Lastation's CPU turned around and looked at Kenji again with an irritated expression.

"Anyway, let's get going. There's still a lot of paperwork for me to do and…" Noire began saying the same thing from before to Kenji, but soon noticed the way Histoire looked at her and changed her tone "Oh, and...erm...so-sorry for being so aggressive earlier"

"It's okay..." Replied Kenji with a slightly confused expression

"Hmmm, so Noire does want to be friends with Kenny after all" Said Neptune while smirking

"What!? No!" She said while quickly turning around with a blushed face "I-It's not like I thought you three were right or anything! Don't go getting the wrong idea"

"(She just admitted it without even realizing it, didn't she?)" Tought the young man while sweat dropping

Seeing how everyone kept looking at her after her usual tsundere line, Noire simply walked past Kenji and headed for the door.

"Ah forget it! Let's just go already!"

"(What a fun trip this will be…)" Thought Kenji with sarcasm before turning around and following Noire

*Scene*

Out of all the nations in Gamindustry, Lastation was by far the closest one to a balanced mixture between technology and fantasy.

While it had modern buildings like Leanbox and Planeptune, it also had some fantasy-like elements like Lowee, except that Lastation was more leaned towards heavy industry like mining and favored the steampunk style in its design rather than the application of magic and child-like design of Lowee.

It was rather dark and smoky compared to the others, but overall the town itself seemed quite clean and the climate didn't look to be affected by it too heavily since the pollution only extended to a few areas, with the most focused one being junkyards and industrial sectors.

Without a doubt, the most notable feature about Lastation were the many large towers, all connected through complex pipe systems and the massive satellite discs with red markings placed all around town. And Kenji couldn't stop looking at them as he walked through the streets while being guided by Noire.

"(Man, reception must be great around here)"

After reaching the basilicom, Kenji looked around it as well.

It wasn't much different from the other ones, except that this place was more of a mixture between a mansion and an office building. And just like everything else in the nation, it had quite a steampunk theme.

After walking through the hallways for a bit longer, the two finally stopped in front of a door, which the CPU calmly opened.

"I'm back, Uni" Said Noire as she went into the room with Kenji following behind her.

"Big sister, welcome back!"

As soon as they entered, a young girl approached Lastation's CPU to greet her with a bright smile while carrying a bunch of documents.

She was a light skinned girl with long black hair with most of it worn down reaching her chest and with some of it worn in pigtails held with light blue and black ribbons. Her eyes were red like Noire's but slightly darker in comparison. She was wearing a black dress with milky blue lining, an odd belt like piece with a bow behind it and a big circle with white lining connecting the dress to her collar. She was also wearing long fingerless black gloves with milky blue coloring at the top and similar short boots. On the left side of her skirt a small device, slightly similar in appearance to the one Kenji had, could be seen. Most likely it was a cellphone or even a similar device to his, considering the minor similarities in appearance.

"I see you're had at work" Said Noire as she petted the little girl's head while beaming at her "So, where's Kei?"

"If it's me you're looking for, then I'm right here" Said another girl as she walked closer to Lastation's CPU

The second individual was a short girl with pale skin and boyish-cut silver hair. Her eyes were a bright aqua blue color and she wore a black suit with blue lining with many buttons and that had two long tails coming from the jacket and have blue coloring inside, kind of similar to a butler's jacket. She also wore shorts instead of jeans or pants, black high socks with white detailing, and slip-on black shoes with small blue and silver detailing on the top.

"Did anything happen while I was away?"

"You just left for a couple of hours at most" Said the oracle while rising an eyebrow and smiling "I don't think you need to worry that much"

Lastation's CPU simply answered to that with a smile similar to hers. And during this moment, Uni moved her head slightly to the side and noticed Kenji standing behind her elder sister.

"Erm...Big sister, who's that man?" She asked while pointing at him

"Hm? Ah, that's right!" Said Noire after realizing she still had to introduce him to them

She then took a step to the left to let Lastation's oracle and CPU candidate have a better view of their new guest.

"Uni, Kei. This is Kenji...He'll be staying with us for the next two weeks"

"Nice to meet you" Said Kenji while slightly lowering his head in a polite way, since just staying quiet and doing nothing like before would have felt quite awkward

"Kenji? You mean the man from the coliseum?" Asked Uni with widened eyes

"That's right" Answered Noire while nodding

"Now that you mention It, I do recall seeing him in the broadcasts from that day"

"Broadcasts? They were recording the fights?" Said the young man as he looked at Kei

"That's right...Many people that wished to see the goddesses fight couldn't attend in person, so the matches were in live TV" Explained the Oracle to Kenji, who had no idea the fights had been on TV "But either way, that's old business by now..."

After putting that detail out of the way, Kei proceeded to introduce herself to him.

"As Noire mentioned early, my name is Kei Jinguji, and I'm this nation's Oracle..." She said with a somewhat oddly neutral smirk "Welcome to Lastation. I hope we manage to get along during your stay here...And if possible, to turn it into a permanent stay"

Seeing the oracle making a proper introduction, Uni took a step forward and tried to introduce herself as well.

"A-And I'm Uni. I'm Noire's sister and the CPU candidate of Lastation"

"(It's like looking at a smaller version)" Tought Kenji, impressed with the strong resemblance she and Noire had despite their visibly different ages, while looking at her for a moment

"Well, now that we're done with introductions, I'll lead you to your room" Said Noire while guiding Kenji back to the hallway.

While Lastation's CPU left the room with the young man, Uni kept her eyes focused on him

"(So that's the man that is stronger than big sister…)" She thought to herself while carefully looking at him leaving

"So, what did you think?" Asked Kei quite suddenly

The candidate quickly turned her head and looked at the oracle.

"About what?"

"About him"

"Well…I guess he's an okay guy?" Said the CPU candidate with hesitation "Why do you ask?"

Since she had just met him less than a minute ago, Uni hardly had an opinion of him to give

"No reason in particular, I just wanted to hear your thoughts" Answered Kei while closing her eyes and lowering her head with a smirk

"(I'm still struggling to understand what you're thinking half the time, though)" Thought Uni while sweat dropping

Honestly, even Kei was still somewhat of a mystery for Uni, who hardly ever understood her train of thought.

Meanwhile, Kenji followed Noire through the hallway, thinking about the two people he just met. Although something else popped in his mind after taking a look at the CPU, or more specifically, at her skirt.

He couldn't help but wonder just how could someone as stern and no-nonsense as Noire walk around with a dress that short. Not that he didn't like the view, though, but that was partly the thing that caught his attention the most.

The skirt was so high and moved jumped up with her steps so easily that it would be easy to imagine it flying up and giving a clear view of her underwear every time she did some sort of sudden movement. Part of him wondered if she was oblivious about it and everyone kept this a secret from her to keep getting a peek at her underwear, or if she actually knew and did it on purpose because of some odd fetish or hobby.

This doubt kept wandering around the insides of his brain for a few minutes, until Lastation's CPU interrupted his train of thought.

"Hey…Hey! Are you listening!?"

Hearing Noire's voice calling out to him all of a sudden, Kenji raised his head and opened his eyes, only to see her standing in front of him.

While guiding him to his room, Lastation's CPU explained many details about his stay to Kenji, but the young man wasn't really paying attention, as his mind was more focused on figuring out other subjects of interest.

"…I'm listening now if that's what you ask"

Noire lowered her head and sighed with her eyes closed, then opened them and looked at Kenji again.

"Look, I'm going to explain it again, but you better listen this time, are we clear!?" She said while pointing her index finger at him

"Yeah, I get it"

Lastation's CPU looked at Kenji in the eyes for a moment before turning around and explaining again.

"All right then. As I was saying..." She said while walking "During the two weeks you'll stay here, I'll make sure to teach you as much as I can about Lastation and its people...You'll be living in the basilicom with us and have your own room to do with as you see fit. And after you decide to live here, you can either claim it as your permanent room or get yourself a residence of your own anywhere on the nation...Also, since you don't really seem capable for heavy paperwork, I'll probably assign you to a position in the army or just make you take care of any incoming extermination quests"

"In other words, just do what I've been doing up to now, right?"

"Well…I guess that's a simpler way of saying it" Said Noire while sweat dropping

After a few more minutes of walking down hallways, they stopped in front of a door, which Noire then opened.

"Here we are...This will be your room" She said while walking in along with him

Once inside, the young man looked around at his new room for a bit.

The bed had blue blankets and was not only smaller, but simpler than the others in terms of design, as this one wasn't king sized, but rather just big enough for one person to fit in, maybe two if they squeezed together. Also, it didn't have carefully carved designs in the wood like the one in Leanbox or decorations like Lowee's. It was just an average, simple bed with a modern and plain black metal frame instead of wood. There was also a small bookshelf and a desktop, both made of the same metallic material as the bed's frame.

The computer didn't seem as powerful as the one he had in Leanbox, but it still looked quite decent. The smaller size in comparison to the others he had seen so far gave it an oddly comfortable feeling, maybe because he was more used to living in a small room like this one, rather than a large and luxurious rooms like the ones he had been in so far.

"I still have a lot of work to do, so you'll have to handle yourself for the rest of the day..." She said while looking again "Anything you want to know before I go?"

"Yeah, just one…" Said Kenji as he turned around and quickly raised his right hand

"Kei is a girl" quickly replied Noire, interrupting the young man's words rather quickly

Since Kenji wasn't the first one to meet Kei, Noire imagined that she already knew he, like most people that met Kei at first, had that doubt but wouldn't speak it out for fear of being rude

"…actually, I was gonna ask what's tonight's dinner is going to be…" Said Kenji while looking at Lastation's CPU and sweat dropping

"Oh…"

After a moment or two of awkward silence fell between the two, Noire closed her eyes and turned around while blushing from embarassment.

"I-I haven't decided on that yet! just come by the hall in a few hours, okay!?" She said as she walked towards the door and left

Now alone, Kenji turned around and thought to himself

"(Well, that's one doubt out of the way)" He thought to himself while sweat dropping "(No way I'm asking about her skirt, though)"

For a moment, and just a moment, Kenji thought about bringing up the doubt about her skirt, but that could have been a bad idea, which was why he decided not to say it and came up with something else.

Just like Noire said, he only needed to wait for a few hours before he, the two CPUs and the oracle had dinner together in the hall. It was an awkwardly quiet dinner, unlike the ones taking place in Planeptune, but at least he was able to eat something before heading back to his room to sleep until the following morning.

"Wake up...Hey, wake up…" Said Noire as she tugged Kenji's shoulder for a few moments, but only got mumbling sounds from him in return "Come on, wake up already!"

Lastation's CPU tugged on his shoulder even harder, causing the young man to move around the bed for a bit before slowly raised his arm and waving it around, almost as if searching for the source of the noise that was disrupting his sleep to shut it off.

As she saw it heading towards her, Noire thought for a moment that the hand would slap her in the face. But instead of aiming for that, the hand failed short, attacking a bit lower and accidentally grabbing a soft and squishy object, more simply known as her left breast.

"Kyah!?"

Reacting to the sudden sound of Noire's voice, Kenji clenched his hand, squishing the round object a few times until the warm sensation and softness of her chest made him wake up and open his eyes.

"Hm?"

The young man slowly sat up on his bed, closed and opened his eyes a few times and then looked at Noire, who had a blushed and very angered face

"Ah, it's you…what's wrong?" Said the young man while looking at her

Noire simply closed her eyes and clenched her fist as the embarrassment within her began building up and turning into boiling anger.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-!"

To her stuttering, Kenji raised an eyebrow. At least until he noticed the unusually warm sensation in his hand and looked at it, seeing his strong grip on Noire's ample assets.

"Oh…"

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU PERVERT?!" Suddenly yelled Lastation's CPU before punching Kenji straight in the face as hard as she could

After sending the young man back into a state of sleep, she was forced to wait for him to regain consciousness before he could change into a jogging suit and follow he to a park-like open area located outside the Basilicom to tag along for the morning training Lastation's CPU had planned before-hand.

"Aaaand there we go, that should be enough stretching" She said with satisfaction before turning her head and looking at Kenji with slight irritation "Hey you, don't just stay there and watch"

"(She wakes me up at 5 AM and punches me in the face….all for this?)" Tought the young man to himself with an expression that was not amused at all

While Noire spent the last few minutes stretching her muscles to warm up for training, Kenji watched from the sidelines with his arms folded. Despite the purple eye, it was clear as glass that his expression was a rather unamused one, And Noire could notice this.

"Lo-Look, I'm sorry about punching you in the face, okay?" She said while sweat dropping, then folded her arms and turned her head to look away with her eyes closed "But you know, it was your fault too! So don't blame it all on me!"

Kenji looked at the CPU for a moment or two before lowering his head and sighing. Putting it in perspective, he was partly to blame for groping her, even if he was half asleep at the time. And Noire wasn't the first woman to punch him in the face anyway.

That train of thought didn't really help him feel any better physically or mentally, but she probably wouldn't shut up until he complied and went along with her "training" session.

"Fine, what do I do?" He said while unfolding his and walking towards her

Lastation's CPU turned her head and looked at the young man with some relief.

He still didn't seem very happy, that was for certain. But at least he was willing to cooperate now. If nothing else, at least that was a start.

"I'm done stretching already, so now we're going for a jog"

"Okay"

Without wasting time, Kenji stood next to her before both of them got ready and then began jogging along the way. What the young man didn't know here was that this wasn't just a regular morning training, but an intricate plan devised by Lastation's CPU.

"(Hmhmhm, it's all going according to plan)" Tought Noire with confidence "(by showing him how amazing I am, he'll understand I'm the best choice!)"

Through a detailed and carefully prepared two-week long schedule and proving her diligent and hardworking aptitudes as a goddess, Kenji was bound to see her as the best possible choice and would definitely come to her side to serve Lastation with loyalty, or at least that's what Noire thought would happen.

A few minutes after casually jogging, Lastation's CPU decided it was time to put her plan into action.

"Okay, we're speeding up the pace a bit now. Try to keep up"

She then began jogging faster, and Kenji followed her while hardly making effort to do so. Noire didn't panic though, as this fell under her plan.

She would start by jogging slightly faster, and then speed up again after every few minutes, eventually outrunning him and showing off her superior physical qualities.

Half an hour after this constant repeat, they were almost sprinting rather than jogging. And while Lastation's CPU was already running out of breath, Kenji didn't seem that tired at all.

"(This…this isn't going like I thought it would!)" She thought while sweat dropping with heavy breaths before stopping and lowering her torso while placing her hands on her knees "O-Okay…let's…take a short break!"

While Noire had quite a notable amount of strength and stamina in her HDD form, she didn't have half as much of either while in her huamn form. Kenji, on the other hand, had quite an amount of both, even without using HDD.

On hindsight, trying to physically outdo someone who not only was almost a head and half taller, but also had over 88 lbs of battle-tested muscle more than you was probably not the best way to go if you wanted to prove your superiority.

For a moment, it seemed as though Noire's plan was going to crumble to the ground, but she wasn't out of the fight yet.

"(Alright, it's time for plan B!)"

After a short break, the CPU headed to pick up a pair of wooden kendo swords she brought with her for practicing and left under a tree, then handed one over to Kenji while keeping the other one.

"Now we're going to have a little match!" She said as she took an assault stance

If she couldn't surpass him in raw strength and stamina, she would show her sword skills were superior to his and gain his admiration in this way.

"You sure? You still look tired..."

Kenji noticed from the way she was still sweating and the somewhat heavy breaths she took that Noire wasn't fully recovered from her jogging session, but the CPU mistook this act of concern as a mockery or a condescending comment.

"Do-Don't you dare look down on me! I'm just fine!"

Seeing the determined, or rather obstinate, expression on Noire's face, the young man figured he wouldn't be able to convince her and decided to avoid an argument by complying with her request.

Kenji got some distance from Noire and took an assault stance. Without any hesitation, Noire dashed forward and attacked him without any warning. He blocked the first few attacks before retaliating and attacking as well.

his increase in skill with the sword was more than clear, but Noire didn't spend the past weeks slacking either. Both of them slashed at each other and clashed wooden swords quite a few times before finally stopping after nearly an hour.

"That…should be enough…for today" She said while taking deep breaths

She was tired, but seeing how Kenji was breathing deeper than before and did sweat more, the CPU felt satisfied knowing she had managed to tire him out and proven that she was on even ground with him and not inferior.

"Well then…we should get back. There's still…a lot…to do…" She said while turning around to head back to the basilicom, until she suddenly felt lightheaded "Eh? Somehow…I'm feeling…kind of dizzy…"

As everything around her became blurry, Lastation's CPU took a step backwards and lost her balance. Fortunately, Kenji noticed her falling and managed to catch her before she hit the ground. He then proceeded to sit her gently on the floor while holding her shoulders and looking at her.

Noire had fallen unconscious from exhaustion. Not really surprising, considering she went and overworked herself for reasons the Kenji couldn't understand in the least.

"(What's the deal with this girl?)" He thought while looking at her for a moment or two before eventually carrying her back to the basilicom on his arms.

*Scene*

As the days went in Lastation, things didn't go quite as the CPU expected.

Noire would usually try to make Kenji follow the schedules she prepared, which were mostly a mixture of training sessions and classes about Lastation's history and technology, but this dull and tiring process only went on for two or three days, as on the fourth day Kenji began slipping away and avoiding her as much as he could by heading into town. This frustrated the CPU, whose plans and preparations crumbled like a card castle hit by a gust of wind.

Uni, who was worried about the way things were going, decided to ask Nepgear for advice without telling her elder sister.

"And that's how things have been going lately" Explained Lastation's candidate CPU to her friend through the video call on her computer

"I guess she's having a hard time with him" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

"So I called you to ask, how did you and your big sister become friends with him?"

"Well…to be honest, I don't think he sees me and Neptune as friends"

"Eh?" Said Lastation's CPU candidate as her eyes widened "What do you mean?"

"You see... After big sister took him in to live with us, he'd hardly talk to anyone" Explained Nepgear "Kenji would usually go out around town or just stay on the basilicom to sleep on the couc. It was after a week that he began talking, mostly to IF or to Histoire, since they were the most persistent ones"

"And what about you?"

"Actually, I never really had a proper conversation with him"

"Why?"

"Well…now he seems calmer, but while he was here, Kenji always had this really scary look in his eyes, so I never really knew how to approach him" Explained Planeptune's CPU candidate while pressing the tips of both of her index fingers against each other and looking down with a weak smile

"Nepgear…" Said Uni while sweat dropping

Lastation's CPU candidate had to admit Kenji wasn't a guy with a very positive repertoire of expressions, but he wasn't really scary either.

"Heeey, Nepgear! Let's play a game!" Said a voice on the background of Nepgear's side

"Ah, big sister?"

Nepgear turned around, and after a moment, Uni saw Neptune appearing on the video as well.

"What'cha doing there that's keeping you so busy?" Said Planeptune's CPU while looking at the computer and noticing the CPU candidate "Ah? Isn't that Mini-Noire?"

"Please, don't call me that…" Said Uni while closing her eyes and sweat dropping

"My bad, my bad!" Replied Neptune with a smile "So, what were you talking about?"

The CPU candidate then opened her eyes and looked at the screen again before realizing this could be a good chance to ask Neptune herself.

"Ah, now that I think about it, big sister Neptune... Would you help me with something?"

"Sure thing! Leave it to millionep quiz master to answer your doubts!" Answered the CPU with her usual perkiness

"Well, you see…"

Uni then proceeded to explain the situation from start to finish to Neptune, who after hearing it closed her eyes and sighed.

"Schedules and studying? Man, that's so Noire it almost hurts…" She said while sweat dropping "No wonder he's treating her like the plague"

Although she could tell that what Neptune just said was a more than a bit insulting towards Noire, Uni ignored it and kept her focus on the subject at hand.

"Then what should we do?"

"Easy, don't do a thing!"

"Eh?"

Out of the many things Neptune could've said right now, that was definitely not the one Uni expected to hear.

"For Kenny, going somewhere new is like sitting on the couch..." Explained the CPU "You need to move your rear a bit before getting nice and comfy...If you try keeping the guy under a leash like your sis does, then it's a given he'll keep running away!"

Seeing the utter confusion on her fellow CPU candidate's face, Nepgear decided to try and summarize what her elder sister said into something understandable.

"I think that what my big sister is trying to say is that Kenji needs to feel comfortable around you and Noire before there's a chance for you to get along"

"Right, right!" Added Neptune once again while pointing at the monitor "Give the guy some breathing room, let him sniff and walk around the place for a bit and he'll warm up to you gals before you know it!"

"(It feels like she's describing a dog rather than a person….)" Tought the CPU candidate while sweat dropping "O-Okay...I'll see if I can convince big sister"

"And one last thing!"

"Hm? What is it?"

"Be upfront with him! Kenny doesn't likes it when people are fake!" Said Neptune with a smile

And with that, Uni ended the video chat before stretching and getting up from her chair.

Thanks to Neptune and Nepgear, Lastation's CPU candidate now knew what the problem was, but she didn't know exactly how to fix it yet, or more importantly, how to even explain it to Noire.

She thought about this while walking through the hallway until finally reaching Noire's office and entering to see the CPU speaking with Kei.

"I can't believe this!" Said Noire with indignation

"What's wrong, big sister?"

"Ah,Uni. Good timing…" Said the oracle while turning her head and looking at her "Have you seen our guest around the basilicom?"

"Kenji? No, I haven't"

"Seriously! Just where did he run off to now!?" Yelled the CPU while slamming her hands against the desk and getting up quite abruptly

"Calm down Noire. Getting angry won't help anyone" Said Kei while sweat dropping

"I know, but I just can't understand it" Said Noire while sitting down again on her chair and massaging her temples. "Why does he keep running off like that?"

"Maybe he doesn't like your way of doing things"

"What do you mean?" Asked the CPU while looking at her younger sister

"We-Well, I meant that maybe instead of studying, he'd rather learn about Lastation by hanging around it by himself"

"That shouldn't be...I planned this perfectly"

"Wait Noire, maybe Uni has a valid point..." Interrupted The oracle "Different minds have different paces and ideologies. What you consider near perfect could be dull or even frustrating for him"

"Then what do you suggest I do?"

"For starters, maybe we should scrap the initial plan and take a different approach"

"So start from square one then…" Said Noire while putting her hand on her chin and closing her eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at her younger sister "Uni, what do you think we should do?"

"Eh? Me?"

"You're the one that said he doesn't like my way of doing things, that means you must have a slight idea of what he might like"

Although Uni knew Noire was just asking for a suggestion, her way of saying it made it feel like she was trying to pull a solution out of the CPU candidate. Unfortunately, she hardly had any time to think about what could that solution be.

But the idea of scrapping the original plan was her doing now, and therefore she needed to put something on the table to make it work.

"Well…how about doing nothing?" She quickly said as the words Neptune said earlier came to her mind

"Eh?" Replied Noire with widened eyes

"I-I mean that we shouldn't try to force him into learning things he doesn't want to! Maybe we should let him get used to Lastation, and then he'll end up wanting to learn by himself!"

"Hm…giving him free reign and allowing personal interest to develop freely…" Tought the oracle before turning her head to look at Noire and nod in agreement "I agree with Uni. Even if it's a risky move, it could prove to be the most efficient"

After hearing the thoughts of her young sister and oracle, Noire tought about it for a second before agreeing as well.

"I can't really say I'm 100% okay with this plan, but I've got no time to think of anything else to make" She said with certain reluctance before turning her head and looking at the CPU candidate "Uni, could you do me a favor?"

"Sure, whatever you need!"

"Could you go look for Kenji and tell him he doesn't need to worry about the lessons anymore?" Asked the CPU before making a seemingly irritated expression again "I'd call him myself, but he seems to turn off his portable device whenever he goes out"

"He does?" Asked Uni while sweat dropping

Since Noire had caught hold of his number, Kenji got into the custom of turning it off while outside to avoid having to hear the constant ringing sound. This was certainly something that the CPU found annoying as well, as it just reinforced the idea that he wished to avoid her in particular.

"Can I trust on you with this one?" Asked Noire while looking at her with a smile

"Of course! Leave it to me!" Said the CPU candidate cheerfully before turning around and leaving the room with a smile and a perky attitude

"She certainly seemed happy to be of help" Said the oracle with a smile

"Well, even though she probably got that idea from Neptune" Answered Noire

She was already guessing Uni made a call to Planeptune since her suggestion sounded like something only Neptune would say. But then again, that was the oddly brilliance behind the usually incomprehensible randomness that she was.

Besides it made Uni feel both happy and helpful. And if it worked, then it was a plus.

"You say that, but you were probably wondering if you should do the same thing yourself" Said Kei while looking at her with a smirk

Noire instantly blushed and turned closed her eyes.

"Do-Don't get the wrong Idea! I was just going to call Neptune for a completely different reason!"

"If you say so…" She said while lowering her head and closing her eyes with a smile for a moment before rising it and looking at the CPU with a more serious expression "Now then, maybe we should go back to our earlier subject..."

Noire looked at Kei again and made a serious expression as well.

"About the recent ASIC activity around the nation, right?"

"Precisely. I believe my sources have found a lead to something big"

"I'm listening" Said the CPU while focusing all of her attention on the Oracle's words

*Scene*

Uni was walkig down through the streets of Lastation in search of Kenji, and she was confident at first that she could find him, but soon came to realize how difficult it would be, considering Lastation's size and that she had absolutely no idea where he to look around in the first place.

This didn't discourage her in the least, though. Instead, she kept her mind set on making her elder sister proud while searching high and low. But the feeling of discouragement came to her again after a few hours of searching high and low in vain.

"(This is impossible…how am I supposed to find him?)" She thought with her eyes closed and her head lowered while sweat dropping

"Help! Someone Help me!"

The cry for help quickly made the CPU candidate raise her face and look around her as she heard the cies of help once again.

By following the voice, she reached a park where she saw a couple of kids around a large tree.

"You kids, what's going on!?" She said while approaching them

"It's Hibiki..." Said one girl while pointing at the tree

Uni turned her head to look at the direction she was pointed at and noticed someone hanging by a branch with his arms and legs wrapped around it tightly. a small child with black hair and blue eyes.

"Help! Please get me down!" Yelled the kid with teary eyes

"Ho-How did he get all the way up there!?" Asked Uni with widened eyes, seeing the branch was actually quite high

"We were playing a dare game, and one of us dared him to climb the tree...He didn't want to at first, but after the other boys called him a chicken, he climbed to the highest branch…"

"(And now he can't get down?)" She thought while sweat dropping "Don't worry! I'll get you down!"

Uni thought about how to do this for a moment. She could simply use HDD and float all the way up, but in his current state of fear, the kid would probably get frigthened and fall down before she could grab him.

"Okay, guess it'll be old style climbing" She said while approaching the tree

She then proceeded to grab onto the wood as firmly as she could and then began climbing.

Because of her clothes not being exactly the right ones for the job, and the fact that she wasn't used to climbing trees in such a way, this task was rather difficult. But even so she slowly kept climbing, at least until her right foot slipped and caused her to lose her grip.

"U-Uwah!"

As she yelled and fell down, the CPU candidate quickly closed her eyes and prepared for impact. But even after a few seconds, she didn't feel a thing. And after noticing she didn't feel any sort of pain or impact, Uni opened her and the first thing she saw was Kenji's face.

"Ke-Kenji!"

"Hey..."

"What are you doing here?"

"Same reason as you...Heard the kids yelling and came to see what the entire ruckus was about"

"I see…" Said Uni, who looked at Kenji's face for a moment before noticing he was still carrying her in his arms "Also…could you put me down?"

Kenji complied without a problem and put the CPU candidate down, who got the dust off her skirt with her eyes closed and bit of a blush in her cheeks

"We-Well...Now that you're here, you can help me with this" She said while turning around again to face the tree "This tree is rather big, and I'm not good at climbing"

"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't do that again"

Uni folded her arms and looked away with her eyes closed

"It's not my fault! I'm not good at climbing trees!"

"No, I was saying it because those kids peeked at your panties while you climbed" Said Kenji while pointing at the kids with his thumb

"Eh!?" Said Uni while quickly turning her head again to look at him, and then look at them

Two boys almost immediately turned their heads away as they blushed with somewhat pervy faces while the girl eyed them with disgust

"Just a minor tip, but don't try climbing trees when you're wearing a skirt"

"Sh-Shut up! I know that, okay!?" Said the CPU candidate with a blushing face and both hands on her skirt

"Well, never mind that for now" Replied the young man while turning around to look at the boy hanging from the branches "We need to get the kid down first"

Regaining her composure, Uni stood straight again and looked at the tree as well

"You're right…" She said before turning around again and placing her hand on her chin "I guess we'd need some stairs for a starter, but we'd need them to be rather large... I guess we could try asking around to see if someone in this neighborhood has-"

While Uni kept mumbling under her breath, Kenji looked at her for a moment, then looked at the tree and knocked on it with his middle and index fingers twice to see how hard the log was before clenching his hand into a fist and punching it with the side of his hand. This caused the entire tree to shiver and the boy to lose his grip on the branch, slipping off and falling right into Kenji's arms in almost the same way Uni did just a few moments ago

"Done"

"Eh?" Said Uni as she turned around and saw Kenji holding the kid in his arms "Wha-how did you-!?"

"He punched the tree" Explained the girl bluntly

"Punched the tree?" Asked the candidate while looking at Kenji put down the kid, then karate chop him in the head "He-Hey! What are you doing!?"

"Don't go climbing trees if you can't get down, you dumbass" Said Kenji while lecturing the kid

"Ugh…So-sorry"

Seeing the kid was about to cry, Kenji sighed and placed his hand on the top of his head

"Just don't act though when you don't need to, that's a lame thing for men to do" He said rather calmly "Now go home, It's getting late"

The kid nodded and left along with the others while the girl tried to cheer him up.

Kenji looked at them walking away before turning around to look at Uni

"We should go too...Last thing I need is your sister yelling at me again"

"Okay…" She said while nodding

As they walked along the street, Uni looked at Kenji a few times before finally speaking up.

"Hey…Kenji..."

"What is it?"

"Why did you scold that kid?"

"No reason...I just thought that kid's dad wouldn't want to go back home and see his son with a broken arm"

Uni looked at Kenji again for a moment with an expression that showed surprise.

She didn't think Kenji was the type to be thoughtful towards strangers, even if they were kids.

"Kenji, why do you avoid big sister so much?"

"Because I don't like the way she acts"

"The way she acts?"

The answer she received from the young man was a rather hard thing to understand for her, as Noire was a cool and dependable person in her eyes. She was someone Uni admired and strived to be like one day.

"Whenever she's around me, or anyone else, she tries to act like a perfect person with no flaws" He explained while his eyes thinned "I hate it when people pretend they're someone else..."

"Then…it's not because of those classes and training sessions big sister made you go through?"

"I don't like those either, but it's her fake front that really grinds my gears"

"(Fake attitude)" Tought Uni, who recalled Neptune's words "(So big sister Neptune was right...)"

Planeptune's CPU hit it right in the nail with that last advice. Kenji did hate it when people acted in a fake.

To the CPU candidate, Noire was nothing short of a role model or even something akin to perfection, but her strict personality and high demand for nothing but the best could usually make her seem as a no-nonsense person or even as arrogant. And Kenji seemed to perceive this as an attempt to create a fake front and hide her true self from others, which wasn't exactly wrong.

But it did raise one question. Was the person Uni respected so much her sister herself, or just the perfect front she put for everyone else to see?

This train of thought was enough to make the CPU candidate think long and hard about Kenji and Neptune's words on the way back to the basilicom.


	9. The real you is fine too

Noire sorted out and signed up the piles of paperwork that arrived today, just like those that arrived every day.

The mountains of documents and papers were filled from start to finnish with writing about the development or funding of different project initiatives, mostly of technological or industrial nature, economic rates of Lastation's monthly production and market values, national budget distribution or even policy and public welfare related issues.

Although Kei, Uni, and the staff of the basilicom helped confirm and sort out these large amounts of work, Noire always made sure to check everything that entered the basilicom with her own eyes, double checking and calculating everything. From morning to night, she would be the first to wake up and last to go to sleep. This diligent behavior earned her the reputation of "ideal goddess" among her people, which she and everyone working for her felt proud of, but at the same time it bred concerns among those closest to her, mostly her oracle and younger sister, who couldn't help but worry from time to time.

They were always plagued by the feeling that Noire was overdoing it more than just a bit. And even a considerable number of the basilicom's workers worried about her, despite that strong will to do everything without faltering being what initially gave birth to their faith in her.

"Aaand done!" Said Lastation's CPU after she finished printing the seal of approval in her last document

As she laid back and stretched her arms for a bit, the CPU then turned her head to look at the clock. It was still 2:26 PM, a rather early hour of the day for the workload to become thinner, and much less for it to even stop coming.

"(Hm, I guess today's workload was rather light)" She thought while realizing how fast she managed to finish today

Without anything else to do for the remainder of the day, Noire decided to get up and take a walk around the basilicom to stretch her legs. As she walked down the hallways, The CPU recalled the conversation she had with Kei a few days earlier.

"My sources believe to have discovered a lead on ASIC's current activities within our Nation's territory" Reported the oracle with a stern face

"Fill me in" Said Noire while putting her elbows on the desk and her hands together

Kei then stepped closer to the desk and placed a dossier over it, which Noire opened and examined the pack of documents one by one while the silver-haired oracle gave her a summary of what she'd find in it.

"This is a collection of reports we've been receiving regarding the subject. It's mostly evidence collected over the last few days of research and testimonies from both civilians and security forces alike"

"So they're finally In Lastation..."

Lastation's CPU quickly became just as stern as Kei, if not more, after her worries were confirmed to be truth.

"I believe they've been here far before we became aware of their presence...The fact that they're not as concerned about remaining as inconspicuous as they used to be leads me to believe they're preparing to execute an operation of a rather large scale"

"What exactly?"

"I'm not sure..." Replied the oracle with her eyes closed and shaking her head slowly "While ASIC's presence on Lastation's territory has been definitely confirmed. The idea of a large scale operation is still just a speculation until further evidence is obtained"

The CPU lowered her head and closed her eyes while her mind processed what to do for a moment or two before finally looking up at Kei again and speaking out her tactical decision.

"For now, we should start by finding their base of operations"

"My thoughts exactly" Said the oracle with a smirk "I have already assembled an investigation team to uncover ASIC's whereabouts. All we need now is your approval"

"Very well. Go right ahead"

"Understood" Said Kei while nodding "Oh, and by the way…"

Noire then raised her head to look at Kei, who suddenly seemed more lax, and raised an eyebrow.

"Did you come up with any new plans regarding our guest yet?"

"Ah…Th-That's….well…"

Seeing the CPU's difficulty to give an answer, the oracle simply gave her a smile

"Try not to worry about it..." She said in an attempt to comfort her "Like business, bonds aren't something that can be forced...It needs time"

As her mind played back Kei's attempt to ease her worries, Noire kept walking down the hallway in present time with a pensive expression.

"(Even if she says not to worry, it's not like I can just sit still)" Tought the CPU while sweat dropping

A week passed since Kenji's arrival to Lastation, and he still didn't show any strong interest towards the nation, or towards Noire in any aspect. Even after the CPU gave Kenji complete freedom by cancelling the lessons and getting rid of the schedules, the young man didn't really seem happier about it, or sadder. In fact, he didn't really show any strong emotions towards it. He did hang around the basilicom a lot more though, meaning that he was probably starting to get comfortable around the place. Uni's opinion about Kenji also seems to have gotten better too, which meant she was probably growing closer to him.

Lastation's CPU wondered if it was the same for Kenji's opinion of the CPU candidate. And if it was, how did she manage to do it? And even more importantly, would Noire be able to do it as well? As she walked down the hallway, pondering these questions, her mind forgot to focus on the hallway in front of her. This, in return, caused her to suddenly bump against someone and lose her balance for a moment.

"Ah, sorry! I didn't see where I was going!" Said Noire with an apologetic tone while regaining her balance

"It's okay, I wasn't checking either..." Said the other person

Although she didn't talk with him too much yet, it didn't take long for Noire to recognize the voice. and she confirmed it once her eyes were opened and saw that it was Kenji.

"Oh, it's you..."

"Yeah, nice to see you too…" replied the young man with a raised eyebrow and a sarcastic tone

Although she didn't like his way of replying, Noire decided to ignore it for the time being.

"So, what are you doing now?" Asked the CPU while looking at him

"Just going on an errand"

"An errand?"

Kenji nodded to her question

"Uni ran out of oil for her guns, but she's been too busy with paperwork so I said I'd go buy some for her"

"Oh…"Said Noire while her eyes widened for a moment after hearing the explanation.

At first Lastation's CPU felt surprised. She didn't expect Kenji to run an errand for Uni, nor for anyone in particular. But something in his explanation that also caught her attention was how Kenji casually called Uni by her name without any reservation.

This made her wonder for a moment if his speculation about her younger sister and Kenji developing some respect towards each other was true after all.

"Well then, I'll be on my way..." Said the young man while walking past Noire

The CPU quickly snapped back from her train of thought and turned around to look at Kenji.

"Wa-Wait a minute!"

The young man turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.

"What is it?"

"Erm…well…"

Noire just got herself in a bit of an issue. She reacted without thinking and called out to him, but had nothing in mind to say. She needed something to use as a cover, and while looking at Kenji she noticed he was carrying his sword.

"I...I was just wondering why are you taking your sword with you if you're only going on an errand"

Kenji looked at his sword for a moment before speaking

"Oh, that..."

Noire felt relieved by the young man's natural reaction. It seemed as though she managed to pull through this one safely for the moment.

"I was going to buy a new whetstone. The one I have is already wearing out" He said while looking at Noire again

"Do you want me to go with you?" Asked Noire bluntly

Kenji stared at her for a moment, looking a bit curious as to why she'd ask him that. Noire herself didn't take long to notice this and quickly folded her arms while looking away from him with her eyes closed.

"I-I mean, it's not like I WANT to go with you or anything! I just happen have some free time since I finished my work earlier and I do know a bit about whetstones!"

When faced with the tsundere line, Kenji sweat dropped while looking at her.

While it was rather odd how she admitted the way she felt, at least he could tell she was trying to be more upfront with him. It probably wasn't intentional, but rather a result of Noire having little to no time to build up her façade.

While on Noire's side, The CPU wanted to go with Kenji because she thought it could play out as a proper excuse to spend some time with him, giving her enough time to have a proper conversation with the young man and learn more about him in order to formulate a better plan to entice him into joining Lastation. Besides, she had nothing else to do either and was feeling a bit lonely since Kei and Uni were both busy with their work, but there was absolutely no way in hell she would admit to being lonely, not even through her tsundere lines.

"…So, what do you say?" Asked the tsundere CPU as she opened one eye to peek at Kenji with her head slightly turning towards him

In all honesty, Kenji could easily do the errand by himself and come back in less than an hour, but it seemed like Noire really wanted to go. Why, he was not sure, but he could tell that she wanted to go.

"Sure, I don't mind..."

"Really!? Okay then!" Said the CPU with a smile, feeling glad that her plan worked out

Kenji looked at Noire and wondered what she was scheming for a moment, but later decided to stop thinking about that, since seeing the usually serious and strict Noire smiling was a rather nice change of pace. And in the end, it was just a walk to the workshop and back. Having someone tagging along couldn't do that much of a difference, could it?

*Scene*

The weapon store was, as the name implied, a place filled to the brim with all sorts of weapons. From swords to knives to high caliber guns, every kind of weapon you could imagine was hanged on the wall and sold for a price.

"Hm…this one, or maybe this one?" Muttered Kenji to himself while browsing through the various brands of gun oils placed on the shelves before turning his head to look at Noire "Which one do you think it is?"

"How would I know? I use swords, not guns" Said Noire, who until now was looking at Kenji with her arms folded

"Well, I thought you'd know since you're sisters"

"You know, just because we're sisters doesn't mean I know everything about her..." Said Noire with her eyes closed

Thinking about it, Noire didn't know much about Uni, except for maybe the foods she liked and didn't like and that she was into guns, but beyond that, she didn't really know anything else about her. Realizing she knew so little about her own little sister made Noire feel a bit worried about their relationship.

"(Maybe I should try spending some more time with Uni...)" Thought the CPU while sweat dropping

"You kids"

After hearing a deep voice, both Noire and Kenji turned their heads to look behind them and saw an old man with white hair and a bushy beard. He had a few wrinkles and was wearing a black military jacket over a white t-shirt, along with matching pants and a beret, also a pair of combat boots and an eye patch.

"Uwah!" Said Noire as she nearly jumped back from the old man's sudden appearance "Wh-Who are you!?"

"I'm this store's owner" said the old man with a rather grumpy tone while looking at Noire before eyeing Kenji "Now, what are you looking for?"

More than angry because of Noire's reaction, the store's owner seemed to generally be a grumpy person.

"We're looking for gun oil, any idea which one we need?"

"Depends on what gun you're buying it for"

"I'm not really sure about the gun, I'm on an errand for someone"

"Errand? For who?" Asked the owner while raising an eyebrow

"Uni" Said Kenji rather bluntly before pointing at Noire "Looks a lot like her, but smaller and flatter"

The owner then looked at Noire, who was looking at Kenji while sweat dropping. The gun shop probably had quite a number of customers nearly every day. Remembering one specific person would be very difficult, especially when given such a vague description.

"Come on, there's no way he'll tell just from that..."

"Ah, little Uni sent you?" Said the owner while sounding more lively than before

"Seriously!?" Quickly said Noire with widened eyes

"Lovely lady, that girl...A little clumsy when oiling the guns sometimes though"

The owner then walked past Kenji and looked at the gun oils for a moment before picking one up and giving it to him.

"Here, this one's the brand she uses usually"

"Thanks" Said Kenji while looking at the bottle of oil

"No problem. Just tell the little lady to come over every few days or so!" Replied the old man with a suprisingly lively attitude "It gets really quiet without her around here"

"(Yeah...I definitely need to spend more time with Uni)" thought Noire, who was now feeling slightly worried about the type of people her younger sister was hanging around with

After paying at the counter and leaving the gun store, Kenji got on the task of finding a whetstone, which was his original objective. Fortunately, Lastation's CPU knew of a good place down the street and guided him there.

The young man considered buying the same type as the one he had already been using, but Noire suggested him another type of whetstone. It was more expensive than the one he was going to get at first, but the CPU assured him this one was far better, since it was a special type of synthetic whetstone manufactured in Lastation. Designed not only to last much longer than others, but also to give weapons a much sharper edge.

She could give this advice with confidence since she was the one that approved the initiative to develop them and had been using them ever since.

"Well, that should be it for shopping needs" Said Kenji while carrying the bag containing the objects he bought and walking back to the basilicom

"I suppose so" Said the CPU as she walked alongside him "Say…mind if I ask you something?"

Kenji turned his head and looked at her.

"Shoot"

"You've been here for a week already. What do you think of Lastation so far?"

Noire asked it as bluntly as she could, but there was some notable hesitation on her tone.

As sudden of a question as it might be, the CPU knew she might not have another chance as good as this one where there only ones around would be the two of them, if you excluded the bystanders moving around the streets of course. Which was why she decided to risk it and ask now.

Kenji looked at her in silence for a few seconds before looking forward again and answering her question.

"It's okay, I guess"

"What about the other nations?"

"Well…" Said Kenji while thinking about it for a moment.

Planeptune had lots of manga and anime, but Kenji stopped watching anime and reading manga years ago. The best thing about that nation for him was probably the old man's pork bowl. Leanbox had a sophisticated and modern appearance, but there was too much hype about idols, and Kenji didn't feel the slightest interest about that, even if he did take an interest for 5pb's music. And Lowee was pretty to look at, but a bit too cold and there wasn't that much to do except reading or sightseeing.

"They're all nice in their own way"

Noire was surprised. She expected him to be more specific with his description about the other nations after living in them, but it was hardly anything detailed.

"I thought you'd have more to say about them after the last few weeks"

"I didn't really do much more than what I'm doing now"

"Really? " Said Noire with a surprised expression "what about the other Goddesses?"

"Vert spent all her time playing games and Blanc kept reading non-stop"

Noire was left speechless. Not only did Blanc and Vert do no effort to teach Kenji about their nations, but they just left him by himself to wander around to his own devices.

"(Even though they said so much about me making dull offers, they hardly did any effort at all!)" Tought the CPU with an irritated expression while placing her clenched fist at face level, but soon snapped back from it and realized something about what Kenji said "(Wait, did he just call Vert and Blanc by their names?)"

One thing Noire noticed about Kenji was that he would refer to others through a vague description or just simple words like "you". Despite this, Kenji had just referred to both Vert and Blanc by their names, which made Noire wonder if during his stay on Leanbox and Lowee, Kenji developed a certain amount of acknowledgment towards them, and referring to them by name rather than with a vague description like he did with her was proof of it, just like with Uni.

After they returned to the basilicom, the young man gave the CPU candidate the oil for her gun before returning to his room while Noire returned to her office. With no work to do and still a few hours left until dinnertime, she decided to have a small stress relieving session by doing her favorite activity: Cosplaying.

"(Okay! I guess It's about time!)" She thought cheerfully while skipping along

The CPU went out and looked at both sides of the hallway before closing the door. She then turned around and headed towards one of the bookshelves with a skip on her feet and pulled one of the books, causing a mechanism to get activated and making the bookshelf go down into the floor. Once the bookshelf was out of the way, a large secret room with dozens of cosplays was revealed.

The uniforms and outfits of charecters from to games, animes and movies were spread out for her to choose. Even thematic and seasonal cosplays, like a female Santa outfit that was perfectly fit for Christmas, or even a vampire queen outfit for Halloween, were at her disposal.

One important thing to mention about all of these cosplays was that none of them were bought, but rather handmade by Lastation's CPU herself. Who at first began learning how to do it because she didn't want to be seen buying cosplays in public and feared what the public opinion of her would degrade into. But after making the first few outfits, she began taking a liking to it and quickly became her favorite hobby and pastime.

"Now, what should I go for today?" Said Noire quite happily as she browsed through her wide collection of cosplays "Ah, I know! This one" She added before picking up a pink magical girl dress with white accents on it.

That specific cosplay was one Noire had been working on after seeing a new anime that came out during the recent season and really liked the outfit design for the main female character, which the CPU felt would fit to her quite nicely.

After hours spent on the sewing machine, she managed to make a near perfect copy with boots and even a very well made imitation of the wand used in the anime. Noire removed her clothes one by one, and after she was in nothing but her underwear, she proceeded to put on the magical girl dress and looked at herself in the mirror.

"It fits perfectly!" She said cheerfully while moving and turning around for a bit to look at how she looked in it as much as she could before doing a few poses.

As she kept looking more and more to herself in the mirror, Noire felt more and more like that magical girl, eventually reaching a point where she began imagining herself as a that character.

But the really interesting part began once she got into character and the mood felt just right, as Noire raised her wand and said an introduction line she just thought about.

"By the power of Lastation, I will punish you!" She said with a perkiness that would be more commonly seen in Neptune while turning around and chanting her magic spell "With the everlasting power of my love and friendship magic, I will-"

Noire's emotion and momentum was equal to that of a professional actress or even an idol, but this suddenly stopped as she turned around and aimed her wand forward, only to see the tip of it poking Kenji's chest while he stood in front of her.

The CPU froze in place, with even her expression stuck in her smile for a few moments while she kept pointing at Kenji with her wand. But the young man didn't say a thing. He simply looked at her with an expression that showed he wasn't really amused.

"Eh?" She said as she sweat dropped and her expression eventually paled after realizing what just happened "EEEEHHH?!"

Noire nearly jumped as she took a step backwards and placed the wand behind her back

"Wh-wh-wh-Where did you come from?!"

"From the door" He said while pointing at it with his thumb after raising his clenched hand "Maybe you should lock it next time"

"Ho-How much of that did you just see?!"

"From around when you said it fitted you perfectly"

"That long!?" Tought Noire while sweat dropping

This was more than just an embarassing moment for the CPU. It was literally a living nightmare, as her hobby was not only discovered, but the one that discovered it was none other than the one person she was trying to inplant her image of ideal goddess.

Needless to say, that image was definitely going to be impossible anymore.

"So you're into Cosplaying?"

"Wha-No, no! I could never be into something so childish!" She said quickly while shaking her head from one side to the other.

Kenji simply stared at her in silence. He had a hard time believing this, considering that she was literally Cosplaying right in front of him right now, and he seriously doubted someone forced her into wearing that, especially when she was doing it with such a perky attitude.

Feeling his piercing stare, the CPU's face went bright red as the embarassment began making her dizzy.

"Why are you just staring and not saying anything!? Or rather, stop looking at me and get out!"

"Can't see what's the big deal here...It's just a hobby"

"Are you kidding me!? I'd become a laughingstock if people found out about it!"

"(I think a lot of people know about it already, though…)" Tought the young man while sweat dropping

Truth to be told, he already knew that Noire was into Cosplaying. The reason being mainly because Uni herself told him about it.

The CPU candidate also told him that because of how Noire usually acted around everyone else, she was very insecure about this little hobby of hers and wanted no one to know about it. But even so, a lot of people were already aware of it.

Uni, Kei, the other CPUs, and even some of the basilicom's workers knew. But the reason why rumors didn't spread around Lastation were probably because Kei or Uni prohibited the workers from talking about it in front of Noire or with anyone in particular. Either that or they didn't want the CPU to freak out and do something extremely rash, like hiding away forever or going on a homicidal rage.

Even if Noire wasn't the most honest person about how she felt or if she got angry a bit too easy sometimes, the possibility of going as far as killing others to keep her secret safe was a bit of an exaggeration, especially if the victims-to be were her own citizens . Then again, you never know what a person is capable of until it happens.

"Ju-Just forget about what you saw and get out already! Get out now!" She said as she pointed at the door "Seriously, you're the rudest person I ever met!"

Kenji looked at her and closed his eyes for a moment while taking a deep breath before opening them again and looking at Noire.

"This is why I just can't get along with you, Noire"

"Eh?"

Noire then opened her eyes as well and looked at him. The young man's words seemed to have made her snap out of her embarrassment for a moment.

"Yeah, I might be rude...But you know what?" He said as he leaned forward, closer to the CPUs face "At least I can say I'm being honest with myself"

With that said, Kenji quietly turned around and walked out of the room and down the hallway, leaving Noire all alone.

*Scene*

"So Kei said ASIC's base of operations is an abandoned factory" Said Black sister before looking at her elder sister, who was flying a bit ahead of her "Do you think they're really there?"

"Does it really matter? If they're not there, that's fine. And if they are, then we just take care of them swiftly"

"Understood…"

Black Heart and Black sister flew towards an abandoned factory on the outskirts of Lastation's territory.

On the way there, Black sister noticed that despite looking focused, part of Black Heart's mind seemed to be elsewhere at the moment. Most likelly because of what Kenji said yesterday, which still kept nagging on the back of her brain.

"(Being honest with myself…)" Thought Black Heart while flying

When thinking about the CPUs and their personalities, she was by far the only one that expressed such a strong rejection regarding the things she liked in front of others.

Vert would let her excessive obsession with MMOs and Yaoi be easily seen, and she clearly liked to speak about it with anyone willing to listen as well and be seen freely without feeling any shame at all, even when around her own citizens. Blanc wouldn't mind in the least either whatever her people thought about her obsessive desire to read for entire days on no end or her passion for becoming a famous author. And Neptune, well, was Neptune. But one thing was certain about Planeptune's CPU. No matter how badly people could think of her sometimes because of her childish attitude and total randomness, Neptune would always go through life with a smile and a bright mood, no matter how badly even her own citizens thought of her.

The ways all three of them acted and allowed their passions and hobbies to be seen by others varied, but the three CPUs had one thing in common. They were upfront about it and honest not only with others, but with themselves. Perhaps this honesty was the thing that made the young man acknowledge them, and at the same time made it so hard for her to gain said acknowledgement.

"I see it, over there!" Said Black sister, snapping her elder sister out of her train of thought

Black Heart quickly looked at the area around them and spotted the factory.

It looked old and rather worn out on the outside, along with vegetation growing around it and having taken over most of the walls, but most of the reports mentioned this as the place.

With this in mind, both sisters landed in front of it and looked at their surroundings.

"I don't see anyone"

"They could be hiding...Keep your guard up" Said Black Heart while turning her head to look at the CPU candidate, then turned it to look forward again and summoned her massive sword, which encouraged Black sister to do the same and summon her gun.

Now armed and ready, both sisters entered the building expecting a fight, but only found the remains of the old factory's machines.

"There's nothing here?'"

"We don't know for sure yet, try looking around" Said Black Heart while turning back to look at her

It took some thorough searching, but the two CPUs managed to find a passage leading deeper into a more open area of the factory.

There, they found many new machines that were still working, along with countless robot workers, all focused on manufacturing endless black chips.

"What is this place?" Asked Black sister while looking around

When hearing her voice, one of the robots turned its head around and saw them, triggering an alarm that sounded all over the factory. The robots in the vicinity immediately reacted to it and switched to battle mode, while many others appeared from deeper or from spots where they were hiding and headed towards the two sisters

"They're coming! Get ready!" Said Black Heart as she raised her sword

*Meanwhile, in Lastation's basilicom*

Kenji lay down on his bed while playing games on his portable device.

It was by far the only thing he could do to avoid boredom at least for a while. But unfortunately, that distraction wasn't one to last either, as Kenji had already been playing for quite a few hours already.

"Damn, I'm bored…" He said as he dropped the device on the bed and sat on the side.

Wondering what to do, Kenji got up and decided to head out and do a few quests to kill time.

On the way out he walked by Noire's office and noticed she wasn't there, which was rather odd since Noire would always be in her office. Another thing Kenji noticed that caught his attention were the large towers of paperwork around the desk, around four of them next to each other.

Feeling curious about it, the young man entered the office and looked around, confirming the office was indeed empty, before approaching one of the towers of papers and looking at them.

"What the heck is all this?" He asked to himself as he took one of the documents from the top of the closest tower and reading it "Ore mining operations, current budget: 170.235 credits. Proposal to increase between 2.05% to 3.25% by the end of the month…"

"That's a proposal to increase a mining operation's budget"

Kenji quickly turned around and saw Kei entering the office and looking at him.

"You do realize looking at private government documents like those could land you a few years behind bars, do you?"

"Ah...That's..."

"I was just joking" She said with a smirk

"It didn't really sound like a joke from the way you said it…" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"Nothing at all..."

The young man quickly denied what he said to avoid trouble. Kei doubted the veracity of his words for a moment, but decided to brush that aside and walked towards him to take the document

"Looking at documents tends to be illegal. But since you didn't see that much, It's probably alright..." She said while looking at it, then looking again at Kenji "So, what brings you to Noire's office?"

"Nothing really, I was just on my way out to see if I could do some quest and noticed she wasn't around..."

"I see…" She said with a pensive expression before looking at him again "Say. Do you know how much time it takes for Noire to do all of this paperwork?"

Kenji turned his head to look at the paperwork before turning to look at Kei again.

"Erm….a week? Maybe a few days?"

"One afternoon"

The young man's eyes widened and he sweat dropped after hearing the oracle's words. Those countless piles of paperwork were all done by one person in just an afternoon?

"Surprised? Noire might not be a very upfront person, but she's a very diligent worker"

Kenji made a surprised expression when hearing what the oracle said about Noire's lack of honesty. Did Kei listen on his conversation with Noire yesterday? Or did Uni tell her?

"Being diligent doesn't mean you need to fake how you really are with everyone around you"

"To be honest, I think you're right" Said the oracle with her head lowered and her eyes closed, who went on after raising her head, opening her eyes and seeing the confusion in Kenji's expression "Noire doesn't really need to act fake or hide her hobbies from the people like she does, but she feels the need to do so"

"Why?"

"Because of her position..."

"Her position?"

"A CPU is commonly known as the most important representative of a nation and is responsible for the safety and guidance of its people...As Lastation's CPU, Noire feels she's responsible for the lives of every citizen in Lastation and constantly tries to live up to the image they have of her by acting like an ideal goddess"

The young man thought carefully about what Kei explained to him. It was obvious that Noire hid her hobbies because she was partly shy, but also she acted like she did because she was always thinking of her citizens. Kenji was always had to worry about one and only one person, and that was himself. On the opposite, Noire carried the weight of hundreds, if not thousands of lives on her shoulders.

"Right now she should be with Uni searching an abandoned factory northwest on the outskirts of the nation. There have been reports of ASIC having a base there lately and-Hm?"

As the oracle explained the situation to Kenji, the young man walked past her and headed for the hallway.

"Are you leaving already?"

"I don't mean to be rude, but you talk too much..." He said without turning around to look at her "Besides, I said before that I was planning to go out"

And with that, the young man left.

After a moment or two, the oracle lowered her head, closed her eyes and sighed before making a smile.

"Men can be quite a handful..." She said while looking at the document and recalling what she read from a psychology book "But it seems as though my plan worked out"

*Back to the factory*

"KYAAAHH!"

After bullets flew on a constant succesion while being reflected, Black sister fell to the floor as she was sent flying away by the last attack delivered by CFW brave, one of the four fellons.

"Give it up, CPU candidate; you hold no chance against me by yourself"

"(Damn it, he's right…I need to hurry up and find big sister!)"

It had been already quite a bit of time after the ambush. The Lastation sisters fought back as best as they could, but the endless amount of robotic enemies was overwhelming, and they eventually got separated during the chaos.

Black Sister got away from the core of the battle, but soon was chased by a group of robots that forced her to pull back. As the CPU candidate eliminated her enemies, she encountered CFW Brave, a large robot resembling those from animes carrying a large flaming sword. Brave was also one of the remaining members of the four felons. He was watching over the factory, as he had the feeling the CPUs would eventually try to destroy it, and it seems his hunch was right after all.

"CPU candidate, I despise senseless slaughter, so I'll give you one last chance..." Said the warrior while walking closer to her "Leave peacefully and never return, or I'll be forced to slay you where you stand"

Despite being one of the four felons, which were regarded as criminals by all of Gamindustry, Brave was a warrior at heart, someone that fought fairly and believed in principles. He genuinely believed that ASIC was doing the right thing since through its methods all kids, both poor and rich, had equal access to video games that otherwise would be nearly impossible to obtain for them.

"I won't leave just because you overpower me!" Said Black sister as she tried getting up "ASIC's acts have hurt many people already…I won't allow that to happen to Lastation as well!"

"I see…even if your logic is flawed, that's an admirable resolve" As he said that, Brave raised his sword higher and engulfed it in flames "As a sign of respect towards it, I won't hold back!"

The robot swordsman lowered his sword, ready to slice Black sister in half, until someone jumped into the battle and parried his attack using a flaming sword as well.

"What!?"

Brave's attack was countered, forcing him to take a step back. As he looked at his new foe, he saw it was a young man with long blue hair.

"Kenji!?" Said Black sister, who didn't expect him to make an appearance

"Hey there" Said Kenji, who looked at Uni for a moment in silence "Nice hair"

"Oh…erm...thanks?"

That was probably by far the only thing the young man could come up with at this point. Unlike her base form, Uni's HDD form had rather interesting features. One being the drill-shaped twin-tails, and the other being the massive gun she was using now.

"(Are over sized weapons a trend or something with these girls?)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping "(Also, how the hell do you even pull off hair like that?)"

"Who are you!?" Asked Brave while looking at the young man

After hearing the demanding question, the young man turned his head to look at the towering robot.

"I'm kenji...just a random guy"

"That appearance…" Said the warrior while analizing Kenji's appearance, which somewhat resembled that of the CPUs in their HDD form "I see...You must be the ally of the CPUs that slayed my fellow felon comrades"

"Fellow felon comrades? So you're one of them?"

"Precisely! I'm CFW Brave of the four felons!"

"Okay then, that's enough info for me" Said Kenji while taking an assault stance

"Wait Kenji. That guy is too strong to fight him alone"

"I fought two of them already, I can handle this one"

Kenji said it with confidence, but the last two times he did it with the help of the CPUs, and Uni didn't seem to be in a condition to fight right now. And to top it off, Brave did seem stronger than Judge and Trick.

"So you'll fight me by yourself? A brave choice, young man. You have my respect" Said Brave before his sword got engulfed in flames again "But to avenge my fallen comrades, and to protect the smiles of children, I won't hold back!"

The young man was slightly confused by what Brave mean when talking about children's smiles, but there wasn't exactly a lot of time to think either.

"Fine by me! I wasn't planning to go easy on you either!" Said Kenji as his sword got engulfed in neon blue flames.

In a split second, both warriors dashed forward and clashed swords. Flames and metal clashed countless times, as both sides attacked and parried non-stop. Despite his large size, Brave could move quite fast and swing his sword swiftly. But Kenji's strength didn't lag behind. The fight was evenly matched and lasted quite a long time, both fighters managed to land blows on each other throughout the battle but during the final clash of flaming swords, Kenji managed to win through the use of brute force.

"Argh!" Said the robot swordsman as he fell to his knees "No...no way...how could I lose!?"

"He did it!" Said Black sister, who watched as the felon fell down to the ground

Putting the fact he managed to defeat him by himself, it was a rather grueling battle. This could be easily seen in the young man, who was just as battered as Brave, but somehow managed to keep standing.

Kenji looked at the robotic warrior lying on the ground for a moment or two before turning his head and looking at the CPU candidate, who had reverted back to human form

"Let's go, Uni"

"Wait, what about him?"

"He won't be able to move for a while. Right now we need to find Noire"

"Ye-yeah, you're right"

The CPU candidate thought leaving one of the four felons without capturing or destroying it, but finding Noire was more important right now. And with that in mind, both of them moved past the defeated Brave and went to find her.

In a corner of his mind, Kenji had the feeling Brave wouldn't be there by the time they came back to either finish him off or put him in jail, but something stopped him from landing the last attack. he wasn't really sure what it was, but after clashing swords with Brave, the young man just couldn't bring himself to kill him.

"Over there!" Pointed Uni

The CPU candidate's voice and sounds of the raging battle interrupted Kenji's train of thought, causing him to snap back into reality and see Black Heart in the distance. She was surrounded by countless robots. As they moved in to attack by dashing forward or jumping at her, the CPU sliced them to pieces with her massive sword. But despite her impressive stand against this army, the exhaustion was starting to get to her.

"These guys are endless…Just how many did I take out already!?" Said Black Heart to herself while taking deep breaths

"Big sister!"

Hearing the voice of her younger sister, Black Heart turned around to face the direction where it came from

"Uni!?"

"Noire!"

The second voice was what she truly didn't expect.

"Kenji!?" She said with surprise in her tone "What are you doing here!?"

"Just gimme a sec! I'll be right there!"

"Right here?" Asked the CPU with a confused tone "There's probably dozens of robots in between! How are you even going to-!?"

Before Black Heart could even finish her sentence, an explosion on the outer layer of enemies occurred where the voices came from. And in a split second, countless robots were ejected into the air as Kenji's battle cry could be heard among the flying machings.

"ORAORAORAORAORAAAA!"

"Th-That guy is crazy…" Muttered Black Heart to herself while sweat dropping

Truth to be told, even some of the robots watching the scene taking place were sweat dropping, as impossible as it sounded.

"(He really likes doing things the straightforward way, doesn't he?)" Thought Uni while smiling weakly and sweat dropping too

It took a few minutes and a few dozen robots sent flying, but Kenji finally managed to fight his way through the hordes of machines and get to stand right in front of Black Heart, who was baffled by what she just saw.

"Hey there" He said rather casually after looking at the shocked CPU

"Don't "hey there" Me! " Snarled the CPU as she pointed at the waves of robots behind Kenji "What kind of crazy stunt was that just now!?"

The young man turned his head to look behind him, then looked at her again and shrugged his shoulders. This crude and completely mindless respones made the CPU lower her head and close her eyes while sighing.

"Seriously, you need to think a little before you act…" She said to him in a somewhat scolding manner "There's only so much a person's body can withstand, you know?"

"By the way, I have to tell you something" Said the young man, who seemed to ignore what she just said.

"Hm? What is-"

Before she could finish her question, Black Heart was interrupted by Kenji grabbing her by the right shoulder and making her get her face closer to his. So close, in fact, that they could almost kiss just by getting a few inches closer to each other.

"E-Eh!?" Said the CPU with widened eyes and a bright red face "Wha-What are you doing!?"

As the shocked CPU stuttered while trying to make sense of this, Kenji looked at her straight in the eyes and made sure she did the same with him as well.

For a moment, it seemed as thought Kenji would get over that slight distance needed for the kiss. Black Heart was so sure it would happen that she even closed her eyes, but that suddenly changed after she heard him speak.

"You're fine the way you are"

"Eh?"

Confused by those words, Black Heart quickly opened her eyes and looked at him before blinking twice with utter confusion as he went on.

"I've been thinking about it, and I realized you're the way you are because you've got a lot of people counting on you..." He explained while making sure to look at her "I don't know or get a lot about CPUs yet, but I think the real you is fine too, and if people don't like it, that's their damn problem, not yours"

The CPU didn't say a thing, she simply looked at Kenji in silence before he let go of her.

"That's all I had to say, think whatever you want later"

"Wait...You came all the way from Lastation just to tell me that?" Asked Lastation's CPU, who was still bewildered by this

"Yeah..."

Another moment of silence ensued before Black Heart began laughing. She wasn't sure why, but something about this whole situation was really amusing to her.

"Seriously! you're really crazy, you know that!?"

"Yeah, I get that a lot lately" Said Kenji with a raised eyebrow.

He didn't recall saying anything funny just now, but there was something oddly pleasant about seeing Black Heart laugh in a way that was genuinely amused and not downright arrogant.

"I see...Thank you, Kenji" She said with a smile before opening her eyes again and looking at him "So, what's the plan?"

"Plan? What plan?"

"You know, the plan to defeat all of these robots"

"Oh…THAT plan…" Said Kenji while looking around him, then at her again "Honestly, I have no idea what to do now"

"...What?"

"Yeah...I didn't really think this one through, to be honest"

Black Heart remained frozen for a moment or two before quickly grabbing Kenji by the t-shirt and pulling him closer to her with an irritated expression.

"You know! Thinking things through is very, very important! Especially when fighting to the death!"

"I don't really put too much thought when fighting"

"Just how on Gamindustry did you make it through all of your fights, then!?" Snarled the CPU, knowing Kenji had faced quite a hefty amount of enemies, her and the other CPUs included

"...spur of the moment?" He said rather bluntly with an unamused expression

Black Heart looked at Kenji for a few moments before letting go of his t-shirt, turning around, lowering her head and putting one hand over her face while sweat dropping.

"Just how did I lose against this guy?" She said with a sad tone in her voice

As a matter of fact, Kenji did think when fighting. But as he said, it was more of a spur of the moment than a constant thing. And because of this, the young man would usually not consider it like heavy thinking, since it was done on the moment rather than before.

"Hey, I'm a guy that prefers to think on his feet"

"More like WITH your feet!" Snarled Black Heart while turning around to look at him

"Stop panicking, will you? Small fry like them ain't that much of a big deal. Besides, if baddass anime swordsmen taught me something…" Said the young man as he grabbed the CPU by the shoulder, moved past her and got the two of them back to back with each other "Is that when outnumbered, back to back is how you do it!"

Black Heart looked at the young man over her shoulder for a moment while thinking about his sudden idea before looking forward again with a smirk.

"I see...Works for me, I guess!" She said while raising her sword and getting into a fighting mood again

As simple as it might sound, that was by far the best plan she heard so far. Besides, the little rest time she had by talking with Kenji helped her regain some of her stamina back, even if it was mentally exhausting

Without anything holding them back, both of them resumed the battle. The two CPUs tore through the armies of robots like if they were made of paper while making sure not to lose sight of each other. Otherwise, the back to back strategy would have lost all meaning.

By herself, Black Heart managed to hold them back, but with the young man's help, the robots were falling like flies. It took but ten minutes or so before all the robots were defeated, and nothing but mountains of scrap metal and broken electronics remained.

"I think that's the last of them" Said Black Heart as she sliced down the last one

"See? Back to back works"

"Fine, I admit it, your idea worked" She said with certain reluctance while reverting back to human form "Let's just go back for now"

With both the ilegal production machines and ASIC's robot armies destroyed, the three of them went home after looking for Brave who, as Kenji had suspected, had already left while they were fighting off robot hordes. Noire gave Kenji an earful about this on the way back, but stopped surprisingly fast.

Even if it was a grave mistake on his part, things would have gone far worse if he hadn't shown up when he did, so the CPU decided to cut him some slack.

And so, the week went by smoothly without any incidents after this event. ASIC's presence on Lastation dissipated at an astounding speed, and CFW Brave didn't appear again either. This surely meant he left the nation peacefully after his defeat.

But the important part in all of this was that, with the two weeks of visit now over, Kenji returned to Planeptune with Noire and was received not only by the usual Planeptune bunch, but by the other CPUs as well.

"Welcome back, Kenji" Said Compa, who was glad to see him coming back unharmed

"How was your stay on Lastation?"

As Histoire asked this, Lastation's CPU discretely eyed Kenji.

"It was nice...That place grows on you after a while"

Although it was easy to tell she was uneasy at first, the CPU quickly regained her arrogant attitude after hearing his oppinion.

"Hmph…See? My nation IS the best one after all!" Said Noire with a puffed chest

"He never said yours was the best, he just said it was nice" Said Blanc, growing rather annoyed with Noire's arrogant attitude right off the bat

"He also said it grows on you after a while!"

"Yeah, and so do mushrooms!" She snarled angrily

"Wh-What are you trying to say about my nation!"

Seeing the two CPUs were on the verge of fighting it out, Histoire quickly proceeded to stop them. All of this while Kenji watched it and sweat dropped.

"(I really need to be more careful with what I say when they're together like this)" Thought the young man before suddenly realizing something "Wait...Why are Vert and Blanc here?"

"Hm? Is it not obvious?" Said Leanbox's CPU as she turned to look at him "Since your stay on Lastation is over, it is time for you to choose where' you'll live from now on"

"Eh? Right now?" Said the young man with widened eyes

"Why not? You've already been on all nations for some time..." She said with a curious tone before making a smile "I think you had enough time to think your options"

Thinking about it, Vert had a good point. Kenji had more than enough time to choose what to do, but he didn't really think about it too much. And that was gonna prove to be quite the bad choice right now.

Seeing the three women staring intently at him, Kenji thought it might be a good idea to give them an answer before they drilled holes through him.

"(Hm…so it's Leanbox, Lowee, Lastation, or staying here in Planeptune)"

This was a rather hard choice to make, as Kenji honestly liked all of the nations.

Each of them had something that made them special in their own way, and choosing only one seemed like a terrible waste. Then again, the young man had the feeling that whatever he chose at this point wouldn't cause too much chaos, or at least he hoped so. And he would probably be able to visit the other nations freely either way.

"Fine…I'll tell you"

After thinking through, Kenji took a deep breath and prepared to speak out his decision while the three CPUs stared at him even more intensely.

"I choose-"

"HOOOOOOLD THE PRESS!" Yelled Neptune at the top of her lungs, making everyone look at her with widened eyes

"Wh-What's wrong, Neptune!?" Asked Nepgear, who nearly jumped off of her seat from the sudden surprise

"Isn't everyone forgetting something here?"

"What?"

"There's still one place Kenny didn't visit"

"Eh? Where?" Asked the confused man

Even Kenji was confused at this point. He had already been on all the nations so far. And as far as he knew, there were no other nations on Gamindustry.

"That would be...Planeptune!"

"Neptune...Kenji has already lived here with you for over a month" Said Vert

"Yeah, but that was before I knew we had to make him like us! I'm at a total disadvantage here!" Said Planeptune's CPU with a pouty face

"Stop bitching and let him say where he'll live already!" Said Lowee's CPU with her eye already glowing red and her fist clenched

"NO! It's not fair! I call cheat here!" Snarled Neptune

Seeing Planeptune's CPU wouldn't stop whining about it despite all the pressure from the other CPUs, Kenji lowered his head and sighed before looking at everyone again.

"Hey, do you girls mind waiting for a bit longer?"

"What!?" Said the CPUs from the three Nations in almost perfect synch while looking at him with widened eyes

"I'm literally choosing the place I'll probably live in for many years, maybe even the rest of my life. Something like that needs some thought, and I don't want to make a rash decision"

"Ohhh!? Nice back up Kenny!" Said Neptune with a perky attitude while giving him a thumbs up

"Besides, the idiot probably won't shut up unless we agree with her"

"Nepu!?"

"Hm, I guess he's right. Neptune won't stop unless we go along with her whinning" Said Vert while thinking about it

"Eh?"

"I have to agree. As annoying as it might be, that's just how Neptune is" Said Noire with a dissapointed tone while lowering her head and closing her eyes

"Tch, fine! You win this time!" Said Blanc with an annoyed tone while calming down

"We'll come back another time, and when he chooses, you're not allowed to whine. Are we clear!?" Said Noire while pointing at Neptune

"Wa-wait a minute! Are you gals only agreeing with the second thing he said!?"

Without answering her question, the CPUs left. All three rather annoyed that they couldn't take Kenji with them, despite all of their "efforts" to convince him of it.

"Well, I guess I'll be staying here for the time being"

"I suppose so…" Said the tome while sighing as a feeling of incoming disaster was plaguing her "By the way. Which nation were you going to choose?"

"Oh, that's easy, I chose-"

"STOOOOOOOP!" Yelled Neptune as she got in front of Kenji

"Whoa!"

"Kenny! You can't say it now! You'll totally ruin the plot!"

"Damn it, stop calling me Kenny already! And what do you even mean by plot!?"

When faced with the situation, the tome merely sighed once again while sweat dropping and Nepgear made a weak smile. Both of them were already accustomed to this scenarios, but it was hard to hide how they felt about them.

"Okay! It's time for what he readers at home have been wanting!" Said Neptune while pointing at the reader"It's time for the Planeptune chapters!"


	10. Healthy meals

Planeptune's most notable feature was its futuristic technology. While Leanbox proved to be advanced and highly urbanized and Lastation had an outstanding level of industrial development, Planeptune had the most advanced technology, but still retained classical tendencies among its districts, like the ramen shop that Kenji used to visit daily whenever going downtown. There were also things like public baths and hot springs on the outskirts, but the young man didn't really see any point in going there alone.

Oddly enough, this nation's main economic focus wasn't industry like Lastation or Leanbox, but hobby and entertainment goods, such as manga, anime, video games, PVC figures and other types of goods related to the otaku culture. This initially confused the young man, who couldn't understand how a nation that relied mostly on that kind of market could become the most advanced in terms of civilization and technology. Later in time, he learned that despite its advanced appearance, Planeptune was also the most ravaged and attacked by monsters, and the nation once faced a serious economic crisis in the past, but thanks to Histoire's efforts it managed to get back up on its feet and thrive, which is why she got chosen as Planeptune's oracle by the citizens.

As his mind recalled this explanation from the oracle, Kenji leaned on the rail of the tower's balcony and checked out the view. This gave him a surpising feeling of calm and quiet, which unfortunately didn't last long.

"Kenny! Let's play a game!"

The sudden sound of Neptune yelling right behind him caused the young man to move forward by reflex, slipping off the rail and nearly falling off of it if he hadn't grabbed the rail with both hands in the last moment. He then quickly placed his feet on the floor and regained his balance before turning around to look at Neptune with a vein mark popping on his forehead.

"Damn it! Don't just yell behind me like that, and it's Kenji!"

"Ah sorry, sorry!" Said Neptune while smiling

Despite apologizing, Planeptune's CPU didn't really seem to feel sorry about it in the least. Or at least that's what it seemed like to the young man.

"Just what do you want?" He asked after regaining his composture

"Like I said! Let's play a game!"

"A game?"

"Yeah!" She replied before putting both hands on her hips and frowning "Ever since coming back, you're always here staring like an idiot! How can it be fun to read about that!?"

"Do you really need to say it like that?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"This chapter's all about you bonding with me and Nepgear! If we don't spend time together, we won't trigger the needed event to advance the story!" She said while pointing at him and smiling again "That's why we need to start by playing games together!"

"(She completely ignored my question, didn't she?)" He tought to himself before lowering his head and sighing

When he first met Neptune, the young man had no idea what was going on within the CPUs head whenever she spoke 4th wall breaking stuff like that, but he later learned from IF that it was a bad habit Neptune had.

It was probably developed from the combination of her childish personality and all the anime she watched. He still couldn't understand too well what she meant sometimes, though, but Kenji decided to simply accept that it was indeed how Neptune was.

He then raised his head to look at the CPU again, although he didn't need to raise his head too much, considering Neptune's height.

"Fine, let's play..."

"Sweet! Now you're getting it!" Said the perky CPU while turning around and heading back inside.

In the end, he decided to agree since Neptune seemed determined to monopolize all of his attention. And unfortunately, she was a rather stubborn girl, if nothing else.

Kenji couldn't even remember the last time he sat down properly and played videogames on a console that wasn't his portable device, so he thought it may be a good way to kill time while he watched Neptune skip her way back inside and followed her. Once inside, he saw the perky CPU was already resting on a large cushion with the controller on her hands and waiting for him. He also noticed that Nepgear and Histoire weren't around. Histoire was most likely busy working, but it's rare for Nepgear not to be around Neptune to pamper her.

Perhaps this was the reason she seemed so eager to get his attention.

"Hey Neptune, where's your sister?"

"Nepgear went out. She said something about work"

This reply suddenly reminded the young man a tiny detail about Neptune. She was Planeptune's CPU, so shouldn't she have work to do or something similar?

"Now that I think about it, shouldn't you be working right now?" he asked with a raised eyebrow

"Kenny, this little Nep doesn't do boring paperwork...A goddess only moves when the people are in danger!"

"(No wonder this nation nearly went down the drain once…)" He thought while sweat dropping again

Not wanting to put too much thought into it, he sat down next to her and grabbed the remaining controller.

Both the console and controller seemed a lot different from those he used to remember from his world, but they also seemed simple enough. At first they played a game where odd looking human-like animals moved at great speed while collecting rings, while after a couple of hours they played a different game where you would choose a martial artist from a sheet of characters and fight each other to the death. He had the feeling he had seen those games somewhere before, but couldn't recall where.

The first hour and half was rather difficult for Kenji, since he only had a basic idea of how the controller operated and no experience in both games. Neptune going all out against him without even bothering to teach him anything besides from the basics didn't really help either. The CPU justified her behavior by saying that "learning was part of the fun", but Kenji honestly couldn't see the fun there, especially when the other player was going all out and taking advantage of the fact she knew a lot more than him. Fortunately, Kenji was quick at learning and managed to stand on equal ground with Planeptune's CPU. But after three hour of constantly fighting over and over again, even with different characters every time, the games got repetitive. He put down the controller and stretched his arms while getting up.

"Eh? You don't wanna play anymore?"

"It's a bit too repetitive for me" He said before feeling his stomach grumble "besides, I'm getting hungry..."

"Ah, if you're raiding the fridge, please get me some pudding!"

"Fine..."

The young man headed to the kitchen and opened the fridge, but saw there was nothing in there. When closing the door, he saw a note attached to it with scotch tape. It was addressed to Neptune.

"Let's see…" He said after taking the note off of the fridge and reading it out loud "Neptune, there was no pudding left, so I went out to buy some groceries. I should be back soon enough. Please be patient."

Seeing the pearless handwritting on this note and the way Neptune's name seemed to be written with even more care than any other word made the young man assume it was written by Nepgear. This, in turn, made Kenji sweat drop after reading it.

Usually, the older sister is the one asking for the younger one to behave and be patient, not the other way around.

Brushing that fact aside, the young man returned to where Neptune was and laid down on the couch while resting his head on the couch's arm.

"Hey Kenny, where's my pudding?"

"There's no pudding left"

"Eh?" She said with a blank stare.

It took a few minutes for Planeptune's CPU to fully process the words that came out of Kenji's mouth. Malicious words that for Neptune were nothing short of a sin against morality and common sense.

"EHHHHHH!?" Said Neptune before quickly letting go of the controller, getting up on her feet and turning around to face Kenji "Wha-wha-wha-what do you mean there's no pudding left!?"

"Just what I mean, there's none left"

"An emergency-no-a disaster! This is a disaster! How am I supposed to survive without my P vitamin!?"

"P vitamin?"

"Kenny! What do we do now!? I'll starve to death without my pudding!"

"Don't know you, but I'll be taking a nap" Answered the young man while turning around

"Wait! You're turning your back on me!?"

"Just wait for a little, your sister will be back with some soon enough"

"I can't believe you'd abandon a cute loli girl like me to starve! You demon! Bully! Devil! eggplant!"

"Say whatever you want, but it won't change a thing"

"But I'm hungry!"

The young man didn't answer this time, he simply pretended to have fallen asleep and ignored her. All with the hopes that she'd just go back to playing games.

"Kenny, I'm hungry!"

This didn't discourage Neptune, who would keep complaining to Kenji wherever he wanted it or not until she got what she wanted.

"Kenny, Hungry!"

Even if he tried to ignore her, the loli CPU's complaints were starting to annoy him.

"Keeeennnyyyyyy!"

"Ahhh damn it! Stop calling me that already!" Yelled the young while sitting up on the couch and turning his upper body to look at Neptune "Fine! I get it! I'll take you out to eat something! Just shut up!"

"Sweet! You're the bestest of the best!"

The young man simply groaned as he got off the couch and walked towards the door, accompanied by Neptune.

"So, where are we going?" Asked the perky CPU while following through the streets with a skip on her step

"To a place I know well..."

True to his word, Kenji took Neptune downtown to a place he knew very well. More commonly known as the ramen shop he used to go to frequently to eat pork bowls.

"Welcome!" Said the owner as he heard the new customers coming in, then turned around and saw it was Kenji "Ah, hey there sonny!"

"Hey old man"

After following the young man inside, Neptune looked around her and felt amazed with her surroundings.

"Ohhh! This is just like those generic shounen places where the hero spends all of his money eating his favorite food!"

"Oh? Sonny, ya brought your little sis?"

"Eh?" Said Kenji while turning around and looking at Neptune "Ah, no...She's not my sister"

"Sonny…you're into that sort of thing?" Asked the owner bluntly while looking at the young man with a skeptic expression and a hint of concern in his tone.

"No! She's my roommate!"

"Oh…" He said while his expression came back to normal "Well, never mind that. Same as usual?"

"Same as usual" Answered Kenji while taking a seat on the stool

"One pork bowl, right up!" The owner then looked at Neptune, who sat down in the stool next to Kenji's "And what do you want, missy?"

"Pudding!"

"Eh?"

Almost by reflex, Kenji raised his hand and was karate chopped Neptune in the top of the head.

"Owie!"

"It's a ramen shop, you idiot!" Said then young man with a vein mark popped on his head

"Ho-How dare you hit me!? The fans are going to hate you if you hit women!"

"Stop acting like a brat, then!"

"Hey, sonny!"

Kenji's anger was suddenly cut short by a sudden call of attention. And when looking forward, he saw the owner looking at him with a rather stern expression.

"Ye...Yes?" Asked the young man with certain hesitation, as it was rather surprising

"Sonny, no matter the reason. A man can never hit a woman"

Kenji was rather surprised, not by the shop owner's wods themselves, but by the way he spoke. It was stern and clearer to understand than usual, which was completely different from the usually lax and cheerful middle-aged man.

"Well…technically that chivalry rule went down the drain when I fought the CPUs" Answered Kenji while sweat dropping

"That's different!" Snarled the owner while pointing at him with a metal spoon "In battle there's no gender! Whatever's your reason to fight, you're doing it out of your own will and can't complain for getting hurt. But outside battle you need to keep a code, sonny, or you'll end up being less than a man!"

"(Di-Did I just...get scolded?)"

It took a moment for Kenji's mind to process this, and it was indeed irritating to be scolded like a little child. Nonetheless, this sudden surprise helped him cool his head off and think more clearly, making him realize that the shop owner had a valid point.

If you thought about it, his fights against the three CPUs were a fight to protect his pride. Compared to what he did just now, it was just an act of violence caused by anger.

Besides, if he went into an argument with the shop owner now, it may make eating pork bowls there a lot harder, and he really liked pork bowls.

"So-sorry..."

"Not to me Sonny..." Said the owner with his arms crossed

The young man knew what he meant by that. After taking a deep breath, Kenji turned his head to look at Neptune, who seemed rather eager for hearing it too. And with quite a broad smile, as if knowing she had won this battle.

"Sorry"

"It's okay; just buy me a pudding later" Said the CPU while beaming at him

While the Owner and Neptune had quite the cheerful expressions again, Kenji could only lower his head and sigh while sweat dropping again.

"Fine…just east something now, we can get one on the way home..."

"Okay!" Answered a perky Neptune before looking at the shop owner again "Mister! I want the same one as Kenny!"

"Two pork bowls, coming right up!"

*Scene*

With his flaming sword in hand, Kenji leaped towards the ancient dragon and landed the last attack, taking the beast down for good. As the monster fell down to the floor and perished, Kenji looked at it for a moment before dispelling the flames and sheathing his sword back.

"Guess that should be enough for today" He said while turning around and leaving the dungeon.

During the last few days, Neptune had been focusing on him quite a lot. Almost every day she'd follow the young man to the ramen shop and be as loud as she could be, ruining his peaceful lunch. And whenever Nepgear, Histoire, Compa or IF weren't around, Planeptune's CPU would decide to hang around Kenji, always asking him to play games together. Not that it was really a bad thing or anything, but as someone who enjoyed peace and quiet, being around the loud and excessively energetic Neptune would obviously get annoying sooner or later. But today, with a quest completed and some credits in his pockets, the young man headed towards his favorite place in all of Planeptune for his daily meal, hoping to be able to eat in peace this time since Planeptune's CPU didn't follow him.

"(Maybe I can eat in peace today)" He thought to himself, feeling rather good about it

Unfortunately, luck was not on his side today as upon his arrival, the young man saw the place closed, with a sign that had the words "On vacation, be back next week" written on it placed on the front.

"Wh-What!? When did he even-" Said the young man in shock, until he remembered the conversation he had the other day with the owner.

"Hey Sonny, I've got something to tell ya"

"Hm? What?"

"Well, next week I'm-"

Kenji was listening to him talk, until he noticed a pair of chopsticks making their way into his bowl and tried to take some of the pork.

"Hey!" Said Kenji quickly while quickly grabbing the other end of the pork with his chopsticks

"Nepu!"

"What do you think you're doing!?"

"Oh, come on! It's just one!"

"One, but still mine!"

"You cheapskate!"

"I'm the cheapskate!? You're the one tagging along every damn time without ever paying a single credit!"

Both sides pulled of the piece of pork, until it slipped off of the chopsticks and fell to the floor.

"Ah!" Said both of them as they watched the slice of meat fall to the floor

They kept staring at it for a few moments until Kenji closed his eyes and clenched on his chopsticks so hard they snapped in half.

"Neptune!" He said slowly and with vein marks already popping on his forehead.

"Ke-Kenny? Mi...mister Kenny?" She asked slowly while breaking a cold sweat

"Why you little-!"

"Nepu!"

Before the CPU could react, the young man pinched both of her cheeks and pulled them, causing her face to stretch like rubber.

"O-Owie, owie! Ah, Ow-ownaaaa', haaaalp!" Tried saying the CPU while grabbing both of Kenji's wrists and trying to stop him

Unfortunately for the CPU, pinching someone's cheeks didn't count as "hitting them". Kenji knew about this and took advantage of it.

As long as the young man didn't pull hard enough to rip her face off, there wouldn't be any need for the owner to intervene.

"Erm, Sonny...About next week-"

"It doesn't count! I'm not hitting her so it doesn't count!" Quickly replied Kenji, who was too focused on pulling Neptune's cheeks to even know what the owner was trying to say

With no way to talk to him, the owner lowered his head and sighed while scratching his right temple.

"Oh well, I guess he'll find out next week..."

Now coming back to the present, Kenji stared blankly at the sign after recalling that day.

"Might as well go back…" He said with a defeated tone as he walked away with his head lowered

After returning to Planeptune tower, Kenji walked into the kitchen to see if he could snatch a snack and found both Nepgear and Compa. They were wearing pink aprons and seemed to be stewing something.

Feeling curious, the young man approached them to see what they were doing, and It didn't take long for the CPU candidate to notice his presence and turn her head to see him.

"Ah!" Said Nepgear while nearly jumping back from the scare she got

"Kyah! Wha-What's wrong, Gear-Gear!?" Asked the Nurse as she turned her head to look at the CPU candidate

When noticing it was Kenji, Nepgear calmed down.

"Ke-Kenji! Please don't appear like that all of a sudden!"

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you"

Compa then noticed Kenji standing next to Nepgear.

"Ah, it's Kenji..." She said with relief "I thought you cut yourself with a knife for a moment there"

"(For such a big guy, he sure moves quietly...)" Tought the CPU candidate while sweat dropping and looking at Kenji, who was more or less taller than Vert when she transformed and twice the size of any CPU, before replying with a weak smile "Do-don't worry about it...Is there anything you need?"

"Not really, just wanted to see what you two were doing"

"I was teaching Gear-gear how to make stew"

"Is that so?" Said Kenji before approaching the pot and looking inside it "Looks good so far..."

"You think so? It's my first time making one of these, so I was scared of it not coming out alright" Answered the CPU candidate with a smile

The young man moved his eyes from the pot and focused again on her for a moment.

Unlike the perky, rude and childish Neptune, Nepgear was the complete opposite. She was polite, calmer and generally more mature in the way she acted. Even now Kenji was having a hard time believing she was the younger sister.

"Hey...Are you really the younger sister?"

"We get that a lot, but Neptune really is the older one"

As unbelievable as it could be for Kenji, Neptune was the older one. Everyone said the same thing, even the other CPUs. At this point, the young man couldn't do anything else but accept this was just the reality of this odd world.

"Hey, Kenji. Do you know how to cook?" Asked Compa while approaching him and the CPU candidate

"Cook? Well…"

Back in high school, Kenji had home economics class, but he skipped it almost all the time and barely knew how to make anything other than simple stuff like fried eggs or hamburgers. Anything more complex would just end up as unrecognizable and unedible charcoal.

"I guess not..."

"Then how do you handle your meals?"

Nepgear was curious about this, as Kenji wouldn't usually stick around to eat with everyone else.

During his time on Planeptune, it was rare for him to sit down and have a proper meal with everyone else. He'd usually just skip it and take whatever he could find on the fridge later or go downtown to the ramen shop and have something to eat there, preferably pork bowls. This was no different with the other nations either.

Apart from doing it to know his surroundings better, Kenji would usually wander around the cities to find a good place to stop by and eat regularly.

"I usually just go to the old man's place and have some pork bowl when I'm hungry"

"That's no good, Kenji!" Said Compa, who seemed rather upset by this "Eating the same food all the time is bad for your health! You need to have a balanced diet or your body will get sick more easily!"

"Well...I don't know how to cook, so I can't really do much about it" He said before pointing with his thumb at the fridge"Actually I was about to-Whoa!"

Before Kenji could even finish speaking, Compa suddenly gave him five plates placed one over the other. And because of how suddenly he received them, the young man had to move backwards and forward a few times before the tower of plates finally got balanced and stopped wiggling around.

"Nurse Compa prescribes you healthy meals with everyone. You're not allowed to say no" She said with her usual smile before turning him around and pushing him out "Now please go set up the table while Gear-gear and I finish here"

The nurse then pushed Kenji out of the kitchen and closed the door behind him. Causing him to look at the door over his shoulder for a moment with widened eyes before looking forward again and sighing while sweatdropping.

While heading to the dining room and setting up the table, he couldn't help but get the feeling these girls, especially the ones around Planeptune, were starting to push him around a bit too easily. But putting that issue aside, eating something different could be nice change of pace.

After he finished putting everything in place and sat down, it took around another half hour for Compa and Nepgear to be done with the food.

"Iffy! Nep-nep! food is ready!"

Neptune and IF, who until now were playing videogames together, got off the floor and headed towards the table.

"Sweet! Time for some grub!" Said Neptune as she quickly made her way to her chair

"Nep-nep, make sure to wash your hands first"

Planeptune's CPU made a pouty face, but nonetheless got off the chair and went to the bathroom to wash her hands along with IF. Kenji already washed his while waiting, so he didn't need to go with them.

After the two returned, everyone proceeded to eat. Kenji was more accustomed to eating alone or in silence, which made the myriad of voices and noises surrounding him at that moment quite unexpected.

While Compa talked about her work on the hospital and IF about her assignments in the guild, Neptune spoke mostly about videogames or simply gulped down everything in her plate.

Rather than speaking, Nepgear seemed more focused on listening, but even she spoke from time to time. Kenji was probably the only one eating quietly, although this didn't last for long, as IF soon turned her head to look at him.

"Hey, Kenji...How's the search going?"

"Hm? What search?"

"You know, the search to restore your memories"

"Oh, that…"

Although it was the most convincing excuse he had used to gain information at first when arriving to Gamindustry, Kenji had completely forgotten about it after nearly three months.

"Ah, now that you mention it, I completely forgot about it" Said Nepgear with widened eyes

All the looks were now on him. And judging by IF's expression, Kenji assumed she had already figured out but asked because she was curious about the truth. That and it would probably make for an interesting conversation topic.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because you don't figure in any citizen's records of any nation" She explained with a smirk "Even if you had amnesia, the basilicoms would still have you registered in their records...We in the guild even went as far as do a search using just your picture as a reference to see if you were using a fake name, but we didn't get anything either"

The young man looked at everyone staring at him and closed his eyes while taking a breath for a moment before opening them again. It was a given he wouldn't get away with a simple "Sorry, I still can't remember" or a new lie at this point.

"I admit it...I never had amnesia"

"Figures…No one with amnesia would care so little about getting their memories back" Said IF with a smirk, feeling rather proud she made him admit it

Normally people who suffered amnesia would show at least a moderate amount of concern about getting their memories back, but throughout the last three months Kenji didn't show the slightest sign of interest towards it, which pretty much killed off this facade.

"Then you do remember where you're from?"

"Yeah" Said the young man while thinking how to explain it "Somewhere….very far away from here"

The guild member then looked at Kenji for a moment before taking a deep breath and sighing.

"Well, it's not like it really matters at this point...You had a lot of chances to harm the nations so far, but instead did quite a few good acts while moving around them" She explained while smiling

"Then why so much questioning?"

"Easy, because I was curious more than anything else"

The truth was that IF felt curiosity rather than suspicion. At first she did suspect Kenji, and there was still a lingering doubt about him, but the young man proved his worth multiple times already.

A man with powers identical to those of the goddesses, powerful enough to challenge and defeat the CPUs suddenly appearing out of nowhere and not being registered on any sort of record held by any nation was already mysterious enough. If you added the fact he had no known past behind him, it would just make it more interesting.

It was just a given that IF, just like many others so far, would want to know about Kenji's past.

"Everyone, I brought some pudding!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Compa heading towards the table while holding a tray with five puddings.

"Ohh!? Compa's pudding! I've been waiting for this!" Said Neptune with excitement

"Eh? When did she get up?"

"While you were explaining the whole citizen's record thing" Answered the CPU candidate

IF lowered her head and sighed.

"I guess it really doesn't matter anymore after all"

"Here you go, Kenji!" Said the nurse as she handed one of the puddings to the young man

"I'd rather not"

"Eh? Why?"

Without any hesitation, Kenji got up and headed towards his room after rejecting the pudding.

"Thanks for the meal...I'll be taking my leave now"

After he left as quietly as he arrived, everyone kept staring at the hallway for a moment or two. Most of them with bewilderment, as they had already seen this happening once before, but had yet to understand the reason why.

"Why doesn't Kenji like pudding?" Asked Compa bluntly after seeing how he kept rejecting to eat it and even left to avoid the issue

"I've been wondering that too lately..." Said IF while placing her index finger and thumb on her chin "It's not rare for people to have foods they don't like, but he acts in a very aversive way towards pudding"

"Maybe he had a bad experience with pudding" Said Nepgear while trying to figure out the cause

"That's not possible! You can't have bad stuff happen to you with pudding!" Answered the CPU while gulping down her share "Ah! maybe he's lactose intolerant!?"

"I think he'd just say it if that were the case" Said the guild member while sweat dropping

"I...I think it must trigger some memories for him"

Everyone then looked at Compa, who was still staring at the hallway

"Why do you think that?"

"Just now…" She said while turning around to look at IF "…Kenji's eyes looked really lonely"

According to what the nurse learned from psychology, some people usually avoided or despised things precisely because they caused them to remember sad or unpleasant memories. And that was exactly what she just saw.

The others didn't notice it, but Compa was the one closest to Kenji at that moment, and she had a perfect view of his face.

As he rejected the pudding, Kenji's eyes diverted to the left, but his emotional change was easily noticeable in his eyes. His expression didn't show it as much, but it was clear as day in his eyes. Instead of the usually calm or uninterested stare, Kenji's eyes showed a lingering sorrow and a feeling of loss.

This wasn't the first time it happened either. Kenji had already shown a similar reaction in the past when Neptune offered him a pudding as well, which lead to the conclusion that pudding was indeed the trigger for this reaction, but the question remained.

"Just what kind of memory could make him get like that?" Asked IF while turning her head to look at Compa

"I don't know, but it must be a very bad one..."

"What do you think, big sister?" Said Nepgear as she turned her head to look at Neptune, until she noticed she was nowhere to be seen "Eh? Where's Neptune?"

While the three girls suddenly noticed the absence of Planeptune's CPU and looked around them to find her, she was somewhere else. To be more precise, she was chasing after Kenji.

"Kenny! hold the horses!"

The young man turned around and saw Neptune running towards him. He turned around as she stood in front of him and extended her right hand while holding something.

"Here! You forgot your pudding!"

"I said I didn't want any..."

Kenji then turned around and was about to leave, or at least he tried until Neptune spoke again.

"Kenny, why do you hate pudding so much?" Asked Planeptune's CPU with a more sincere tone, making the young man look at her over his shoulder

Knowing she had his attention, Neptune kept on

"You know, Kenny...I really love pudding a lot. It tastes super good, especially when eating it with others, and I met a lot of people and made lots of friends because of it…" She explained while looking at it with a smile before raising her head to look at the young man again "that's why I can't really get why someone would get so sad when looking at a pudding"

A moment of silence fell over the two of them while Kenji looked at Neptune. He kept looking at her straight in the eye before eventually turning his head to face forward and keep walking, letting the CPU only watch him walk away without saying a single word.

*Scene*

In a place far away from the nations, far away from any civilization. A place where powerful monsters dwelled by the dozens and broken remains of consoles pilled of into endless mountains of trash littered the place.

The climate was one of constant chaos and destruction, where only dark clouds and constant thunders could be seen all around. This grim place filled with darkness and chaos was known as the Gamindustry graveyard, a land of death that humans feared greatly. A place that even the CPUs despised the idea of setting foot inside it.

"Ah man...I really hate this place-Chu"

"Stop complaining, damn it! It's an order from master Magic, so there's no helping it!" Snarled Linda at the mouse

"Maybe you're okay with being here, but half the monsters in this junkyard see me as a snack-Chu!"

The underling and Warechu argued while walking through a roughly made path. They, just like all remaining member of ASIC, had been ordered by CFW Magic to gather at the center of the Gamindustry graveyard. Normally such a trip in this place would be difficult and dangerous even for experienced warriors, but ASIC's members had a method to avoid the monsters and move around the graveyard safely. After reaching the depths of the ungodly place, Linda and Warechu encountered a large number of people, most of them dressed in uniforms.

"Whoa, there are a lot of people here" Said the underling with shocked eyes.

"Not as many as last month, though-chu" Added the mouse while looking around

Over the course of the last months, ASIC's constant defeats at the hands of the CPUs, along with the demise of two of their four leaders, caused the people's faith in their deity to diminish and a severe loss of control over Gamindustry's criminal world. Many people left one after the other, either out of fear of the CPUs or because they felt ASIC had no future anymore. The few dozen on the graveyard right now were not all of what remained, but surely the most loyal ones as not many would dare set foot into such a dangerous place.

"It seems not as many retain faith in our cause as before" Said Brave while looking at the group that gathered

"That's fine. The one's here are enough to spread the message"

While the members of ASIC were waiting to hear of their leaders, Magic approached them.

"Members of ASIC, heed my words..."

Everyone immediately stopped chatting among each other and faced towards the one who's orders they had been waiting for.

"There she is! Master Magic!" Said Linda with a tone of admiration

In appearance, one could say Magic was almost nude, wearing only very revealing or barely-little clothes in total. Her skin was a lilac-white color, which she complimented with purple makeup and lipstick. Her eyes were yellow, while her nails were light pink colored. Her hair was a bright pink-neon color, worn in pigtails with long spiked bangs framing her face. Magic's attire appeared to be a twisted or corrupted parody of the CPU's outfits. She wore black armor type clothing resembling a very revealing Bikini attached on the sides by straps along with an eye patch. In her hair had spiked or webbed-styled pieces on both pigtails, along with a halo-like ornament above her head. On both arms she had black armor resembling fingerless gloves that began at her elbows. Her boots were also are made of armor and began at her knees. She had wings with spiked segments attached to each other with pink blades on the bottom of each one.

Out of the four felons, Magic was acknowledged not only as the leader, but also as the most powerful and ruttles one by a wide margin. Her unwavering dedication to Arfoire and overwhelming power were what made ASIC's influence rise to the top in such a short span of time. She was both respected and feared by those that followed her and the other felons. But out of those that respected her, Linda was probably the one that respected her the most. The underling saw Magic as a goddess more than a simple leader. Sure, she thought Arfoire was awesome, but the real reason she joined ASIC and withstood so many hardships so far was for the sake of being acknowledged by Magic. This would indeed prove difficult, since more than just a few joined ASIC for that very reason, and surely most of those were among the present today.

"Over the last two years, we put great effort against the CPUs by creating the organization known as ASIC and taking it to where it is now; there was a point where we reached an even match of power, but this eventually turned into an impasse as no side would take the initiative any longer"

Magic took a moment to look at the group watching her before keeping on.

"A few months ago, we tried to take the initiative and get one step ahead of the CPUs in our goal of resurrecting our goddess, but the arrival of an unexpected factor caused the opposite effect...As many of you might have guessed, I'm referring to the young male that the CPUs have taken as an ally"

Linda knew full well who Magic was talking about. She was referring to the man that slayed Judge and Trick, the man that caused all of her failures for the last months. The underling could feel nothing but anger towards that individual, who humiliated her and caused her to fail over and over again.

"At first, his confrontation with the CPUs played to our advantage, but he later proved to be an enemy when becoming their ally...This individual, who possesses powers similar to those of the CPUs, has proven to be a great threat towards ASIC, as it was him who foiled so many of our schemes and even slayed two of the four felons"

With every word that Magic said, Linda would recall the events within her head. Kenji slaying the viral beasts, defeating the Killachine, taking out Judge, foiling the illegal chip market of Lowee, undoing the mind control over the White sisters and even killing Trick. Every moment played on her mind one after the other, almost as if it were a movie.

"(It's all that bastard's fault…Everything was going well until he appeared!)" Tought Linda while clenching her iron pipe even tighter

"But despite all the damage he has caused, this has also benefited ASIC in a more important way"

The underling, along with many others among the group, snapped out of her train of thought and looked at Magic with a confused expression. No one could understand what Magic meant by that when Kenji only caused misfortune for ASIC.

"Because of him, we managed to weed out the weak links and prove who are truly loyal among ASICs ranks"

The members of ASIC all had widened eyes upon this revelation.

"(Even when everything's going downhill, she can still see an advantage?)" Tought Linda with shock, but suddenly smiled while looking at her leader with admiration "(I knew it! master Magic really IS the best!)"

While the group's mood seemed to improve greatly, Brave watched them with his arms crossed. If he was capable of doing expressions, maybe one of them would have felt suspicious about it.

"You have all proven your loyalty to our goddess, and that loyalty will be rewarded upon her resurrection. But right now, there's one hindrance we need to be rid of" She said while ASICs members looked at her again

"Erm…how are we going to win against him?" Asked one among the group

"I have already prepared a plan for it...Lives will be lost, but it's a small price to pay in comparison to the blessing our goddess will bestow upon us in exchange"

Although the idea of death would normally scare people, the loyal members of ASIC weren't afraid as the promise of being rewarded by their goddess caused greed to dull their sense of fear. Magic proceeded to explain her master plan to her followers, who seemed to agree with it rather fast.

"We shall execute ASIC's final plan in three days...Now go, spread the word among all those that refused to come here today. Even the un-loyal are useful as long as they obey"

The members of ASIC left in a hurry to obey Magic's words while she remained with Brave, who kept staring at her. She noticed this and looked at him.

"You seem displeased..."

"I can't really say I agree with your plan. You're dragging far too many innocent lives into it"

"But you'll go along with it anyway, won't you?"

"The luxury of choice was lost a long time ago. As cruel as it might seem, this is probably our only way now"

Magic looked at Brave for a bit longer before closing her eye and lowering her head. As long as brave went along with the plan, it really didn't matter what he thought about it. And as long as it aided in the resurrection of the deity of sin, no sacrifice was too much to commit nor was any loss too big to handle. Or at least that's how Magic thought.

While both felons were lost in their own thoughts Warechu, who stayed behind because he felt something wasn't right, looked at them and shivered after hearing what they said.

"I-I've got a bad feeling about this one-Chu" Saud the mouse before quickly turning around and running away, feeling like he had just heard something rather dangerous "I don't like where this is going at all-Chu!"

"Bo…dy…"

"Chu?"

Upon hearing a broken and weakened voice, the mouse suddenly stopped.

"Wha-What was that-Chu?"

"Bo…dy…I need….a vessel…"

The mouse searched around for a bit, until he saw a purple light glowing within the ground that emerged as a small sphere. Although he wanted to run away, something about that little fairy-like sphere of light made Warechu want to approach it.

"A vessel…I found it!"

Without a warning, the little sphere suddenly flew towards the mouse's chest and entered into his body.

"Wha-What the heck-Chu!?" Said the mouse as he saw the light entering his body, but was too slow to do anything to stop it "Ughhh….Ch-Chuuuuuu…"

As the energy fused with his body, Warechu began feeling an overwhelming surge of power, at first it was painful, but soon he felt stronger, a lot stronger. But he could also feel his consciousness fade away as he got overwhelmed by the desire to destroy everything around him.

"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"


	11. Will of the brave

**Note from the author:**

 **Date 8/14/2016**

 **Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Today I decided to release the chapter a bit earlier because I felt the last one was a bit lacking compared to what I've made so far. Also, I might start uploading the new chapters during** **Sundays from now on. Anyway, I won't hold you back any longer. have a nice day**

* * *

"Kenji's reaction to pudding?" Asked Noire, who was rather taken aback with the unexpected question

"That's right" Answered Nepgear while nodding "It seems that whenever he's offered a pudding, Kenji becomes very depressed...So I wanted to ask you if you knew anything about it"

"Well, I did not spend too much time with him nor did he eat any pudding during his stay, so I didn't really have a chance to check on this behavior" Said Vert while remembering the time Kenji spent on Leanbox

"Same here….we don't eat pudding around here, and I was too busy to check on him daily"

"I guess that makes three of us" Added Noire while sighing

"Eh? If you weren't with him, then what were you doing?"

"I was playing games" Answered Vert with a smile

"My novel's deadline was too close to take a break"

"Vert, Blanc…"

Nepgear sweat dropped while looking at the two of them through the video chat on her PC. Even though they were so persistent to take Kenji with them at first, it seemed as thought they hardly tried and instead focused mostly on their own daily activities.

"Seriously, you two...Did you even try?" Said Noire while looking at the other two CPUs and sweat dropping

"At least we didn't scare him away like you did..." Responded Blanc with her eyes closed.

"Th-That wasn't my fault! I just miscalculated!"

"That usually means it's your fault..."

"At least I tried doing something!"

"Now, now…Blanc, what really matters is the intention. Doing nothing is rather unproductive too"

"You didn't do shit either!" Snarled Lowee's CPU, feeling angered by Vert's comment

"Erm…excuse me…" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile

It seemed the CPUs were getting so absorbed in their own conversation that they forgot about Nepgear's question.

"Oh my, sorry for that Nepgear" Said Leanbox's CPU while looking at Nepgear again "But regarding the issue with Kenji, I don't think you should concern yourself about it for now"

"Eh? Why not?"

"Why do you want to know about his past, anyway?" Asked Noire, feeling curious about the motives behind Nepgear's curiosity

"Well..."

The CPU candidate was unsure what to answer. The only thing she could come up with at that moment was the she simply felt curiosity, but that would sound like a selfish and childish reason.

"Mystery and power breed curiosity, but it doesn't mean satisfying it is right either..."

"Eh?"

It seemed as Lowee's CPU was able to tell what Nepgear was thinking, since she spoke out of the blue with a calm tone, but she wasn't too sure if she understood what Blanc tried to say.

"Nepgear, what Blanc is trying to say is that feeling curious about something or someone isn't a bad thing, but inquiring into someone else's past without their consent is not good either"

"But...Don't you want to know?"

"Of course we do..." Replied Noire with one hand on her hip and both eyes closed "That man suddenly came out nowhere, is capable of using HDD and is ridiculously strong to boot. It's a given we'd want to know more about someone like that, but everyone has the right to keep their own secrets"

"I see…" Said the CPU candidate while lowering her head with a somewhat dissapointed expression

"Well...If you excuse me, I still have a lot of work to do" Said Noire before disappearing from the screen

"Me too…" Added Blanc before her image disappeared as well

"And with all say and done, I shall be taking my leave as well"

"Oh, okay then..."

Vert looked at her for a moment. She could tell the CPU candidate still felt troubled about this issue circling through her mind.

"Nepgear..." She said with a kind and understanding tone

When listening to Leanbox's CPU calling her name, Nepgear raised her head and looked at her.

"Yes?"

"He may not be very cheerful and can seem agressive sometimes, but Kenji is a good man"

After saying those last words, Vert's image disappeared, leaving Nepgear by herself for a moment to think about what they said.

Her mind wasn't sure where to start thinking, which was why she decided to go to the kitchen and clean the leftover dishes from today's lunch to clear her mind and allow her thoughts to go by more freely.

Unlike Neptune, Nepgear was polite, calm and smart. She was pretty much the usual "next door's perfect girl" type, but this opposite personality also had her flaws. Mostly that she was timid, lacked self-confidence and the outgoing personality her elder sister had. And said timid nature of hers was among the main causes that kept her from approaching Kenji, who she initially feared because of the way he kept frowning and looking at people in a threatening way whenever they approached him.

But with time, the young man's expression slowly changed. He wasn't exactly a cheerful bag of smiles and laughs like Neptune, but at least he seemed to become calmer. As a result, the inner fear Nepgear felt towards him slowly subsided. Maybe the time he spent with the CPUs was what changed him, or perhaps it was Nepgear that grew more used to his presence. Either way, Noire, Blanc and Vert were right.

Besides from fighting the CPUs at first, everything Kenji did so far helped the nations in one way or the other. Mostly in their fight to draw back ASIC. But this still didn't answer Nepgear's main concern.

"Just how am I supposed to approach him?" She muttered to herself after sighing

The true matter that worried Nepgear was that while the other CPUs and even the CPU candidates began to get along with Kenji, she was the only one remaining more or less a stranger with him. And this made her feel like she was being left out.

"Maybe it's my fault for not being more outgoing like Neptune…"

"Really? Why?"

"I mean, Neptune has an easier time getting along with people, but me on the other hand-" Explained the Candidate CPU to the voice that asked her, until she realized the voice asking was not within her mind, but rather next to her "Eh?"

Nepgear turned her head and saw Kenji standing next to her.

"Ah! Ke-Kenji!? didn't I ask you not to sneak up on me like that!?"

"My bad" Said the young man while taking a step away from her "Anyway, what's wrong? You look down"

"I do?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes

She didn't expect Kenji to appear all of a sudden, but she was even more surprised by the fact he paid attention to her emotional state.

"It's written all over your face, to be honest..."

"Written!?"

The CPU candidate quickly took out a small mirror from her pocket and checked out her face for any ink writings on her face.

"Not THAT kind of writing…" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"Oh...You scared me there for a moment" Said Nepgear with relief

The young man looked at her for a moment and wondered if, despite her intelligence, this CPU candidate was actually a naïve girl.

"By the way, what are you doing here?"

"The old man's shop is still closed, so I came to pick up a snack"

"The old man's shop? You mean the place where you go with big sister a lot, right?" Asked Nepgear, who recalled him saying something about that yesterday as well and also recalled Neptune telling her about a similar place a few days ago

"Yeah" Answered Kenji bluntly while nodding "Your sister always tags along"

"I see…" Said Nepgear

"She also eats like a pig, is as loud as a siren and calls me cheapskate whenever I don't share my pork with her"

"So-Sorry about that..."

The CPU candidate saw the young man making an angry expression with vein marks popping on his forehead along with his right arm bent and his hand placed up to face level while being clenched tightly into a fist.

"Even though she never paid a single credit…"

"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry…!" Said Nepgear while lowering her head

It wasn't rare for people to get offended or angered by Neptune's behavior most of the time, causing Nepgear to have to apologize in her stead. With time, the CPU candidate became so used to apologizing that it almost became a second nature. Seeing that at least someone was willing to give him an honest apology, or at least a proper one, the young man took a deep breath and calmed down.

"Well, no point getting angry about that anymore…" Said the young man while scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed

Nepgear raised her head and looked at him again. He did look very angry a moment ago, but it wasn't the scary type of angry. Rather, it was similar to IF or Histoire, who got angry at Neptune often but got over it quickly. Kenji right now seemed very similar to them in that aspect.

"Erm…Kenji?" Called the CPU candidate, making the young man open his eyes and look at her again "If you don't like being with Neptune there, then why do you always take her with you?"

The question was a simple yet logical one if you thought about it. Normally when you don't like being somewhere with someone else, you usually either stop going to that place or make the other person stop going. But Kenji didn't do either. He simply kept taking Neptune with him and even paid every time.

"Well, if I don't take her, she keeps whining until I say yes and even if I try walking away she just follows me"

"I-I see…" She said while sweat dropping

It seemed like Kenji simply put up with it because he didn't want to deal with Neptune throwing a tantrum.

"Besides…" Said Kenji, calling Nepgear's attention again "The pork would taste like crap if I didn't"

A moment of silence fell on the kitchen while Nepgear looked at him with a surprised expression. At first the CPU candidate was confused by the last thing Kenji said, but she soon managed to understand it.

The young man probably didn't want Neptune to follow him at first, but if he simply ignored her and ate while she could only succumb to hunger, he wouldn't be able to enjoy the food because he would feel bad for her.

"Anyway, maybe I should get going" He said before turning around and heading out

"Erm...Kenji!?"

The young man turned around to look at Nepgear after she called her name, just in time to see her lowering her head again.

"I'm sorry..."

"I already told you it's okay. I'm not even angry anymore anyway"

"It's not about Neptune..."

"Then what?" Asked Kenji with a raised eyebrow

"You see…" Said the CPU candidate while looking down at her index fingers poking the tips of each other "Back when you first appeared, I didn't really like having you around because I thought you were a scary person, but after seeing how you helped a lot of people and even care about big sister, now I realize you're actually a good person…That's why, I'm sorry"

The young man looked at the CPU candidate with surprise while she lowered her head again.

"(So that's what's bothering her?)" Thought the young man while sighing before looking at Nepgear again "Why are you apologizing about that?"

"Eh?" she said while raising her head and looking at him

"Having your own way of seeing someone ain't something to apologize for...It's only natural you wouldn't feel safe around a guy if he stares at you like he's gonna rip your head off"

Nepgear kept looking at him for a moment but before she could say anything, the sound of Histoire's voice calling out to her took the CPU candidate's attention.

"Nepgear, Nepgear! Where are you!?"

Kenji turned his head around, just in time to see Histoire flying by the door, turning her head to look into the kitchen and see the CPU candidate.

"Nepgear! There you are!"

"Histoire? What's wrong?"

"Have you seen Neptune? I can't seem to find her" Asked the tome while flying closer to her, making Kenji move aside a bit to let her through

"Neptune?" Asked the CPU candidate while taking a moment to think about it "I think she left after eating..."

The tome placed her hand on her head and sighed.

"Seriously now...Why is she always like this!? Especially in such a crucial time!?"

"What happened?"

"A sudden rise of energy took place in the Gamindustry graveyard yesterday, and I was going to ask her to check it out"

"If that's the case, maybe I should go"

"Nepgear, I know you have potential as a CPU candidate, but the Gamindustry graveyard is no mere dungeon" Replied the tome "Sending you alone would be too dangerous"

"But you said it was an emergency..."

Kenji looked at Nepgear looking down at the floor and decided to step in.

"I'm here too, you know?" Said the young man, catching their attention "I could go check it out while she looks for Neptune"

"I appreciate the thought, but this is Planeptune's problem...And as such, the CPUs should be the ones to handle it"

"If that problem of yours is as severe as you say, then you can't really waste time" He replied while looking at her "Besides, it's not like you have much of a choice right now"

The tome thought about what the young man said and sighed as she was forced to admit he was right.

"Certainly, choice isn't a luxury we can have right now..." She said with both eyes closed before opening them to look at him "I'm sorry to burden you with his request"

"Don't sweat it..."

While Nepgear went out to search for Neptune, Kenji headed to the Gamindustry graveyard to search for the cause of the sudden energy surge Histoire detected earlier.

"So this is the Gamindustry graveyard…" Said Kenji while looking around

"I really hate this place, it gives me the creeps" Admitted IF while looking around her

Although the Tome knew Kenji was no pushover, she decided to sent IF along with him just in case anything unexpected happened and to ease her worries.

"I can't blame you..."

The young man couldn't have expressed it any better. It would take a person with a really twisted taste to be okay such a place, much crazy to actually like it. Kenji kept looking around the place while IF looked at him for a moment before speaking.

"Sorry you had to do this" Said IF before a vein mark popped on her forehead "That idiot should be the one here right now, not us"

Anger began boiling up within her, until the sudden sensation of the ground shaking made her snap out of her train of thought.

"Whoa! Why is the ground shaking all of a sudden!?"

"Whatever it is, I think it's coming from over there!" Said Kenji while pointing at some mounts of trash in the distance

IF looked at the direction she was pointing at and saw a figure in the distance.

"What's that?"

"CHUUUUUUU!"

After it got a bit closer, Kenji managed to discern its appearance better.

"That…kind of looks like the rat from ASIC..."

"Now that you say it, it kind of looks similar" Said IF before noticing something odd "Wait…is it just me, or is it getting bigger as it gets closer?"

"I think it's the second one…" Said Kenji as he noticed the same thing before noticing the towering creature was charging towards them "Look out!"

Both Kenji and IF were forced to move sideways to avoid getting crushed by the gigantic mouse's feet as it kept moving and eventually left, destroying anything it its way before Kenji and IF got back on their feet and looked at the direction the mouse headed to.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day…" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"How the hell did that rat grow so big!?" Asked IF with widened eyes

"Beats me...but we can't let it roam around like that"

"You're right, if that thing goes into a nation, things could get ugly"

"We better get going then" He said while turning around

"Not if I can stop it..."

After suddenly hearing a female voice, a blood-chilling shiver ran down Kenji's spine, causing every fiber in his body to react and make him quickly unsheathe his sword and turn around, just in time to block the tip of a scythe that was aimed at his head.

It took some struggle before he managed to push it back and jump away in time to avoid a second attack from Magic just by inches.

"It seems your strength is no illusion after all..."

"(Just a second later and that would have killed me!)" Thought Kenji while breaking a cold sweat

As soon as she noticed this, IF took both of her weapons and moved towards the young mand to aid him, but was quickly stopped.

"Kenji!"

"Get out of here!"

"What!?"

Despite her intent to aid him in battle, he quickly told her to stay away without even getting his eyes away from Magic

"Are you crazy!? That's CFW Magic! Not even you can handle her alone!"

Kenji didn't say anything this time, he simply looked over his shoulder at IF.

The two of them looked at each other in the eyes, and the guild member clearly understood what Kenji was trying to say. If she stayed there and tried to help, the only thing she'd do is get in the way, as he would probably have to push himself to the very limit just to survive in this battle.

IF didn't want to leave Kenji alone at the mercy of someone such as Magic, but with a rampaging giant mouse on the loose, she didn't have the luxury to choose.

"Fine, I get it already!" Said IF before turning around and running away "You better not die before I make it back!"

The young man looked at her leaving and made sure she would be out of the way of danger before looking again at CFW Magic.

"So you're planning to keep me busy while that girl deals with the mouse...a logical tactic, but futile. She'll never be able to fend off a creature infused with a fragment of the deity of sin's power by herself"

"Then I'll just have to finish you off and deal with the rat later!"

"That is, if you can defeat me..."

Kenji made stern expression before transforming into his HDD form and dashing towards Magic.

"Coldfire Edge!"

The young man could tell Magic was no pushover, and this battle could easily end up with his death if he wasn't careful. The exact reason for which he decided to go all out from the start.

Their weapons clashed dozens, if not hundreds of times in less than a minute, but even in his HDD form, Kenji had a difficult time keeping up with Magic. Not only her speed and strength were outstanding, but her scythe made it difficult to block, since he wasn't used to dealing with that type of weapon.

After a while of constant weapon clashing and near death attacks, the two weapons were about to clash against each other, but Kenji managed to parry the attack on the last moment and moved in to give a killer slash. Magic managed to avoid getting her skull sliced in two, but the tip of the blade managed to reach her, leaving a cut on her cheek. Immediately she reacted by kicking Kenji in the gut, causing him to be pushed backwards and creating some distance between the two of them.

CFW's CPU placed her thumb on her cheek and moved it along the cut, cleaning off some of the blood that was pouring out. She then looked at it for a moment before looking at Kenji again. Magic relied solely on physical skills instead of her ice magic since she wasn't planning on killing the young man, rather just test out his battle prowess. But even so, she never thought he would land a hit on her.

"What's wrong!? Don't feel like fighting anymore!?"

Kenji had some bruises and cuts here and there, but nonetheless was fine. He didn't seem too exhausted either.

"It seems your strength surpassed my expectations, but it still won't be enough to defeat me"

"There's only one way to find out" replied the young man while getting into an assault stance once again

The two fighters then dashed forward to resume their fight, until a large purple katana fell from the sky and got stuck in the ground right between the two of them, forcing both Magic and Kenji to stop on their tracks.

"That's as far as you go!"

A voice coming from the sky made them raise their heads, and they saw a woman descending until reaching the ground.

"Planeptune's CPU..."

"Magic, I won't allow you this to go any further than it already did" Said the woman before removing the large katana and wielding it with both of her hands "If you still wish to fight, then I'll gladly join the battle"

CFW Magic looked at her for a moment before looking at Kenji again. A 1v1 fight against the young man wouldn't be too difficult to handle if she went all out on him, but if you added Planeptune's CPU's assistance, along with the other hidrances that were probably on their way, then the odds were starting to tip against her.

"Very well, I'll take my leave for now" Said the leader of ASIC while closing her eye before opening it again to look at the CPU "But mark my words, CPUs. The end is near. As strong as you might be, nothing will stop the deity of sin from being reborn"

"Like hell I'm letting you go!" Said Kenji while dashing past the CPU and straight towards Magic

"Kenny! Wait!"

Before the young man could attack, Magic used her magic to cast a wall of Ice spikes that emerged from the ground and exploded into millions of shards. Causing the young man to cover his face with his arms and giving her enough time to spread her wings and fly away. By the time Kenji moved his arms away and looked around him, Magic was nowhere to be seen anymore.

"Damn it, she got away..."

"Leave it be Kenny, It's probably for the best" Said the CPU while approaching him "Fighting her with only the two of us would be far too dangerous"

"I guess so" Said Kenji while looking at the sky

Even if he didn't want to admit it, the young man had to recognize the current outcome was probably the best one. While the battle against CFW Magic was more or less evenly grounded, Kenji had to go all out just to keep up with her.

The young man then turned around and looked at the woman. She was around his eight, probably shorter than him by a head or so. Her eyes were blue and her hair was a dark lilac-purple. It was worn in twintail braids so long that they reached down to her knees and had many bangs framing her face. She was wearing small black circular pieces with glowing blue x's on them as hairpins and her figure was quite curvy, only losing out to Vert. The suit she wore was similar to the other CPUs. It resembled a black skintight leotard with purple segments and silver pieces along it with the leg armor reaching above the knees.

Despite getting the feeling he knew her from somewhere, the young man couldn't tell who the person in front of him was despite looking at her carefully. He knew by the outfit and the power button eyes that it was someone in HDD mode, but he didn't recall meeting someone with that body shape besides maybe Vert, but he already saw her transformed form a few times and the face was different too. It took some staring, but Kenji eventually had an idea of who could it be.

"(Man, Nepgear sure changes a lot when she transforms…)"

"Is something the matter?" Asked the CPU while looking at him with a raised eyebrow after noticing his stare

"Ah, no...It's just…." Said the man before placing his hand on his chin "You change a lot when you transform"

"Well, I must admit it's a big change" Said Purple Heart with her eyes closed

Kenji turned around while crossing his arms and lowering his head with his arms closed.

"Kind of makes me wonder how Neptune looks like when she transforms"

The CPU opened her eyes and looked at the young man with widened eyes.

"Eh?"

"I mean, I know from the other CPUs and even from my own power that the HDD transformation makes you look a bit different, but your change is on a completely new level"

It seemed as though Kenji had the wrong idea. He confused the woman behind him as Nepgear, when in fact it was Neptune.

Due to her extreme change of appearance, Kenji had no idea that it was actually her.

"Erm...I think you're confusing me with someone else here" Said Purple Heart while sweat dropping

"Someone else?"

"Actually, I'm-"

"Big sister!"

Purple Heart turned her head and saw two people heading towards them. They were Nepgear, transformed into her HDD form, and IF.

"Nepgear"

"Eh?"

Kenji moved slightly sideways to see them, and he noticed IF and another girl coming along. Once she got close enough, the young man managed to discern her better. Despite her hair having a brighter shade with a very slight pink tone and become long enough to reach her knees and her bangs also getting longer, Kenji could still recognize her as Nepgear due to the incredible similarity. Her eyes turned a bright blue color and her hairclip was now a round white piece with a blue center. Her HDD form, just like with everyone so far, resembled a white bathing suit with a revealing chest piece colored a bright lilac shade. It was connected around the neck with similar gloves and boot pieces.

"Nepgear?"

"Kenji? Are you okay?" Asked Purple Sister as she stopped in front of him and Purple Heart, and noticed the wounds on him

"Ye-Yeah..." Answered Kenji while feeling slightly confused

IF looked around to quickly find CFW Magic, but saw there was no trace of her

"Where's Magic!?"

"She left..."

The guild member looked at the CPU with widened eyes.

"Seriously!? Just like that!?"

"Yes, it seems Kenji managed to stand on even ground against her and my appearance caused Magic to rethink her strategy"

"You mean, Kenji is as strong as CFW Magic!?"

"I'm...not sure really...I think she was holding back a bit..."

"Well, I guess that could explain it..." Said IF while calming down a bit

"Excuse me….You're Nepgear, right?" Asked the young man while looking at Purple Sister and pointing at her

"Eh? Ah...yeah, I am"

Kenji looked at her with confusion for a moment, causing the CPU candidate to feel rather awkward.

"Erm...is it really that hard to tell?"

"If you're Nepgear..." Said the young man while pointing at her before pointing at Purple Heart "Then who the heck is this woman?"

Nepgear looked at her before looking at Kenji and answering clearly and bluntly

"That's big sister"

Kenji looked at Purple Heart for a moment before looking at the CPU candidate again.

"You had another sister besides Neptune?"

"Eh?"

Nepgear was confused at first, until IF stepped in to make things clear for the young man.

"Kenji, that's Neptune..."

Again, the young man looked at the CPU before looking at IF again.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously" She answered while nodding

"Is it really so hard to believe?" Asked Purple Heart while sweat dropping

"Can you really blame him? It's like saying day and night are the same thing" Said the guild member while looking at her and sweat dropping as well

"Well, big sister's transformation is pretty extreme compared to everyone else's, after all" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping as well with a weak smile

"Either way, just turn back to your human form. He won't be able to deny it once he sees it with his own eyes"

"I guess you're right..."

Knowing only that would make Kenji accept she was Neptune, the CPU reverted her transformation and returned to her human form right on front of him. Kenji looked in shock as the woman shrank and turned into Neptune.

"There! It's good ol' me!"

The young man didn't answer, he simply looked at her with widened eyes and a somewhat blank expression.

"Heeeey...Kenny? You in there?" Asked the CPU as she moved her hand in front of his face

"Eh?" Said the young man as he snapped out of his shock "Ye-Yeah, I'm here…."

"Oh, come on! It's not THAT big of a deal!"

"To be honest, I think seeing your HDD form is capable of at least some minor mental damage, especially if it happens backwards" Said IF while sweat dropping and recalling the first time she saw Neptune transform

"Anyway, let's go grab some pudding! Beating that mouse got me hungry!"

"The mutant rat! I forgot about that!"

"Don't worry, we took care of it on the way back here" Said IF while turning around "Let's go back for now, I don't want to stay in this awful place any longer than we need to"

The group then headed out of the graveyard and headed to Planeptune. The two sisters and IF were glad to have done the job right, but Kenji kept his head down while being capable of thinking only one thing as he sweat dropped.

"(HDD is scarier than I thought…)"

*Scene*

"Agh man! thish ish shooo good!"

"Neptune, don't speak with your mouth full!" Said Vert to Neptune, who was stuffing her mouth as if there were no tomorrow

"Neptune, that's bad table manners!" Said Nepgear in a hurry as she removed the food stains on her mouth with a handkerchief

Kenji and the Planeptune sisters, along with the other CPUs and CPU candidates, were invited to Vert's mansion to eat together. Unfortunately, Neptune was being Neptune again and made sure to show it to everyone around the table.

"Ugh...green peas. Maybe if I move them over here, no one will notice" Said Noire quietly while picking up the peas one by one with her fork and putting them back.

"Noire, don't be a picky eater. You'll set a bad example for Uni"

While Leanbox's CPU scolded Noire, Uni simply sat next to her sister and smiled while sweat dropping. She was already aware of Noire's picky habits regarding food, but never really put too much thought about it.

"And you too Blanc. Reading on the table is not polite at all"

"Just give me a second, I'll reach a good stopping point soon" Answered Lowee's CPU without taking her eyes off of the book's pages

"Seriously, you three are so troublesome sometimes..." Said Vert while lowering her head and sighing with her eyes closed before raising again and opening her eyes to look at Kenji "What's wrong, Kenji? You haven't even touched your food yet"

Not only his food, the young man wasn't even paying attention to the ruckus around him. His mind was somewhere completely different right now.

"Kenji!"

"Huh!?" Said the young man as he quickly looked at Vert

"Your food"

"Ah...Yeah, it's good..."

Leanbox's CPU looked with some concern at Kenji, who answered quickly about a meal he had yet to take a single bite out of.

"Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem distant today"

"I was just thinking about stuff..."

Even though it's been days since that incident, Kenji still remembered clearly that battle. If he hadn't gone all out from the start, the young man could have kicked the bucket within seconds. Kenji couldn't help but wonder how much stronger he'd need to get in order to surpass someone with that level of skill.

"Kenji, you shouldn't worry about the difference of strength between you and CFW Magic. The fact you managed to hold your ground on your own against her and made it out in one piece is amazing enough in itself"

The young man didn't say a thing, he simply looked at her with a surprised expression. He was amazed she could figure out what he was thinking so well just from that vague explanation.

"Are you surprised?" Said Vert with a smile

Although her accurate guessing skill did surprise him, trying to know how she figured it out wasn't really one of Kenji's interests at the moment.

"I just don't like how she didn't go all out on me..."

What bothered Kenji the most was that CFW Magic played around with him during the entire fight, despite him taking it seriously and going all out on her.

"That's what bothering you?"

The young man didn't answer this time. He simply looked down with an expression that showed how displeased he felt with that battle. Vert could only smile, as she had seen someone similar making that expression before many times years ago. And for a very similar reason too.

"…You know? You're a lot like Neptune was back then"

"Back then?"

"We might not look like it, but us Goddesses are actually hundreds of years old"

"Really?" He said before looking at the CPUs, then at the CPU candidates

"Don't get confused, I was referring to us the goddesses. The candidates are actually as young as they look"

"Oh...Okay then..."

"You don't seem very surprised about it"

"After seeing Neptune's transformation, anything can hardly surprise me by now" Admitted Kenji while sweat dropping

"Well, I guess that's a fair way of thinking" said Leanbox's CPU while sweat dropping with a weak smile "But as I was saying before, you resemble her a lot"

"How so?"

"Around a hundred years ago, Neptune was a lot worse than now"

"Worse?"

Kenji could tell there was something wrong with Neptune sometimes, but imagining she was a lot worse than this was quite a terrifying idea.

"Of course, worse in a different way…" Explained Vert to clear the misunderstanding "Back then she used to be in her HDD form all the time. She was mature, confident and determined, but also extremely arrogant and prideful. She loved fighting and solving everything with her sword rather than her words and hated losing with a burning passion"

The young man took a quick look at Neptune again. It would be hard to believe the childish girl could have been such a person in the past. Then again, a lot of things regarding Neptune defied common logic, and if you considered her HDD form, it didn't seem like such an unreal possibility.

"What about the other two?"

"Noire's arrogance made her much more like a dictator than a leader and Blanc...well, you'd be lucky if she didn't chop you in half...I can't deny I had my temper too to be honest, but at least I tried keeping things relatively calm" Said Vert while recalling the past "Those were very chaotic times indeed"

"Things don't look that good if you ask me"

"True, Noire is full of herself, Blanc can't get her nose out of her books and Neptune is...well, Neptune. But you weren't around back then. Things were truly a chaos. Fights would constantly break out and I would barely be able to keep them under control most of the time"

After hearing Vert's story, the young man tried picturing in his mind the events that she talked to him about. Constant battles breaking loose everyday between the CPUs. All of them arrogant and angered, wishing only one thing. To defeat the other CPUs and claim control over everything. Kenji didn't really have a hard time imagining it, considered that the CPUs were still pretty violent when angered.

"Wait….If they really were that crazy back then, then why are you the way you are now?"

"If I had to say, I think it's because of the people around us" Said Vert after putting some thought into it "At time we didn't care about anything other than going at it against each other and getting all the shares, but after the CPU candidates were born and people like the oracles appeared, things began changing. Slowly, the way we saw things began to change and before realizing it, we gained something far more precious than shares"

"What's that?"

According to what he heard from the CPUs so far, shares were priceless. Their life and power depended purely on them, but to hear there was something far more valuable than shares. This, without a doubt, caught his interest.

"Simple, that would be-"

"Big sister Vert!"

Before Leanbox's CPU could give Kenji an answer, Chika made her way into the room while calling out to Vert.

"Chika? What's wrong?"

"It's an emergency! Leanbox is under attack by ASIC's forces!"

Everyone looked at the oracle while Leanbox's CPU quickly got up on her feet.

"What did you say!?"

"An army of robots invaded the nation just a few moments ago, they're rampaging on the streets as we speak!"

"No way, why would they attack like this all of a sudden?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes

"They're probably getting desperate. ASIC's influence plummeted since the destruction of their factory" Answered Noire

"Everyone, I'm sorry but I must go"

"What'cha talking about Vert? We're going too!" Said Neptune with determination while getting up

"She's right, we want to help!" Added Nepgear

"Neptune, Nepgear..."

"Don't forget about us" Said Noire with a smile

Blanc then lowered her book at looked at Vert too

"This struggle is probably out of desperation…Defeating them here would probably put an end to ASIC for good"

Just like the other CPUs, Kenji got up from his chair as well.

"Kenji?" Said Vert while looking at him

"Kicking some ass might help me clear my mind a bit. Besides, I'm getting real tired of those ASIC guys making a mess out of everything"

"Everyone...thank you"

Leanbox's CPU was grateful to have the support of her fellow CPUs and the young man in her time of need.

Decided to fight together, the group left Vert's mansion and headed into Leanbox's streets. As they ran through them, they could see the destruction left behind by the ASIC army.

"How dare they harm my nation!? I won't forgive them for this!" Said an angered Vert

"There!" Said Uni as she spotted the enemy

It was an endless swarm of robot enemies counting on the dozens, or probably even hundreds. Immediately upon spotting them, the robots faced the CPUs and headed right towards them to attack. The group didn't hesitate to transform and dodge the incoming attacks. While Black Sister provided long range support along with White Sisters, Purple Sister and Kenji assisted the four hearts in the front lines. Green and White Heart took care of the flying enemies along with Purple Sister while Purple and Black Heart mowed down the ones on ground level along with Kenji. Despite their constant swarming around them, the CPUs were able to easily dispatch their enemies. As the fight began to drag on, something began bothering the young man.

"(Why aren't there any strong ones?)"

Defeating multiple weak enemies with one slash wasn't rare for CPUs, but among the hundreds of robots swarming them, not a single one was powerful enough to be considered above cannon fodder. More than a desperate last attempt, this felt like if they were trying to make time for something else. Once the final wave of enemies was finally dealt with, the CPUs gathered.

"We did it! Those ASIC baddies are done for!" Said Ram while celebrating

"Don't get comfy yet Ram, this ain't over yet"

Ram then looked at White Heart with curiosity.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Those guys were way too easy to beat"

"Indeed..." Said Green Heart with a stern expression "If they really attempted a last attack, they would have used far more powerful monsters, and Magic would be here as well"

"Then why did they attack?" Asked Ram

"Beats me…."

The group tried thinking about it for a moment or two before going to the basilicom, where they were received by Chika, Mina and Kei. The last two being in a computer screen.

"Chika, we're back"

"Big sister Vert...I'm afraid I made a terrible miscalculation" Said the oracle with an apologetic tone

"What happened now?"

"While you were fighting off the ASIC forces attacking Leanbox, Magic has invaded Planeptune using a large army and took over it" Said Mina

"EHHHH!?" Said Neptune with widened eyes

"No way, and what about Histoire?"

"It seems she has been captured by the enemy" Answered Kei

Having heard what happened at Planeptune, Kenji quickly turned around and was about to leave, until Noire placed a hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

"Just where are you going now?"

The young man turned his head and looked at Lastation's CPU over his shoulder while all eyes were now set on him.

"I'm going to Planeptune"

"And what do you plan to do once you get there?"

"Ain't it obvious!? I'm going to beat Magic to a pulp!"

"I know you'll do that! I'm asking you how!?"

"I'll come up with something...eventually...!"

Noire lowered her head and sighed.

"Seriously...you just don't get, it do you?" She said before raising her head to look at him and pointing at him with her index finger "Now listen here. If Magic took over Planeptune, she probably has an army far bigger than what we went against today! Not even you could defeat all of that alone!"

"We won't know until I try, won't we?"

"You can be as irrational as Neptune sometimes, you know?" Said Lastation's CPU with an irritated tone and her eyes closed

Kenji didn't know how to answer to that. He knew his methods might be a bit reckless, but there was no way they could be so irrational to be compared to Neptune's randomness.

"Kenji, there's no need to be rash. I'm sure we can find an answer to this problem by working together" Said Vert while approaching him

The young man didn't like staying put, but he couldn't go against the CPUs at that moment.

"Fine...we'll do it your way" He said while turning around

Vert Smiled at him after seeing she managed to make him cool down a bit, and then turned around to face Chika and the other two oracles.

"Now then, let us proceed in making a plan to recover Planeptune"

*Scene*

The lan castle used to be the home of a CPU of Planeptune that lived hundreds of years ago. But what once was a beautiful palace now was an eerie place where only the sounds of the monsters living there filled the endless and massive hallways. The areas without monsters were even worse, as the mortifying lack of sound would make the tension within someone's heart grow more than with the constant roaring of monsters. Spiderwebs and dust could be seen everywhere along with crumbling walls and broken windows, all caused by the hundreds of years of aging and lack of maintenance.

The young man walked through these hallways paying no mind to what surrounded him, since his mind was focused on finding the place where he'd meet up with his enemy. As he walked throughout the hallways, Kenji's mind slowly wandered back to a few hours.

"So, what do we do?" Asked Lastation's CPU

"First of all, we should prioritize rescuing Histoire" Answered Kei without hesitation

"And how will we do that?"

"Shortly after ASIC's invasion of Planeptune, all three nations received a message from Magic. All three of them saying that if we wished to recover Histoire, the male HDD user must go alone to this location within the lan castle" Explained Mina

"That has to be the most generic trap I've ever heard of" Said Noire while sweat dropping

"Okay, where's that lan castle?"

Noire quickly turned around and looked at the young man with an irritated expression

"Are you deaf or something!? There's no way that's not a trap!" She yelled at him while pointing at the message being displayed in the screen

"You have a better idea?"

"We-Well…that's…."

"I guessed so..." Said the young man before looking at the oracles again "So? Where's that place?"

"I can take you there" Said Uni while taking a step forward

Noire quickly turned her head again and looked at Uni with shock

"Uni!?"

Kenji looked at the CPU candidate for a moment or two before agreeing to have her as a guide despite Noire's complaints about it.

"Kenji! Wait up!"

As the voice of the CPU candidate snapped him back to the present, the young man turned around and saw Uni running towards him before stopping to catch her breath.

"I'm telling you...you don't need to go so fast..."

"You know, I think you should go back"

"Eh? Why?" Said the confused CPU candidate

"The message said that I should come alone"

"Don't worry. If I need to I can hide...besides...W She said before lowering her head and making a stern expression "If the one waiting at the meeting location is who I think it is. There's something I need to check about him"

While looking at her, Kenji could tell something serious was bothering Uni. He knew there was a reason why she so readily volunteered to guide him.

"Fine, I'm not stopping you…" He said while turning around "Just don't get killed. Last thing I need is your sister going crazy on me again"

Kenji said this while recalling how Noire explicitly told him , or rather threatened him by saying, that if something were to happen to Uni in the lan castle, she would make him suffer for it until the day he died. The CPU candidate was confused by his last comment but nodded with glee, since she was unaware of the threat her elder sister had given to the young man.

The two of them kept going deeper into the castle until finally reaching a large room, where CFW Brave was waiting for them, or rather, for Kenji.

"I knew it..." Muttered Uni to herself

"Hm?" Said Brave as he turned his head and saw both of them "So you finally arrived, young man. And you brought someone with you, despite what we said"

"Don't worry, she's just here to watch" He answered while unsheathing his sword and transforming

"Very well, I can accept having an audience"

When both warriors were about to start fighting, Uni got in front of Kenji and stopped him.

"Kenji, please wait!"

"What?"

"Let me talk to him first"

Kenji looked at the CPU candidate with a confused expression at first but after noticing her stern expression, he realized this was probably why she wanted to come with him to the castle.

"Fine" He said while standing straight again and taking a step

Uni nodded with a smile before turning around and looking at Brave, who seemed to have read the mood and stood straight like Kenji.

"Why do you work for ASIC?"

"Why would you ask?"

"Because when we first fought, I couldn't sense any malice from you"

The first time Uni fought against Brave, she wasn't able to feel any malice or evil intent from him. Rather, all she could feel was a strong determination, much like her elder sister.

Unlike the perverted trick, the bloodthirsty Judge or the merciless Magic, Brave seemed more like a rightful and selfless individual. Even after defeating her in battle, he offered her the chance to walk away with her life.

"I want to know why someone like you would ally with ASIC"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm doing it to bring smiles to this world's children!"

"Eh?" Asked Uni with widened eyes

"Even if their means might be ruthless sometimes, the chips created by Arfoire's followers have allowed the joy that only a few could have to be spread to all children!"

"No way! Because of ASIC's methods, the economy can't prosper! Without it, game developers won't be able to release new and exciting content!"

"That's just an excuse from those who aren't capable to create truly memorable games!"

"Destroying the economy isn't the answer! it'll just make everyone unhappy!"

"So those who aren't able to reach the economic floor should just accept it and deny the right to receive equal happiness!? Is that what you're saying!?"

After hearing his answer and determination to refuse her ways, the CPU candidate came to realize there would be no way to talk him out of this one.

"I see...It seems we won't be able to reach an agreement"

"Indeed, our views differ too much"

Uni stepped aside, letting Kenji know it was okay to start the battle.

She probably wanted to join and help him, but this was meant to be a 1v1 battle, and she knew it would be rude to get in the way any longer.

With nothing to stop them, both warriors dashed forward, giving a start to the battle. The two swords clad in fire clashed constantly, both wielding their owner's full will.

"Impressive! It seems your skills have improved since our last encounter!" He said after their swords clashed, forcing them into a struggle "Young warrior, what is it that you fight for?"

"What are you talking about?"

"No matter who, every individual that wields a weapon has a resolve behind it, a reason to fight" He explained during the struggle "I fight for the sake of children's smiles, but what about you!? Is it for shares!? Credits!? Power!? Faith!? Loyalty!? Or simply the thrill of it!?"

At that moment, Kenji began to wonder. Thinking about it, he had never really put too much thought into why he fought. Ever since he could remember, the young man raised his sword or his fists for one reason, and one reason alone. To become stronger. But this time, he was fighting for a different reason.

"To be honest with you, I didn't really understand that whole speech you had with Uni earlier. But I can tell you one thing. This mess started because I didn't take you down when I had the chance, I'm just trying to fix that up!"

"I see..."

Brave looked at Kenji's eyes, and he could tell there was something else behind it. Something within his own will that even the young man himself had yet to realize.

"In that case, I won't hold back any longer!"

As they broke the struggle and resumed the constant clash of swords. Both sides began receiving damage. Because Kenji's body was made of flesh and bone, the damage he sustained was greater than what Brave suffered with his bulky armored body. Nonetheless, Kenji was able to keep his focus despite the wounds and managed to get an edge over the battle, eventually managing to dodge his attacks and move in to land direct attacks.

The sword blows weren't too effective as first, but as the warrior's armor got more and more damaged, each flaming slash became more lethal, and this eventually led to the finishing blow.

"Coldfire Edge!" He yelled as his flaming sword cut through Brave's damaged armor, causing lethal damage

"ARGH!"

As he felt his strength leaving his body, the robot-like warrior fell to his knees as he placed his hand over the large wound.

"This is it..."

"Again I have lost…Why? Was my resolve not strong enough!?"

"I don't think your resolve was the problem"

Brave turned his head and looked at Uni, who was walking closer to him and looking at him with a slighlty saddened expression.

"We both had the same goals, but our methods were simply too different...and yours were the wrong ones..."

While looking at her, the warrior was able to understand what she meant. And now, at the end of his life, he was able to realize it.

"I see..." He replied with a more calm tone "CPU, what's your name?"

"Uni"

"Uni, this might be a selfish request. But please, make sure to make this a world where children can be happy..."

The CPU candidate nodded with a smile.

"You can count on me!"

Knowing his resolve had been passed on to someone who would, Brave had only one thing left to do now.

"Young man, the oracle you're here for is in the other room..." He said as he looked at the young man

"Thanks..."

"Young man, may I ask your name?"

Kenji looked at Brave for a moment before answering

"Kenji...Kenji Nijimura"

"Kenji, if you truly wish to become even stronger, then you'll eventually need to find it...Your true resolve..."

Those were the warrior's last words before dying. The last thing that went through his mind before exploding was the curiosity he felt, wondering just what was it. What was that hidden will within the young man, and more importantly, just what sort of power would that will awaken in the future?

"Kenny!"

Uni turned her head and saw the other CPUs running into the room.

"Uni!" Said Noire as she ran towards her "Are you okay!?"

"Big sister!? Why is everyone here!?"

"We were searching for Histoire while Kenji was distracting Brave, but we didn't find her yet"

"I think she's in that room over there" Said the CPU candidate while pointing in the direction Brave told them early

Noire looked at the direction her younger sister was pointing for a moment while Neptune and Nepgear went to check on Kenji.

"Kenji, are you okay?" Asked Nepgear, but she didn't get an answer out of him

The young man was still staring at the place where Brave was just moments ago, still focused on the moment when he exploded into oblivion.

"Heeeeey, Kenny? You in there?" Said Neptune while approaching Kenji and getting in front of him to wave her hand in front of his face "Hellooooo, Gamindustry to Kenny! Are you there!"

When finally getting out of his train of thought and seeing Planeptune's CPU standing in front of him, Kenji closed his eyes, sheathed his sword and reverted back to human.

"Ah, Kenji!"

"There we go! For a moment there I thought we'd get some background elevator music if he kept us waiting any longer" Said Neptune with a smile and both hands on her hips

Ignoring her elder sister's attempt to break the mood, Nepgear approached Kenji and looked at him with slight concern

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay...Let's find Histoire and get out of this place"

Kenji then headed along with the CPUs to the room where Histoire was being kept hostage, all while trying to understand the strange feeling going through him at the moment. The feeling that, despite defeating Brave, he didn't really feel like he won.


	12. Friends

After rescuing Histoire from the lan castle, the oracle and the CPUs headed to Lastation's basilicom, where the oracles from the three nations were already waiting for their arrival. Histoire wasted no time in gathering with them to prepare a plan of action.

"Histy, are you sure you're okay?" Said a concerned Neptune

"Big sister is right, maybe you should rest for a bit" Added Nepgear, who felt concerned about her oracle as well

Even if no harm had come to her, Histoire had still been through a rather dire hostage situation. No one would blame her if she asked for a moment or two to regain her composure.

"It's okay Neptune, Nepgear..." Answered the tome with a conforting smile "I'll rest as soon as we retrieve Planeptune"

The oracle was more than fine, though. The only thing she could think about right now was the recovery of Planeptune and the liberation of its citizens from Magic's grasp.

Until this was achieved, she wouldn't be able to rest easy.

"Well then. If you feel you're in a fit state to proceed, let us begin our preparations for the plan" Said Kei while looking at Histoire

The tome simply turned to look at the other oracles and nodded in agreement, which was shortly followed by Mina explaining the situation.

"As you are aware, the enemy behind this is CFW Magic...While we are unable to figure out what is she planning to achieve by taking over Planeptune, it's still a fact we can't allow this to continue any further"

Chika then looked at the CPUs and explained their mission to them.

"While we take care of coordinating the armies waging the battle against ASIC's forces, the CPUs will have the job of tracking down Magic and defeating her"

"The defeat of their leader should not only cause their morale to crumble, but it should also put an end to ASIC with all certainty" Added Kei to emphasize the importance of their task

"In other words, we just need to beat up the big boss and we win, right?" Asked Neptune as she simplified the explanation into less than twenty words

"That's a rather simple way to put it, but yes...That's pretty much it" Answered Histoire

"Okay then! Piece of pudding!"

"So we have to fight CFW Magic?" Said Nepgear with certain insecurity in her tone.

The CPU candidate's fears weren't baseless, as there was a time during the early apparition of ASIC when the four CPUs fought Magic, only to be defeated and nearly captured had they not ran away.

Neptune noticed her younger sister's worries right away and didn't hesitate to say something to motivate her.

"Come on, Nepgear! we got this on the bag!" She said with confidence "This time we've got you and your gang, and even Kenny is here too!"

"It's Kenji" Corrected the young man before looking at the CPU candidate "But yes, I'm going to help too"

It seemed Neptune's attempt worked, since Nepgear's smile returned almost immediately as she nodded in agreement wit her.

"You're right, I'll try my best!"

With their minds set, their target marked and their wills stronger than ever, the CPUs got ready to go into Planeptune and defeat Magic, putting an end to her and to ASIC once and for all.

It took some hours as the preparations took the effort of gathering the armies from all four nations and planning a strategy for all of them to work together in a battle against an army of an almost equal size.

once the CPUs, all of them already on their HDD forms, headed into Planeptune, the battle had already started. Destruction far worse than anything Kenji had seen so far was taking place all around them. Bullet's and rockets flew in all directions as both armies went at each others throats with full intent to kill. With the battle cries of soldiers and machines alike surpassed only by the deafening sounds of gunshots and explosions happening all around, covering the streets like a wildfire on a forest and the skies like fireworks during new year's eve.

"The battle already started!" Yelled Nepgear while looking around

"Whoa, this is totally crazy!" Said Ram with widened eyes

"Come on you girls, we have no time to waste!" Yelled Lastation's CPU while turning to look at them "We have to find Magic and take her down!"

Knowing it wouldn't do any good to sit still, the group quickly dashed through the streets towards Magic's last known location.

They ran among clouds of dust as explosion kept taking place around them and debris flew around every few seconds along with the sight of both soldier and machine running from one place to the other as thei engaged into seemingly endless battles.

As he followed the CPUs, Kenji looked around him at the battles taking place. The destruction he was seeing was far worse than anything from before. Unlike Leanbox, where only the streets suffered moderate damage, here even the buildings were getting severely damaged. Some even had missing chunks caused by stray rockets and seemed like they would fall down and crush them any second now.

Unfortunately, this sight-seeing would be short-lived, as a large humanoid robot with a horned helmet and dual blades attached to it's arms, more commonly known as a CPU breaker, suddenly burst out of a building by destroying the wall and appeared right behind the group, ready to attack them by the back. But nonetheless Kenji managed to turn around and block the dual blades.

"Kenny!" Said Purple Heart as she turned and saw him in trouble

Kenji forced the blades away, but before the CPUs could do anything to aid him, the robot quickly reacted by hitting him with twice the strength than before using both blades again and causing the young man to be ejected from the ground.

"Oh shi-!" He said as he flew away, crashing into an office building's window

After his abrupt entrance into the building, he slid on the floor and crashed against a few cubicles and desks before stopping.

Fortunately, his body didn't suffer anything worse than a few bruises here and there, but he had no time to relax as the CPU Breaker quickly jumped into the building he was in, destroying the wall and part of the roof due to his large size in the midst of his rampage.

The young man quickly got up and striked back with his weapon, and it was a difficult battle as Kenji not only had to dodge two large and sharp blades, but also avoid the falling debris of the roof around him. Yet, despite his strong surprise attack, the CPU breaker didn't have too much kick nor speed behind it's slashes. And this made it rather easy for Kenji to quickly figure out the way it attacked and be able to dodge it.

"Kenny!"

Following the familiar voice, Kenji soon saw Purple Heart flying towards him with her large sword ready.

Planeptune's CPU took advantage of the robot being completely focused on the young man and attacked it in the back of the head, causing it's sensors to go haywire.

Confused from his malfunctioning sensors and his new target, the CPU Breaker was momentarily unable to act. Which gave Kenji and Purple Heart the opportunity to dashed towards it.

The young man used his Coldfire Edge skill while Planeptune's CPU used her Dual Edge, both cutting through the robot's body like butter in an X pattern, and causing the CPU breaker's body to fall to pieces before it exploded violently.

"Well, that sure came out of nowhere" Said Kenji as he turned around to look at the burnt remains of scrap metal

Suddenly, the ground began shaking as if there was an earthquake taking place.

"The battle against the machine must have weakened the building's infrastructure! Quick, we must evacuate before it falls over us!" Said Purple Heart in a hurry

Both of them quickly dashed towards one of the window walls and broke through it, jumping out of it and landing into the streets right before the entire floor crumbled upon itself. The two of them then looked at the building before Kenji looked around him and noticed the others weren't around.

"Where's everyone?"

"They went on ahead of us..."

Taking a closer inspection, the young man could see that they were on a different street than before. The fight against the CPU Breaker must have dragged him all the way to the other side of the building, from which he had just made his escape along with Purple Heart.

"Let's get going. We must regroup with the others as soon as we can"

Kenji looked at her and nodded in agreement before the two of them moved through the streets to meet up with their fellow party members.

To get there faster, they cut path by going through the downtown districts. And despite all the skirmishes taking place on the streets around them, the only thing they had to look out for were random robot enemies appearing from time to time, but with Purple Heart and Kenji's strength combined, they were hardly anything more than a bother.

While running through the small streets, something other than the enemies or Magic was dwelling within the young man's mind, as he began recognizing the current district. Despite all the rubble and chaos, he wouldn't be able to forget the streets he had walked through so many times to reach is favorite place in all of Planeptune.

Surely enough, it didn't take long to run by the old man's ramen shop. And just like pretty much the rest of the district, it suffered a notable amount of damage.

While running right in front of it, Kenji didn't turn his head but looked at it with his eyes for a few seconds.

"(You better not have kicked the bucket, old man...)" He thought while looking forward again

More than the building itself, the young man felt concerned about the owner's safety. Fortunately, he had left Planeptune to take a vacation a few weeks prior to the invasion, so the chances of him being alive and well were rather high.

"We're nearly there, get ready!" Said Purple Heart with her gaze focused forward

Once they got out of the smaller streets and reached the meting location, both of them could already hear the sounds of clashing weapons and magical explosions. By following those sounds, they quickly found the CPUs having an all-out battle against Magic, but the tide didn't seem to favor them as the leader of ASIC was deflecting or parrying any attack, magical or physical, without too much effort.

In an attempt to use a surprise attack, Purple Heart dashed forward first and tried slicing Magic by the back, but she quickly turned around and blocked the CPUs attack with her scythe.

"Planeptune's CPUs, I was wondering when you'd arrive"

"Magic! You'll pay for what you did to my nation!"

The anger was as clear as day on the tone of Planeptune's CPU. But no one could really blame her considering that Magic had destroyed half her nation in less than a day and probably killed a large amount of her citizens, both civilian and soldier alike.

"Nations?" Asked the one-eyed woman before scoffing at her "Such a mundane thing will hardly matter once our goddess is resurrected"

"The deity of sin won't be resurrected! We will make sure of that by defeating you!"

"If you really think you're capable of defeating me, then prove it" Said Magic before pushing her away

As Purple Heart flew backwards, Kenji dashed forward and headed towards Magic to attacked her. The leader of ASIC blocked his attack as well, but the young man didn't give her time to retaliate and kept attacking nonstop in a constant barrage. Magic sometimes managed to break free and strike back a few times, but Kenji would manage to either dodge or parry as well.

Thanks to his last fight against her, he had gotten able to see her attacks more clearly. And the only thing left to do was getting used to her speed, which surpassed even that of the CPUs.

The other CPUs wanted to get in and help him, but they couldn't find an opening to do so. Throwing magical attacks was out of the question either, as they might end up hitting Kenji as well.

After nearly a hundred clashes, Magic managed to parry the young man's last attack and lower his defenses enough to quickly hit him with the back of her scythe in side, causing him to fly away and crash against a wall and raise a cloud of dust.

"Kenji!" Said Nepgear as she saw him crashing

Magic tried heading towards the young man to attack him while he was down, but the CPUs took advantage of the fact she was focused and moved in to attack. As the battle between Magic and the four hearts along with the candidates resumed, Nepgear went to check up on Kenji, but the young man was already getting back up on his feet by the time she got there.

"Are you okay!?"

The young man turned his head and saw Nepgear.

"Yeah, I'm fine..." He replied with a slightly roughened tone

There was some blood running down his face from his forehead and from a cut on his right cheek, but nonetheless he seemed fine.

Kenji could feel a bit of a throbbing pain around his ribs, but thanks to his body growing sturdy due to his training and his HDD form, the young man managed to avoid a severe organ rupture and come out of it with only minor damage and a probable injury on his ribs, if not a fracture.

When looking at Magic, he saw her being attacked by the four hearts at the same time again but managed to fend them off with as much ease as the first time.

"What do we do now!? She's too powerful!" Said Nepgear while looking at the battle taking place and losing hope

"That's simple..." He said calmly, causing the CPU candidate to look at him "We just need to hit her even harder!"

The young man then dashed towards Magic, ready to attack her again. But this time, he prepared his special attack.

Due to the fight taking place midair, Kenji had to jump using sigils in order to reach Magic. But the distraction given by the assault of the CPUs was more than enough for him to get close enough to have her within striking range.

"Coldfire Ed-ugh!" Yelled Kenji ready to attack with all his might, until the injury caused by Magic's last attack began throbbing just as he was slashing at her

The sudden and stining pain made the young man lose focus, causing him to lose control over the flames he had focused within the blade as a result. Due to his slashing attack, the flames didn't merely go out into an explosion, but instead got released in the form of a wave of pure energy.

Feeling this powerful source, Magic quickly turned around and tried to block it, but the wave of released power was too much for her to withstand and caused her to be dragged along as the wave of blue energy pushed her against a building as a blinding light was released.

The CPUs watched in shock as they saw Magic, a woman thought to be more powerful than all of the CPUs combined, being hit directly by Kenji's attack, which not only swept her away, but also tore a chunk off of the building in which she crashed into and even the ground around it.

"Wh-What was that just now!?" Said Black Heart with widened eyes

"That was on a completely different level from his usual Coldfire attack..." Added Green Heart with her eyes just as wide and a bit of a cold sweat running down her back

There wasn't much more time to remain shocked though, as once the dust cleared out, Magic could be seen back on her feet. Wounded, indeed, but still standing.

"So that wasn't enough to kill her..." Muttered the young man to himself while getting up on his feet to looking at her with one hand still placed over his injury, which was still throbbing

Magic didn't waste time as she immediately flew towards Kenji and attacked him with all of her strength. The young man blocked the attack while holding the sword with both hands, but he was pushed back a few feet while struggling to keep the blade of the scythe at bay.

"It seems I was right after all...You are the biggest threat among these weak CPUs!"

"I'll take that as your way of saying I pissed you off!" Answered the young man with a grin

The idea of having pissed off Magic, who underestimated him and treated him like a weakling, felt quite good. Good enough to actually get a grin out of the usually stern Kenji.

"Wherever or not I feel anger hardly matters, for you will die right now!" Replied the leader of ASIC as she began a barrage of attacks against the young man once again

Unlike before, Magic's attacks were now even faster and aimed with far more precision towards vital spots. She was probably going all out this time to make sure she'd kill Kenji for certain this time. But, the young man still had some kick left in him and managed to hold his ground well enough.

Not wanting to just sit still and watch again, Purple Heart formulated a plan to take down Magic once and for all.

While she was distracted attacking Kenji, she would get behind them and then dash forward as far as she could.

"Kenny, parry!" She yelled as she move closer and closer

Following the instructions of the CPU, the young man parried Magic's last attack, leaving her wide open. He then jumped upwards, giving room for Purple Heart to move in and attack.

"Take this! Victory Slash!"

The CPU then moved in and used one of her strongest attacks against Magic, which had no time to dodge and got hit directly by the powerful double slash, causing her to receive a large wound that opened her skin and made a black liquid similar in to blood pour down her torso.

"Ugh!" She said as she felt the pain of her new injuries and took a step backwards "Not yet….I can still fight, I can still-"

"Hey!"

Magic was trying to keep her bravado up while placing her hand on the wound, but her attention was quickly caught by Kenji's voice coming from above her.

She then saw him coming down towards her with his sword covered in flames again.

"Coldfire Edge!"

Magic quickly raised her scythe and tried to block the attack, causing both weapons to clash and producing an explosion that raised a cloud of dust.

After a moment or two, something flew up into the skies and out of the cloud, only to fall and get stuck into the ground.

"That's Magic's scythe!?" Said Nepgear as she saw the weapon with it's blade stuck on the pavement.

"Then, that means…" Said Rom while looking at the cloud

It took a moment for the dust to disperse, but once it did, the result of that last clash became as clear as day.

Kenji stood a few feet away from magic, who now had two large cuts going through her chest forming an X. Both cuts bleeding a strange liquid similar to blood, but far darker in comparison. Magic placed her hand over the wound, covering her palm in her own blood and then looked at it for a moment before speaking.

"So this is how it must be…"

"We did it?" Said Nepgear, being unable to believe what she was seeing

"Yes, we won" Answered Purple Heart with confidence in their success

"We did it! We won!"

"Won? Do you really think you attained victory?" Asked Magic while looking at the CPU candidate

"What is she talking about now?" Asked White Heart

"It's probably just a sore loser's barking" Said Black Heart with her eyes closed

"By defeating me you think you have stopped the resurrection of our goddess, but you couldn't be more wrong... For I and the other felons were merely fragments of the Deity of Sin's true body. The real key to resurrecting her was our demise"

"No way...then this isn't over at all!" Said Nepgear

"I'll admit this was not how I envisioned being reunited with my goddess, but at least I'll be able to live as one with her" Said Magic with her head lowered before her body got enveloped in darkness and faded away

"She...She disappeared…" Said Uni after a moment of silence

"What a way to kill the excitement..." Added Black Heart while sweat dropping

While everyone landed on the ground, everything suddenly began shaking. It was almost as if there was an earthquake trying to level down Planeptune, if not the whole continent.

"Whoa! What's happening now!?" Asked Ram

"I'm not certain, but it might have something to do with what Magic said before" Answered Green Heart rather calmly, despite the situation

"Then the deity of sin is being resurrected!?" Asked Uni while looking at her

"If that's the case, then we should make haste to the graveyard and prepare to fight her"

Everyone looked at Purple Heart and agreed with her decision.

While heading out of Planeptune and towards the graveyard, Kenji's mind couldn't help but replay Magic's last expression a few more times. All while feeling that, even if just for a moment, he could see a glimpse of sadness and loneliness within her one good eye.

*Scene*

"The Gamindustry graveyard?" Asked Histoire, who was speaking with Purple sister through her N-gear

While the group flew towards the graveyard for the final confrontation against the deity of sin, Nepgear wanted to make sure to inform Histoire and the other oracles of their whereabouts and decided to call her while flying.

"Yes, it seems the deity of sin is being resurrected right now"

"But how!? I thought they required a massive amount of shares to achieve such an atrocity!"

"Well, according to Magic…."

The CPU candidate proceeded to explain what they learned from Magic's last words before she perished.

"I see...it seems we were gravely wrong about ASIC's goals"

"I still can't really understand why they'd go through all the trouble of forming ASIC if so little was needed to resurrect the deity of sin" Said Black Sister while looking at her

"They probably wanted to weaken us by taking away the shares and use them to strengthen Arfoire..." Explained Black Heart "...Besides, wouldn't you try searching for a way that didn't require you to sacrifice yourself?"

"I suppose it makes sense" Answered Lastation's CPU candidate, realizing her elder sister's answer made sense

Despite being originally fragments of Arfoire's true body, the four felons all developed into separate individuals and had their own goals. Judge desired endless destruction, Trick wanted to satisfy his lolicon fantasies, Brave wanted to bring smiles to the children of Gamindustry and Magic wished to resurrect Arfoire and serve under her command.

Creating ASIC and gathering as many shares as they could was probably their way of searching for an alternative. Nonetheless, all of it ended with their demise.

"But there's one thing that really bothers me here…"

"What is it, Noire?" Asked Purple Heart

"If Kenji has the power to access HDD just like us..." Said Black Heart with one of her eyebrows twitching before looking at Kenji "Then why do we have to carry him like this!?"

"I can't fly, remember?" Said the young man calmly and with an unamused expression

Since the young man still hadn't developed the ability to fly like the other CPUs, he needed someone to aid him over the long distance travels. In other words, Purple and Black Heart had to hold him each by an arm to carry him.

This annoyed Lastation's CPU, since even with the help of Planeptune's CPU, Kenji was still rather heavy to carry around.

"How can't you after transforming so many times already!? Or rather, why didn't you bother training how to do it!?" Snarled the angry CPU while looking at him

"Now, now, Noire. Kenji doesn't have a flight processor, so even if he knew how to fly, he wouldn't be able to cover a long distance or altitude such as this without one" Said Purple Heart in an attempt to calm her down while making a weak smile

"He should be able to with that crazy amount of power he has!"

Powerful and advanced beyond common human knowledge, processors were a piece of equipment capable of enhancing the of powers of their HDD wearer even further, giving them a boost in speed, defense or strength.

While to humans they seemed like rare artifacts with power beyond belief, the CPUs saw them as nothing more than simple equipment to boost their powers up to a certain extent. Hardly different from how a regular adventurer would think of an armor as mere equipment to improve their chances of survival in battle.

Normally, processors would be obtained through developing them in a nation, but they were also created when a CPU achieved their HDD transformation. This was known as the "base set" which the CPU was allowed to name as she or he, in Kenji's case, saw fit. Oddly enough, even if everyone was already certain that Kenji was able to use HDD, no one could really understand why he didn't develop his base set like everyone else did. Then again, the mere fact a male could be a CPU and use HDD was mysterious enough for the female CPUs.

His ability to access HDD and wield incredibly large amounts of power without a source of shares or even a single human to have faith in him was already enough to defy over half the rules of logic that applied to CPUs.

"Now that you talk about it, there's something I've been wondering as well..." Said Green Heart while turning her head to look at the young man "That last attack you used against Magic, just what on earth was that?"

"Does it really matter?"

"The hell do you think? It nearly killed magic and wrecked an entire city block" Said White Heart while sweat dropping

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Added Ram with excitement

Looking at all the eyes focused around him, Kenji knew they would persist until he gave them an answer and trying to skirt the issue wouldn't work this time around.

"It's the original Coldfire attack..."

"The original attack?" Asked Nepgear

"Do you two remember I trained with Falcom before my fight against Vert?" Said the young man while looking at the two CPUs, which nodded in agreement "Well…"

Kenji slowly recalled the memories within his mind as he explained the event to the CPUs.

During his training with Falcom, Kenji had learned how to fight using proper sword skills and became able not only to use the Coldfire Edge, but also to win against the CPUs thanks to that training.

The thing no one except Falcom knew was that the attack Kenji has used in battle so far and the one he used earlier against magic were both actually the same thing, but used in a completely different way.

At first the young man discovered how to use the attack that he showed in the fight against Magic and was planning to use it against Vert during their match, but due to its extremely destructive and uncontrollable nature, using it on a heavily crowded place such as an arena was out of the question, which was why he decided to learn how to contain the energy within the sword to enhance its striking power, and then disperse it once he was done. Another reason he didn't use that attack to much was because it was almost the same as making a bomb explode in your hands.

"So that's why you've never used it before..." Said Purple Heart, sounding thoughtful

"You...You were planing on using that on me?" Said Green Heart while breaking a cold sweat as she recalled the monstrous destruction left behind by it

If a direct hit from the Coldfire Edge was enough to knock her unconscious, then that beast of a skill would have torn her apart or take a limb at the very least.

"I'll admit, not even I would want to see how that ends up..." Admitted White Heart while sweat dropping as well

"Everyone, we're almost there!" Said Purple Heart after noticing they were already close to the graveyard

The group then looked forward and noticed their destination in the distance. They reached it shortly after and landed around a flat area.

"The sky...it looks even more aggressive than usual" Said Nepgear while looking at her surroundings

"The graveyard must be reacting to Arfoire's resurrection" Answered Purple Heart

"To think it can go as far as altering the climate..."

"Right, now where is she?" Asked White Heart while looking around

Even if the CPUs knew that the deity of sin would resurrect in the Gamindustry graveyard, they didn't exactly know where. Fortunately, the location wasn't too difficult to find since a massive black portal opened up a short distance away from them, allowing the group to look at a massive beast walking out of it.

It's appearance consisted of a lower body of an armored purple lizard-like being with red accents, four legs and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth along with two red eyes. There was also something that seemed like a rabbit-headed woman's upper body merged to the head. The upper part was more human-like in terms of general shape, but it could hardly be called human. It had four arms, a large red-ish eye like a cyclops and four protuberances that resembled wings or a twisted type of armor. It's color was purple with red and also yellow accents.

The monstrosity roared with all of it's might as it set foot into Gamindustry after many centuries of being sealed in complete darkness.

"That's the deity of sin? It looks completely different from what I expected" Said Green Heart while looking at the beast

"I bet a lot of people would get disappointed if they knew that's what they've been praying to all this time" Added White Heart

"Grrrr…..destruction….everything…I'll destroy….everything!"

The beast was capable of speech, but it was only a few words and difficult to understand at that.

"It doesn't seem to be very smart either" Added Black Heart Heart

"It kind of looks like the bastard child of a lizard and a cyclops..." Said the young man while sweat dropping

"What's a cyclops?"

"A giant with only one eye"

"Where on Gamindustry did you even find something like that!?" Asked the concerned Purple Sister, who had yet to even see a monster that matched Kenji's description

"Let the chatter for later. It has spotted us, and it seems to know we're it's enemies" Said Purple Heart while taking an assault stance as Arfoire approached them with an overwhelming killing intent

The deity of sin used her four arms to punch the entire group, but everyone quickly moved out of the way. The fists hit the ground instead and shattered the ground, leaving four craters behind.

The CPUs all immediately dashed towards Arfoire and attacked her with everything they had. From swords to guns to spears to axes and magic, the party used everything in their arsenal to take the beast down, and despite being too slow to avoid the attacks, the deity of sin's sturdy and bulky armored body was able to withstand them so easily that the most the CPUs could do was simply stagger her. Even Kenji's signature attack was hardly capable of doing enough damage to pierce through.

"Her body is tougher than steel! We're hardly doing any damage!" Said Black Heart as she took some distance from the deity of sin after attacking her to avoid being grabbed by one of the four large hands

"We need something stronger if we ever hope to take her down!" Said Purple Heart

Looking at the situation around him, the young man clicked his tongue and got ready to use his most powerful skill.

"No other choice, I guess…" He said while focusing as much power as he could within the blade of his sword

It took a few minutes, but he had managed to gather a large amount, much larger than what he used against magic.

Once he gathered as much as his weapon could withstand right now, Kenji ran towards the deity of sin while it was distracted flailing her arms in an attempt to hit the CPUs and jumped. By the time Arfoire noticed, it was too late as the young man was already in front of her and ready to attack with all of his might.

"Eat this!" He said as he slashed down his sword, releasing all the power held within it

The wave of energy hit the beast directly, pushing her away and causing her to fall on her back over the mountains of trash.

"Did that do it?" Asked Green Heart

"That's usually a failure flag, you know..." Said White Heart while sweat dropping

"So-Sorry..."

White Heart's prediction became true almost instantly as the deity of sin slowly got back up on her feet. The attack seemed to have damaged her much more than anything else that was thrown at her so far and was already showing signs of being affected by it, but nonetheless, Arfoire was still capable to fight and take a lot more punishment.

"No way! not even that worked!?" Said Black Heart with widened eyes

"What a monstrous durability!" Added Green Heart

"(Guess it was too shallow)" Though the young man

The special skill had definitely done some noticeable damage to the deity of sin's body, but at this rate Kenji would need to use it probably around six more times or so if he wished to take Arfoire down.

It would be a good plan, but there was an issue in it. Unlike the Coldfire edge, this technique required him to gather large amounts of share power and then shoot them out rather than focus them on the blade to enhance its power for a moderate time before dispersing them back into his own body.

Due to his lack of practice with it and his earlier battles against Brave and Magic, his stamina would drain after three more times and cause him to revert back to human. And in that form, the intensity of the flames would be too much for his hands to bear and it'd cause them to end up all burnt or badly wounded like the first time before eventually being rendered useless.

"(There has to be a way to make the next try hurt a heck of a lot more…but how!?)" He thought while trying to figure out what to do until the injury from earlier began throbbing again, causing him to put his hand over it "(Ugh, damn it! It still hurts...wait...That's it!)"

Although it was a bother at first, the throbbing pain gave Kenji a sudden idea.

If attacking it from the outside hardly worked, then all he had to do was attack from the inside out, but the question was how to do such a thing in the first place.

The young man kept asking himself this as he searched for an answer while looking at the beast, at least until he saw her mouth opening wide open as she roared like a beast and got an idea he'd probably end up regretting.

"(...I'm going to hate myself for this in a minute, aren't I?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

Not wanting to drag things on any further than they needed to, Kenji dashed forward towards the deity of sin and attacked her with a slash strong enough to get her attention and then jumped backwards far enough to be out of reach and stood vertically on a sigil with his knees crouched, ready to act the moment she opened her mouth.

Once attacked, the beast stopped focusing on the CPUs and looked at him before roaring as loud as she coult.

The young man didn't waste a second and jumped with all the strength his legs could muster, flying right into the wide opened mouth of the beast and entering inside it. The CPUs could only watch in horror and shock as they saw him disappear into the large jaws, which closed after he dived into them.

"Kenny!?" Yelled Purple Heart almost instantly

"What the hell was that idiot trying to do!?" Asked Black Heart with with widened eyes

Meanwhile, within the deity of sin's body, Kenji struggled to avoid being crushed while charging up his sword.

Between having to focus in order to create an explosion powerful enough, the guts of the beast constantly trying to crush him and its saliva covering him from head to toe, every second felt like an eternity of torture. Sickening, icky torture.

"This is gonna hurt!" He said as he saw the blade of his sword getting coated in flames

The second he felt there was enough power charged, the young man released it all in one burst.

Just as he imagined, the soft and squishy insides of the deity of sin's body were unable to withstand the sudden explosion caused by such massive amounts of energy, and the beast exploded from the inside out. Dark blood flew and spread all over the place along with chunks of flesh, some of them charred pitch black by the flames.

A moment or two after the explosion had passed, the CPUs descended into the ground and approached the mangled corpse, or rather, the mangled parts that mostly remained of it, to search for the young man. But there was no trace of him at all.

"…Where's Kenji?" Asked Rom to White Heart

Lowee's CPU had an idea of what happened to the young man, but she wasn't sure how to say it, or maybe she just didn't want to make Rom cry.

"That explosion was an extremely powerful one..." Said Purple Heart while looking at the remains of the deity of sin "If Kenji was right next to it within such a confined space, then he probably took the full brunt of it"

"Then, what happened to him?" Asked Ram this time, as she didn't understand what Leanbox's CPU meant

Green Heart didn't went into detail, she simply lowered her head and closed her eyes with a sad expression. If what the CPUs assumed was correct, then Kenji was completely obliterated by the very explosion he caused. Right down to a point where there probably wasn't even a body left to bury.

"No way..."

Despite not getting an answer out of her, Ram seemed to understand what she meant by looking at her expression this time, and the other CPU candidates caught up as well.

"Kenji...why?" Said Rom between sobs

"I can't believe it…" Said Black Sister

"That dumb fucker..." Said White Heart with a sad expression.

While everyone looked with saddened expressions at the remains of what they believed was Kenji's greatest act of heroism, Purple Heart lowered her head and closed her eyes.

"(Kenji...)" She thought to herself with a quiet a mourning tone.

Their mourning was heartfelt, but suddenly got cut off by a beating noise coming from a few feet. The CPUs looked at the remains of the deity of sin once again and noticed one of the largest fragments seemed to be moving in synch with the beating sound.

"Wh-What's that?" Asked Black Heart

After moving a few more times, something suddenly burst out of the chunk of flesh. At first they weren't sure of what it was, but they quickly noticed it was a human arm.

The arm moved for a bit before another arm came out and, together with the first one, they pulled out Kenji's upper half from within the large chunk of meat.

"Kenny!?" Said Purple Heart with shock

The young man, who was back to human form, took a few deep breaths before pulling the rest of his body out and falling to the floor.

"(Okay…That's definitely something I'm not doing again...)" He though to himself while slowly getting back up on his feet

Before the explosion, Kenji reacted by instinct and placed his free hand between the sword and the rest of his body to summon one of the sigils he used as platforms to protect himself from part of the blast.

Surprisingly enough, the sigil protected him better than he expected, and the layers of saliva covering his body served as slight protection against the heat of the flames that went around it, keeping him from suffering any serious burns and only come out with minor or mild ones.

The hand he used to hold the sword was probably the only part of bis body that received moderate damage, as he could notice there were more burn marks on it than anywhere else on his body at the moment. Nonetheless, he was still in one piece. Slightly burnt, beat up and covered in monster blood and saliva, but still in one piece.

"Kenny!"

Hearing Purple Heart's voice, Kenji turned his head around and saw her and the other CPUs heading towards him.

"Kenny! You're alive!" She said while approaching him with a smile, but suddenly changed into a rather unpleased one as she noticed he was covered in goo and blood "And…covered in goo..."

Planeptune's CPU was happy to see him alive, she really was. But she couldn't bring herself to approach him any further than what she already did in his current state.

"Damn, that's just nasty..." Said White Heart while looking at him with disgust

"Kenji...is all icky..." Added Rom

Kenji lowered his head and looked at the twins for a moment. Now he could understand at least a bit how they felt after Trick licked them.

"We-Well, I guess it's time to go home…" Said Purple Heart with a weak smile

"Yeah, someone could really use a bath right now" Added Black Heart with a smirk

"Well, you two. Good luck carrying him all the way back" Said Green Heart before turning around and moving away

"What do you two mean by carrying him!? We already brought him here! You should be the ones to carry him back!" Snarled Black Heart while quickly turning her head

"I ain't trying to be offensive here, but no way in hell I'm touching him right now" Said White Heart while keeping her distance from Kenji

"Me neither…" Added Green Heart rather coldly

"You two!"

"Now, now. I'm sure we can solve this by-eh?"

Purple Heart was trying to calm her fellow CPUs down, but suddenly noticed Kenji was walking away. Truth was, the young man didn't have the patience for their arguing right now. Even if he had to walk all the way back, he wouldn't wait a single second longer to take a bath.

"Ah, Kenji. Wait for us!" Said Purrple Sister as she went after him

The CPU candidates followed after Kenji and Nepgear, and eventually the CPUs followed suit. Icky situations aside, they were all glad about the young man's survival and their victory over the deity of sin, so much that they didn't notice the small purple sphere coming out of the remains.

"Not enough…this body…was not enough..."

A few hours later, back in the basilicom, Neptune jumped right into the warm water without even caring about taking a towel with her.

"Whoa! This bath is awesome!" She said while swimming around "And the water is so warm too!"

"Hey Neptune, Stop that!" Said Noire, who was getting splashed by some of the water Planeptune's CPU was splashing all over the place while she approached the edge to sit down

Blanc looked at them for a moment while thinking how immature Neptune was acting before looking at the book she brought with her again to resume her reading.

"U-Um...Vert? Would you please let go of me?" Asked Nepgear, who was trying to get away from Vert's greedy hands

"Now, now, Nepgear...We finally have a chance to bathe together, so how about we wash each other's backs?" Answered Leanbox's CPU with a smirk as her hands became more daring with the way they touched the CPU candidate

"I don't think this counts as washing! And you're definitely not touching my back at aaaaall!"

Uni, who was following Noire, watched her friend trying to struggle away from Vert's grip and sweat dropped. Rom and Ram were sitting along with their elder sister while checking what book she was reading this time.

Meanwhile, in a small garden-like area downhill from the springs, Kenji was having a bath of his own.

"Sure sounds like they're having fun over there..." He said while looking up at the wooden walls surrounding their hot springs before looking to the front again with an unamused expression "They get a huge hot spring to enjoy for themselves...And me?…I get a barrel..."

After returning from the graveyard, Kenji took a quick and very, very thorought shower to wash off the goo and blood off of his body.

When getting out, he heard the oracles saying they had planned something special for the CPUs as a reward for defeating the deity of sin. A wonderful hot spring for them to relax and wash of the fatigue. Unfortunately, due to being used to all the CPUs so far being females, the oracles seemed to forget about Kenji, or rather about the fact he was a male.

It was more than obvious the CPUs would NOT be okay with bathing with a male in the open, and while Histoire apologized to him, Chika reassured the young man by telling him that she had foreseen this situation and had already prepared a perfect solution. And said solution was a barrel filled with spring water and a fire with some bricks as a base beneath it to keep the water from getting too cold or too hot.

"Oh well...Better than nothing I guess..." He said after lowering his head and sighing

Even if it felt like a bit of an unfair treatment after being the one that literally "jumped" into the jaws of danger, Kenji hardly felt like complaining at this point. His body was worn out after everything he went through today and the only thing he wanted right now was something to wash of the fatigue. Besides, the barrel wasn't half bad either. It was big enough for him to move freely and taking a bath by himself in a large spring or eastern bath would feel awkward.

Kenji then took a more comfortable position and rested his arms over the edge of the barrel while raising his head to look at the night sky. The countless stars decorated it as they shined like an endless box of jewels resting high above in the skies, far beyond anyone's reach. The young man kept staring at them for a moment or two before subconsciously extending his left hand towards them, almost as if wishing to grasp a part of that unattainable treasure.

Once coming back to his senses, Kenji stopped his hand and looked at it before turning it around to look at his palm. The hand which just a few hours ago was badly burnt and wounded was now almost fully healed. The same case was for the rest of his body. Visible wounds from his battles hardly remained in a few places, but he couldn't feel any pain.

Kenji's wounds had always been good at healing quick since he could remember, but after ingesting the stone that fairy woman gave to him that day, his body became able to heal at an incredibly fast rate, even when receiving severe wounds like cracked ribs or inner organ injuries.

"That day...huh?" He muttered to himself while recalling that moment

After that eventful day, the young man's life changed completely. He was sent to a different world, obtained strange superhuman powers, fought against monsters and criminal syndicates, and even befriended this world's "goddesses". Although he wasn't too certain about the last one.

The word friend had always been an odd and elusive one for Kenji. And he wasn't fully sure if he should call them his friends yet.

He only acted politely at the start because he needed to know more about this unknown world. Nonetheless, after all the time he spent with them and everything he went through, Kenji began looking at the CPUs in a different way from before, a way he had yet to fully understand. Perhaps it was respect? Fondness? Or something else? Kenji wasn't really good at understanding this kind of things, so he decided to stop the train of thought and leave it for another day. He had already done enough effort for today.

*Scene*

In a house's hallway, the young Kenji sat down on the staircase with his arms wrapped around his knees.

The boy kept his stare focused on the front door. He couldn't tell how long he's been sitting there, maybe hours, days or even weeks. At some point he lost track of time completely, but he hardly seemed to mind.

Seeing today's results were just the same as yesterdays, the boy lowered his head and placed his forehead on his knees while curling into a ball.

"Still waiting, ain't ya?"

After hearing the voice behind him, Kenji quickly raised his head and turned around. He was back in his grown body, but the world around him wasn't his house any longer. Instead, the world around him was pitch black, almost like a void or the bottom of a chasm.

"Or maybe you're homesick?" Said the voice with a somewhat joking tone "Nah…that couldn't be it…at least not for that shithole of a world..."

"Who's there!?" Said Kenji as he looked all around him searching for the voice "Where are you!?"

"What? Can't you tell?"

Suddenly, Kenji felt someone tapping him on the back. He quickly turned around and took a few steps back.

"I'm right here..." Said the voice with a smirk

When seeing the figure standing in front of him, the young man's eyes widened in shock.

The person standing in front of him was Kenji himself, or rather, a clone of Kenji. From head to toe, the figure looked exactly like him, except that his colors were completely opposite.

Instead of the blond hair, its hair was pitch black and the skin was gray, or almost white, with his eyes being blood red.

The young man stared at his clone in shock for a few moment, trying to understand just what in the world was he looking at.

"Poor little Kenji, abandoned by a daddy that probably never cared, tossed away by a mommy that didn't love you..." Said the clone while walking closer and closer "Quite the sad one, aren't you?"

"Who the hell are you!?" Said the young man with a more aggressive tone and expression

"Me? I'm you….but better!" Answered Kenji's clone with an even larger grin

Without hesitation, Kenji transformed and took an assault stance.

"Whoa there, already going HDD?" Said the other Kenji with a smile and both arms raised in a sarcastic manner "Okay then…"

Kenji's clone made a condescending smirk before he transformed as well.

He had the same clothes as Kenji's HDD form, except that the accents of his long sleeved shirt, the belt, boot trims and even the sunglasses were dark red. His pupils became white power symbols like the original Kenji, but his blood red eyes now had turned an even brighter shade of red, along with his sclera becoming pitch black. His hair had grown shoulder length and spikier as well, but it was scarlet and became a brighter shade of red at the ends.

"I'll just do the same..."

"(He looks like me, and can even use HDD as well?!)" Though the young man with shock

Suddenly, Kenji felt something in his hand, and saw he was holding his sword after looking down.

"Hey!"

When looking at his clone again, he saw him dashing towards him ready to attack with his own sword. The young man barely had time to block his clone's attack.

"No lookin' away now, or I might kill you!"

The two swordsmen struggled for a moment before pushing each other away and getting some distance, which was then followed by a constant clash of weapons.

"(This guy is fast!)"

Kenji still couldn't understand too well what was going on, but he knew that guy wasn't kidding when he said he'd kill him. Just the ruthless way he attacked while aiming for the kill on every single try was more than enough for him to tell.

After finally seeing an opening, Kenji dashed forward towards his clone with his Coldfire edge already charged up, but the other Kenji simply grinned as he dashed forward as well and did the same thing.

Blue and red flames clashed against each other, creating a small shock wave before the two of them began a barrage of attacks against each other once again. Their flaming swords clashing dozens, if not hundreds, of times.

"(Damn it! Why can't I hit him!?)" Thought the young man with anger

Kenji's clone not only looked like him, but was just as skilled when fighting. No matter how many times the young man attacked, his doppelganger would simply attack the same way to cause a clash or dodge.

"Come on, come on! That's all you've got?! No wonder I'm kicking your ass!" Said the clone between laughs

On their last clash, the other Kenji pushed the young man's sword aside with his own and then hit him with his knee in the gut. Kenji lost all the air in his lungs due to the unexpected attack and got ejected backwards, falling to the floor on his back. While he coughed on the floor, the clone slowly walked towards him.

"So far, you were fighting others and getting stronger, and that was fine with me. But after that thought you had last night, I think we really need to have a little chat..."

"Thought?" Said the young man before slowly while getting up on his knees

"Last night you thought of those girls as friends…And seeing you thinking like that made me sick!" Replied the clone with anger before roundhouse kicking Kenji in the face, causing him to get ejected sideways by a few feet before looking at him again "So much that it made me want to puke..."

Kenji rolled around a bit before finally stopping face down on the floor.

He slowly opened his eyes to see his sword laying in front of him and tried to grab a hold of it, but his clone grabbed him by the top of the head and pulled him away from it.

"Do you really think those girls care about you? Do you?" He said while shaking the young man's head "Well you're WRONG! They couldn't give two shits about you! The only reason they're being nice to you is because they KNOW you're stronger than them, and that makes them FEAR you!"

The clone then let go of Kenji's head, causing him to fall face up on the floor again while he crouched next to the young man's head to keep on with his speech.

"Just think about It for a second...When you first met them, they treated you like trash, a loser, an idiot, even as a punching bag!" Explained the clone with a hint of anger in his tone "But after you showed those whores how strong you really were, they straightened up and began treating you right...Now, just because they lift up their skirts a bit for you to see the goods you start waging your ass for them and even think you're friends!?"

As he said this with anger, the other Kenji got up and put his foot over Kenji's chest to pin him down on the ground.

The clone kept putting pressure over the young man's chest and only kept pressing harder and harder. It seemed as though he wouldn't stop until breaking the young man's torso, but he stopped after hearing a a noise in the distance, a noise that became clearer by the second and seemed to be a voice.

"Tch…Out of time already, huh?" He said after clicking his tongue and looking at the direction the voice was coming from before turning his head to look at Kenji again "Playtime's over for now, pal...Remember what I said today...They're using you"

And with that, the clone walked turned around and walked away before he faded among the darkness. Shortly afterwards, the voice got even closer. Close enough for Kenji to hear it loud and clear.

"Kenji…Kenji..."

The voice seemed to be calling for him, and it seemed to be for something serious.

"Kenji, wake up!"

The young man then suddenly opened his eyes and sat up.

Looking around him, he was back in Planeptune, in his room's bed.

"Kenji..." Called the voice from before, which he noticed to be Histoire after turning his head to look at her "Are you alright?"

"Eh?"

Although Kenji didn't notice it at first, he was breathing heavily and sweating profusely. It took him a moment of looking at himself to notice this before looking at the oracle again.

"Ye-Yeah...I'm fine..."

"Are you sure? You seem shaken up" Said the concerned oracle with a worried expression

"Yeah...Just a bad dream…a very bad one..."

The young man's words didn't really help in relieving the worry she felt. After all, if it really was a dream, then it had to be a terrible one for it to agitate him like it did.

"Anyway, what's wrong?" He asked, already regaining his composure

"Ah! That's right!" She said while remembering the reason she came looking for him "Kenji, you need to come with me right now! The four felons are back!"

"What!?"

"I'll explain it on the way, for now, please just follow me!"

The Oracle then flew out of the room and down the hallway while the young man got off the bed, quickly changed his clothes and picked up his sword, although with a bit of hesitation for a short moment.

After meeting with the rest of the CPUs, the oracles explained the situation to him. Somehow, the four felons seemed to have been resurrected by Arfoire, whose soul didn't get destroyed along with the body, and announced to the whole world that anyone that didn't become a believer of the deity of sin would pay with their lives.

Faced with this treat, the oracles had to think quickly and decided to send Kenji along with the four hearts to the Gamindustry graveyard while the CPU candidates would patrol the nations to warn the others in case of an invasion like the one that took place in Planeptune were to happen again.

"I can't believe this crap!" Said an angered White Heart

"It seems destroying the body wasn't enough to stop the deity of sin after all" Added Green Heart

"We'll need to figure out a way to stop her once she revives again, but for now we need to deal with the four felons first" Explained Purple Heart

While flying towards the Graveyard, the CPUs went over the plan and tried thinking how to take on all of the four felons at the same time. But Kenji, on the other hand, had his mind fully focused on thinking about his dream, and about the things his doppelganger said.

"(It was just a bad dream...Just a very bad dream...)" He thought with a stern expression "(...right?)"

"Ow! Ke-Kenny!?" Said Purple Heart

"Ouch! Hey, that hurts!" Yelled Black Heart

"Eh?"

The young man didn't notice it at first, but while thinking about the Kenji he saw in his dream, his grip on the forearms of the two CPUs carrying him became a lot stronger. So much that it was hurting them.

"Ah...So-Sorry..." He said as he eased up his grip on their forearms

"Damn it, what's with you!? You've been acting weird since this morning!" Snarled the irritated CPU of Lastation

Kenji simply lowered his head and tried to stay quiet for the rest of the way while Purple Heart looked at him with slight concern.

She could tell something was bothering him, but it didn't seem to be related to the four felons or to Arfoire. And what it was exactly that bothered him, she could not tell.

After arriving, it didn't take long for them to find them, as it seemed they were waiting for their arrival.

"CPUs, we've been waiting for you..." Said Magic

"Bwahahahaha! Finally! They're finally here!" Yelled Judge with a laughter a sane person wouldn't be able to pull off

"It seems my little cuties aren't here...what a letdown..."

"That pervert really should have stayed dead..." Said White Heart while looking at the dissapointed Trick with disgust

"It seems that bulky brute has lost the little sanity he had left" Added Green Heart while looking at Judge laugh like a complete maniac

"Wait, aren't they missing one?" Said Black Heart after noticing Brave wasn't with them

"One of our own couldn't understand the mercy of our goddess and dared defy it...We had no other choice but to be rid of him through force"

"Hihihihi, it was soooo fuuun! Destroying him was so fun!" Said Judge while still laughing like crazy

"You...You slayed your own ally!?" Replied Purple Heart with shock

"Those who aren't of use to our goddess are trash, and those who dare defy her deserve nothing but death"

Magic's cold and emotionless answer made the CPUs feel sickened to the bone. Kenji had the feeling Brave wouldn't agree with something as crazy as mass genocide, but to think they would kill one of their own without a shred of empathy or regret. It just emphasized on how the four felons really were heartless beasts rather than individuals.

"But enough chatter. Once our goddess revives, you lot shall be offered as her sacrifices"

"Not if we take you down first!" Said Black Heart while taking an assault stance

At that moment, everyone dashed forward as the fight between the four felons and the CPUs began anew.

Green and White heart would deal with Trick while Purple and Black Heart would handle Judge and, last, but not least, Kenji would duke it out against Magic.

The fighters moved all over the graveyard, using their weapons or their magic to attack each other with everything they had. Weapons and magic clashed countless times as both sides went against the other one with the full intent to kill.

Purple and Black Heart were handling judge pretty well despite his though body and unpredictable way of attacking. Trick also seemed like he wouldn't last much longer against White Heart's wrath and Green Heart's precise thrust attacks. And even if he was alone, Kenji was able to stand on equal footing against Magic this time, as he wasn't worn out from earlier battles like yesterday.

"Is this all the strength you can muster, Male CPU?" Asked Magic while struggling against him

Despite being able to stand on equal footing against her, that was as far as it went. Magic could notice his skills were blocked by something, and decided to take this fight to the skies and force Kenji to constantly stand on sigils he made as he went around, making it an even more difficult fight for the young man.

It certainly added up to the difficulty factor, and having the words his doppelganger said to him earlier still echoing within his mind didn't help either.

During the intense and constant clash of scythe and sword, Kenji was lured into Magic's feint and ended up falling for it. The leader of ASIC took advantage of this and attacked the young man, leaving a deep bleeding injury in his shoulder and causing his sword to fly away, falling into the ground where it got stuck.

As her eyes shortly looked at her surroundings, Purple Heart saw Kenji's sword flying away from his hand and landing on the ground.

"Kenny!" She said while quickly turning around and flying towards him with all haste

"Neptune!?" Said Black Heart with shock as she saw her flying away

Kenji looked at his sword, then at Magic, who had already raised his scythe to deliver the killing blow.

"Die..."

After saying her final words to him, Magic lowered her weapon with all her might. The young man tried stepping back, but he could tell he wouldn't be able to dodge in time and prepared himself for the worse.

"(I screwed up!)" He thought while looking at the blade heading right towards him

The young man thought he would definitely die, until he suddenly saw something getting between him and Magic before blood flew into the air, but it wasn't his blood. Instead, it was the blood of Planeptune's CPU.

"Eh?"

Kenji looked in shock as he saw Purple Heart in front of him with her eyes and mouth wide open, and blood flying off of her back.

That moment seemed to run so slowly that time itself felt like it had stopped, until the CPU moved forward fell over him.

As he quickly held her within his arms, he slipped off of the sigil and fell down to the ground where he crashed with her. And once he was on the floor, it took a moment for Kenji's brain to process what had just happened and notice Purple Heart was within his arms, bleeding profusely from the deep wound on her back.

"Ne...Neptune?"

"Kenny...are you okay?" She said shortly after reverting back to human

"Neptune!" Yelled the young man

Seeing the state Neptune was in, Kenji quickly snapped out of it and tried holding her until he suddenly felt something wet and warm in his hand after touching her back. He moved his hand a bit and saw it was drenched in blood. Lots of fresh blood.

"Neptune!" He said while looking with shock and horror at Planeptune's CPU "Why!? Why did you do that!?"

Even if he were to suffer a horrible injury, it probably would have healed eventually just like everything else. Yet, Neptune had gotten in the way and shielded Kenji with her own body, causing her a horrible injury.

"Ain't it obvious?" Said the CPU slowly while raising her head to look at him even more slowly with her usual smile "It's because…we're friends..."

Neptune kept smiling at Kenji for a moment or two before slowly closing her eyes and loosing consciousness as her head rested on the young man's chest

"Neptune?" Said Kenji while softly shaking the CPU, but got no answer out of her

At that moment, Kenji realized he had lost his very first friend.

"NEPTUNE!"


	13. Awakened form: 2nd drive!

Planeptune's CPU laid unconscious on her bed, with countless bandages as the only thing covering her torso while Histoire spoke with one of the basilicom's medical specialists outside the room.

"How is her condition?" Asked the worried tome

"I can't say for sure. For now we managed to put her life out of danger, but she lost large quantities of blood...If she had arrived to us a minute later, we might have been unable to save her"

Because of their constant fights against monsters or even against each other, it wasn't rare for the CPUs to suffer injuries during their fights. Normally the oracles would tend to them if the wounds weren't too serious, but every Nation's basilicom had a team of specialized doctors just in case an emergency such as this one were to take place. The CPUs themselves never felt like it was necessary, as they had never faced an opponent besides from Magic that was capable of pushing them to such a pitiful state.

Right now, Histoire couldn't find words to express how glad she felt for taking this safety measure.

"Also, she might not wake up for a few days, but there shouldn't be any issues regarding her health"

"I see...You may leave now"

The doctor lowered his head to the tome before raising it up again, turning around and leaving. Histoire closed her eyes and sighed with relief, knowing now that at the very least, Neptune's life wasn't in peril anymore. She then raised her head and looked at Neptune lying on her bed through the open gap on the door.

Just seeing her in this state was painful for the oracle. Even if she complained a lot about Planeptune's CPU's laziness, there's no way Histoire would ever wish for her to suffer something such as this.

Wishing to give Neptune some peace and quiet, the tome flew down the hallway to where Nepgear and the other CPU candidates were waiting.

"Histoire! How's Neptune!? Is she going to be okay!?" Asked Planeptune's CPU candidate with an anxious tone and expression after getting up from the couch the moment she saw Histoire

"It's okay, Nepgear. It might take some time, but Neptune will recover" Said the oracle with a smile, glad that she could at the very least offer some comfort to someone today

"Thank goodness..."

Nepgear lowered her head and made a relieved expression while getting teary eyed.

The moment she saw a blood soaked Kenji entering the basilicom with an unconscious Neptune in his arms, she could feel her heart nearly stopping for a moment.

While Rom and Ram comforted Nepgear, Histoire turned around and contacted the other oracles, who stayed in their respective nations to keep things under control.

"So? How's the situation over there?" Asked Chika with a stern expression

"Neptune will recover. The doctors got to her just in time"

"That's good to know" Said Mina with a smile

"What about Kenji?" Asked Kei this time

The tome simply shook her head with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at her fellow oracles with a saddened expression.

"I'm afraid I don't know...I already sent Compa and IF to search for him, but I've yet to hear any news from them"

"Seriously! right when we need him the most, he disappears!"

Chika felt very irritated because of this situation, and it was easy to tell from her tone and expression. While looking at the oracles discuss how to proceed, Histoire began recalling the events that took place less than an hour ago.

While the oracle and Nepgear waited for Neptune to return, they were shocked and horrified when seeing an injured Kenji entering with her in his arms. Both covered in blood, most of it belonging to Neptune.

The tome didn't hesitate to contact the basilicom's medic team as soon as possible. And while they took care of Neptune, Compa, who had arrived with IF and the other CPU candidates shortly after being called by Nepgear, tended to his shoulder injury.

"Kenji, what happened!?" Asked Histoire to the young man, whose expression she couldn't see because of his bangs covering his eyes

Kenji didn't say a thing, he just kept silent.

"Hey, Kenji! What happened at the graveyard!?" Asked Uni this time, who was growing impatient with his silence "Where are our sisters!?"

After seeing the awful state in which Neptune was, the other CPU candidates could do nothing but worry about their elder sisters.

"Kenji...where's bi sister?" Asked Rom

Despite all the people around him asking the same question over and over again, the young man remained silent.

At this point, the CPU candidates were fearing the worse happened.

"I think this will be enough of an answer" Said IF while showing them a video on one of her cellphones

In it, the girls saw a video of Green, Black and White Heart tied by what seemed to be thick cables.

"That's big sister!" Said Uni with shock

In the video, Magic's voice could be heard repeating the same message over and over again.

"People of Gamindustry. Our goddess's resurrection is near. In four days, the deity of sin will be reborn and those who refuse to put their faith in her shall be annihilated, starting with these foolish CPUs"

"No way, they beat our sisters!?" Said Ram with widened eyes

"But how!?" Asked Nepgear

"It's my fault..."

Everyone turned around and looked at the young man, who finally broke his silence, but still didn't look at them.

"Wait, Kenji...What do you mean by that?" Asked Histoire this time

"I screwed up against Magic, and everything fell apart after that..."

"Ke-Kenji...I don't think-"

"Then it's your fault!?"

Nepgear was trying to say something reassuring to Kenji, until Uni cut her off

"Eh? Uni?"

"Big sister...she's stronger than anybody else! If she lost, it's because of you!" Yelled Lastation's CPU while tearing up "This is all your fault!"

Uni quickly turned around and ran away while crying.

"Uni, wait!" Said Nepgear while running after her

Rom and Ram followed after them, leaving Kenji alone with IF, Compa and Histoire. The oracle then turned her head and looked at the young man.

The last thing she remembered before her flashback finished was Kenji's expression.

"It was my fault..." Said Uni, who was sitting on the couch while making a saddened expression "I shouldn't have said that to him"

The CPU candidate understood well that blaming Kenji for what happened wouldn't help at all, but she felt so angry with herself for not going with Noire and the others that she ended up taking out on him instead after seeing the chance to do so.

"Uni, please don't blame yourself. I'm sure we'll find him soon" Said Nepgear in an attempt to reassure her friend

Histoire looked at the CPU candidates for a moment. Sending them to fight Magic by themselves would be insane, as none of them besides from Nepgear were specialized in close combat. And even if Magic wasn't there, the other felons and the deity of sin would remain a trouble.

Right now, the best chance the tome could think of was finding Kenji and snap him out of whatever got into him.

"(Kenji...just where on earth did you go?)" Thought the tome while looking out the window at the night sky

Meanwhile, under the same night sky, Kenji was sitting with his head lowered and his forearms resting on his knees as he leaned his back against the base of a large tree located around the depths of the Virtua forest.

After walking aimlessly for hours, the young man decided to head into the depths of this forest. Kenji didn't really like the forest that much, but where else would he go? Another nation? The old man's shop? To Falcom's village? There was no place for him to go to.

If he went to the old man's shop, he would probably start asking about Neptune like he always does. Staying on Planeptune was a bad idea since someone was bound to find him there, and the other nations were surely in chaos after that broadcast. Going to Falcom's village would only end up with him finding her, and Kenji didn't want that. The CPU candidates, the oracles, Falcom, Compa, IF, the shop owner. The young man didn't want to see anybody right now, or rather, he just couldn't bring himself to do so. How could he after what he did to Neptune? To the other CPUs? Even now after washing his hands so many times, Kenji could still feel the warm blood soaking his hands and recall the image quite clearly every time he closed his eyes.

The headband, vest and gloves Falcom gave to him, the clothes that he liked so much, were drenched in blood along with his pants and t-shirt. After taking a shower, the basilicom workers had given him a white sleeved t-shirt along with a pair of blue jeans and black sneakers to serve as a temporal replacement until they were done washing his clothes.

"It's all my fault..." Muttered the young man to himself

"Is that how you feel, young man?"

After hearing a female voice, Kenji raised his head and looked around him but saw no one.

"Over here..." Said the voice once again

After realizing the voice was coming from above, the young man then raised his head a bit more and saw a small purple light in the shape of a sphere. He kept looking at it with a surprised expression as it descend until floating right in front of his face and hovering there for a moment before speaking again.

"Nice to meet you, young man..."

"A...A fairy?"

"Fairy?" Asked the sphere of light with a confused tone "I'm afraid you might be confusing me with another being. I'm a mascot"

"A mascot? What's that?"

"A mascot is a powerful spirit that protects the nations from threats such as monsters by keeping them away...I in particular am tasked with keeping Planeptune safe. As such, I am known as Planeptune's mascot"

Upon hearing the mascot's explanation, the young man imagined something like a ghost or an earthbound god. Although it didn't do much to change his mood.

"What do you want with me?"

"I was sent to look for you"

"...Histoire sent you?" He asked while looking down

"Planeptune's oracle is unaware of my actions...I'm here on someone else's behalf. Someone that wishes to speak with you in person about the current situation"

"Someone else's?" Said the young man with slight surprise while looking at the mascot before closing his eyes and leaning his back against the tree again "Well, sorry but I can't help you"

"...May I ask why?"

"Because there's nothing I can do"

"And why is that?"

"Because I'm the one that screwed it up!" He yelled while sudenly leaning forward and looking at the mascot with an irritated expression "All I had to do was win like I always did, but I screwed it up!"

The mascot didn't say a thing, she simply listened as Kenji went on

"Because of me, the others got capture….and because of me, Neptune was...she was…!" Said the young man while lowering his head and placing his hands over it to cover his eyes as his voice began breaking around the part he mentioned Neptune

Although she couldn't see his face, the mascot could tell the young man was getting teary eyed.

Because of the hesitation he felt towards the CPUs after fighting against his look-alike, Kenji was unable to fully focus on fighting Magic and Neptune ended up paying for his foolishness with her life.

"Young man, there's no need for you to feel guilt regarding the demises Planeptune's CPU, for she is still among the living"

"What?" He said while raising his head to look at the mascot with widened eyes, not even caring wherever she could see that they were teary

"Planeptune's CPU is still alive" Answered the Mascot in a simpler way

"Bu-But how? That deep wound, and all that blood..."

"If you don't believe my words, then simply use your sensory abilities. It should be weaker than usual and quite a distance from here, but I'm certain you'll be able to sense her life-force"

Following the words of the mascot, Kenji closed his eyes and focused as hard as he could. It took a moment or two as he first sensed the monsters around the forest, then the people around Planeptune before finally reaching the basilicom. There, he could feel many life-forces. The basilicom workers, Histoire, Nepgear, Uni, Rom, Ram and one more. This particular one was weaker than the rest, but Kenji could feel it within him. It would be impossible for him not to recognize the life-force of the one person he spent so much time with after returning to Planeptune. It was, without a doubt, Neptune's share energy.

"She's….she's still alive..." Said Kenji after opening his eyes and looking at the mascot with widened eyes

"The CPUs of Planeptune have always been renowned for their outstanding vitality. Neptune in particular is quite stubborn when it comes to her will to live"

The young man went silent for a moment or two after knowing of Neptune's survival. The mascot thought for a moment that the tears he had piled up in his eyes would start running down his cheeks, but instead he lowered his head and sniffed once before wiping the tears off with his sleeve and raising his head to look at her again, this time with a stern face.

"You said something about someone wanting to talk with me, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did"

"Take me to her" Said the young man while getting up and looking at the mascot with a renewed determination in his eyes

"Very well...Follow me"

Kenji then nodded and followed Planeptune's mascot all the way out of the Virtua forest and through Planeptune's territory until finally reaching their destination, the Lan mansion.

The young man wasn't really sure as to why would someone choose such a place for a first meeting, but there was no room for hesitation. The CPUs were in danger and time was running out. Whoever this person waiting for him was, she probably knew something that would be of help, or at least he hoped so.

As he followed the mascot down the hallways, they eventually reached a large and open room. Kenji recognized it as the place where he had his duel against Brave and began recalling that day clearly.

In particular, the young man remembered the question the robotic warrior asked to him as they clashed swords and the final words he said to him before perishing.

"(My true will…)" He thought to himself while pondering on the meaning behind it

Suddenly, his train of thought was cut short by a shinning light coming from above.

The young man raised his head and saw a silhouette enveloped in purple descending. Once it reached ground level, the light became less bright until it eventually revealed a woman.

Despite having a solid and more defined appearance than the mascot, her body was almost see-through, giving her a spectral appearance. Her face was similar to Purple Heart's, but slightly older while her hairstyle was identical to Purple sister's. Her clothes consisted of a long dress that reached all the way down to her feet with accents and flower decorations. It seemed like something only a queen would be able to afford and wear casually, and she also wore a flower as a decoration on her hair and a pair of gloves that reached her upper arms.

"Young man, I see you arrived safely" Said the spectral woman with a calm tone

The mascot then flew towards the woman and approached her before speaking

"Miss Caelum, I have brought him as you asked"

"You have done well. I appreciate this favor" She said while looking at the mascot with a smile

"There's no need to thank me. It was my honor being able to serve you again"

The spectral woman smiled at the mascot for a bit more before turning her head to look at Kenji.

"And you as well. I thank you for arriving on such short notice, young man"

"It's okay…" Asked the young man, rather confused as to what or who was he looking at "so, who are you?"

"My name is Caelum. I'm Planeptune's former goddess"

Kenji's eyes widened upon hearing the woman's answer. If his memory served right, Caelum was the name of the CPU that commanded Planeptune during ancient times before Neptune and was also the late owner of the Lan castle.

"I'm certain there are many questions within your mind right now, but I'll attempt to be brief..." Explained Caelum before going on "As you already are aware, Gamindustry is facing a dire situation right now with the resurrection of the deity of sin and the imprisonment of the current CPUs...If things are left as they are right now, history will repeat itself or even worse, Gamindustry will end up facing complete annihilation...In order to avoid this situation, I have decided to ask for your help"

"So what do you need me to do?"

"I need you to defeat the deity of sin and destroy her beyond recovery"

"That's not as easy as it sounds…" Said the young man while sweat dropping

Even with the CPUs, CPU candidates and Kenji fighting together, they barely managed to defeat Arfoire the first time. Trying to defeat her again by himself might be a heck of a task.

"Certainly, such a task might be next to impossible, even in your HDD form..." Said Caelum before making a slight moment of silence and breaking it by finishing her sentence "...Or at least for your current HDD form"

The ancient CPU's last words caught Kenji's attention.

"Current HDD form? What do you mean by that?"

"Follow me, It'll be quicker to show you"

Caelum then turned around and floated away. The young man followed her and eventually reached a staircase going deep underground. Both of them went down the stairs for a while until finally reaching a circular room even larger than the room from before.

The walls seemed better preserved than those above ground and had many lamps that seemed to use some sort of natural crystal as a source of illumination.

"Whoa...This place is huge!" Said the young man with amazement

Despite not being able to see all of it due to the darkness, Kenji could tell the place he was in right now was incredibly large. Probably even larger than the arena.

"That isn't even all of it" Said Caelum with a smirk before snapping her ghostly fingers, making the crystals shine even brighter along with making many others turn on

The many new lamps illuminating the large area made it far clearer to see. The room was, in fact, an ancient arena. The roof was very high up, probably intended to allow CPUs to fight freely while fighting and also the reason why the staircase was so long. But what really caught Kenji's attention was the machine standing on the other side of the arena.

"That's….a CPU breaker?"

"That's correct. It used to be one of the machines once belonging to the deity of sin's army, but I captured and managed to deactivate it"

"Why is it down here?"

"With the ever growing threat of the deity of sin's army, I required something to get stronger. As such, I had the idea of using the machine I captured as a training dummy" Explained Caelum "And for that purpose, I used Planeptune's technology to reverse engineer this machine and strengthen it even further to prove a better challenge. But unfortunately, it proved far too powerful for me to handle...For you, on the other hand, it should provide an adequate challenge to achieve our goal"

"But I don't even have my sword with me..." Said the young man after recalling he had left his sword behind on the Gamindustry graveyard

"Yes, you do have it"

"Eh?"

"Just close your eyes"

Kenji wasn't sure what Caelum was trying to ask of him, but he decided not to question her for now and did as he was told.

"Good, now imagine your flames gathering in your hand and taking the shape of your sword" She said as she looked at Kenji focusing on the images she described "Now, remember it's shape, it's weight, it's size and the way it felt on your hand"

As the ancient CPU gave the young man detailed instructions, he followed them one by one. Imagining the flames was hard at first, but picturing his sword wasn't hard at all. After all, ever since he arrived on Gamindustry, the young man would carry his sword with him everywhere he went. By now if felt more like a part of him rather than a simple tool.

Suddenly, the young man felt his hand getting heavier as he felt something within it, something incredibly familiar to the touch. Upon opening his eyes and looking down at his hand, the young man saw the sword he had left behind in the graveyard was now in his possession once more.

"What the…?" Muttered Kenji to himself before looking at Caelum "How did it...?"

"There are many things you have yet to understand about your own power, young man" She answered calmly "Now then, let the process of unlocking your awakened form begin!"

*Scene*

Histoire and the CPU candidates waited in the hall of the basilicom for IF and Compa's return, hoping they would bring Kenji with him.

"We're back" Said IF as she entered the hall along with Compa

As they saw the two girls entering, their hopes soon crashed after seeing the young man wasn't with them

"No luck again?" Asked the oracle

The guild member shook her head for a bit before looking at Histoire again.

"He's either moving constantly, or is hiding incredibly well"

For the last four days, IF and Compa restlessly searched for the young man around Planeptune. But no one managed to find even the slightest trace of him. Not even the other nations were capable of finding him.

"Hey, we're running out of time already! Just let us go instead!" Said Uni with impatience

"Yeah, yeah! We've been training a lot, so we can do it!" Added Ram

The oracle then turned around and looked at them.

In order to rescue their elder sisters, the CPU candidates dedicated the last four days to training as hard as they could. Their increase in skill was easy to notice indeed, but just by themselves they were still no match for the remaining felons, nor the deity of sin. Histoire understood this and didn't want to risk their lives against such overwhelming odds, but there was no more time for new plans nor options.

"I see, It seems there's no other choice" Said the oracle with her eyes closed

Histoire was about to give the order to send them off to the graveyard, until the sound of the door being unlocked was heard coming from the hallway. Everyone turned their heads and saw Kenji walking into the hall after a moment. He was full of bruises and cuts and his clothes were torn and dirty.

"Kenji!" Said Compa with widened eyes

"You! where the hell were you at!?" Asked IF with a mixture of surprise and irritation in her tone

She was partly happy of seeing him, but also shocked and confused as to how he appeared out of the blue like that.

"I was training..."

"No, I was asking WHERE!"

"IF, we can leave the explanations for later! Right now we need to hurry!" Said the oracle quickly while floating towards the young man "Kenji, the deity of sin will be rising from within the graveyard any moment! We need you and the CPU candidates to go there right now!"

"Before that, how's Neptune doing?"

"Neptune is okay, but she's still sleeping"

"I see…" Said the young man with his head slightly lowered before raising it to look at the oracle again "Do you mind if I go see her for a bit?"

"Eh?"

Histoire wasn't surprised by the first question, as it was expected for Kenji to be at least slightly worried about Neptune after what happened. It was the second question what she didn't expect.

"Hey, didn't you hear her!? we don't have time to waste!" Said IF

"That's right! We need to go save our sisters!" Added Ram, who had already grown tired of waiting

"Kenji, I don't know what is it that you expect to achieve by seeing Neptune, but right now there's no time for-" Said the oracle before being cut off by Kenji

"Please...I'm begging you" He said while bowing "Just for a moment..."

Everyone was left speechless by what they saw. While Kenji's simple and straightforward mentality made him rather random at some times, no one would ever have been able to imagine he'd bow to someone else.

Although she wanted to send him and the CPU candidates to save the CPUs right away, she could tell this was something very important for him. He wouldn't do something like bowing down if it weren't.

"…Very well, she's in the fourth room to the left down the hallway...But please try not to disturb her sleep" Said the oracle after sighing "And please, make haste. Time is of the essence"

"Thank you..." He said while standing straight again and looking at Histoire

The young man then turned around, headed into the hallway and entered Neptune's room where he found her still asleep, lying face up on the bed.

She was no longer wearing bandages, but rather a light purple pajama with a ribbon. This was a good sign, since it meant that her wound had healed up enough for her to stop needing a constant change of bandages.

For a moment after standing right next to her, Kenji extended his hand slowly towards Neptune's and was about to touch it, but stopped a few inches away and then lowered his hand. This was followed by him lowering his head slightly and looking down at the floor with a sense of guilt.

"Nghhhhh...pudding..."

"Eh?" He said while raising his head to look at Planeptune's CPU again after suddenly hearing her voice

"So much pudding…I'm in paradise…" She said with a childish smile while some saliva poured out of the edge of her mouth

It seemed as though Neptune was sleep-taking, and was having a rather pleasant dream at the moment.

"(Seriously, how can she dream so happily with everything that's going on?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping with his head lowered and his eyes closed before looking at Neptune again "(Then again...Maybe that's what makes her so strong...)"

At first, Kenji didn't like smiles since he always saw them as a way to hide things or fake how you truly felt on the inside. It was only a given that Neptune, who would constantly smile, would get on Kenji's nerves rather easily. But the young man soon came to realize this was actually Neptune's strength.

The ability to smile, to always see the positive side of any situation, to keep from worrying others, to motivate them and even to cheer them up. This was a power Kenji lacked, and no amount of slain monsters or battles would ever grant it to him.

Eventually, the young man began to understand this trait of hers and developed respect towards Planeptune's CPU. It was now, where he almost lost her once, that he finally understood it.

Kenji looked at her in silence for a moment or two before speaking again.

"Say Neptune, do you remember when you asked me why I hate pudding?" He asked softly "The thing is…I don't hate pudding, I actually love it. It's probably my favorite food out there, even more so than pork bowls"

The young man then approached the bed and sat on it's edge before going on.

"The reason I don't want to eat it and get so sad when I see one is probably because it makes me think about my dad..." He said with his head lowered before raising it and looking at himself in a mirror standing over a wooden dresser and recalling his father as he mentioned him "He was a tall and burly man with a thick beard...Just like you, he was very positive and smiled a lot. The one thing I remember the most about him were his hands. They were large and strong, just like the rest of his body. He also had a habit of patting my head most of the time"

After recalling his father's image perfectly, Kenji's mind began to wander into the past as his life played back inside his mind.

"Back when I was little, I was a total coward and a weakling that would cry from anything. But because my dad was there, I never cared about being weak or strong. Being around him always made me feel safe"

As his mind kept wandering in the past, he recalled about all the times he got beat up by bullies. But despite this, he never fought back due to his cowardice, nor told anything to his father out of worry he may be saddened.

Thinking back on it, Kenji realized that might have been the reason he's now able to withstand punches so well.

"I held out to this mindset, until one day my father had to leave for a week because of work...I was really sad about that, and to cheer me up he promised me to eat lots of chocolate pudding with me when he came back" He said while looking at the mirror "It wasn't really anything otherworldly, but it somehow made me really happy...And hoping for that, I waited and waited every single day, but he never came back…it was some time later that I realized he died on a car accident"

It was here that the young man's expression became darker, as those times he so eagerly tried to forget were now coming back to him.

"At that moment I refused to believe it...My dad, who I always saw as the strongest man on the world, dying... It felt like a lie, and I believed it was a lie" He said while lowering his head "Even after the funeral, I kept sitting on the main hallway's staircase and waited for him from morning to night. I must have waited in that staircase for at least a month and half before i finally understood it wasn't a lie...My dad was dead, and that was it"

The young man then opened his eyes and looked at his hand.

"After that, I kept getting beat up, but i started punching back, and by the time I entered high school, I had formed a reputation as a fully-fledged street brawler..." He said before recalling his mother "My mother never made a pudding again, in fact, she hardly ever spoke with me after that...I guess she gave up on me after seeing what I turned into. I couldn't really blame her though. No one would want a bastard that only knew how to take and give punches as a son"

Instead of trying to grow closer to his heartbroken mother and help support each other, the young man simply grew more distant from her and became a street thug whose only calling in life was beating anyone that got in his way to a pulp..

"Deep down, I always missed eating pudding, but I didn't want to eat something that made me so happy while feeling so sad...I wanted the next time I ate pudding to be with him so that way I could feel happy again, but I knew that would never happen" He said while his eyes thinned "In truth, what I really missed wasn't eating pudding, but rather eating it together with him...I guess all the time spent fighting was probably just me trying to run away from that"

After finally finishing his explanation, the young man took a deep breath and remained silent. He wasn't sure why, but he needed to say all of this to Neptune. Perhaps he felt like she earned the right to know after what she did for him.

Planeptune's CPU candidate, along with the other three CPU candidates, had been on the hallway spying on Kenji through a small gap on the door after curiosity got the better of them.

"So that's why he didn't like pudding..." Said Nepgear, who felt a slight regret after listening in on the young man's confession to her elder sister

"That...that sounds very sad..." Said Rom between sobs and on the verge of breaking into tears

"I know this was partly my idea, but I think we did something pretty awful..." Said Uni, feeling regretful about overhearing something so private

Lastation's CPU candidate already felt bad because of what she did to the young man before, but after eavesdropping on him and hearing everything, she felt even worse.

Even Nepgear, who wanted to find out the truth about his animosity towards pudding so badly, felt guilty about spying on Kenji as he opened up to Neptune. This probably being the first time he opened up to anyone in years.

The CPU candidates, just like everyone else, felt many doubts regarding Kenji. But now that they heard the full story from the man himself, things became much clearer. Kenji's rude and sometimes aggressive attitude when fighting or his generally distant and loner behavior were the result of his childhood.

With a father that died on him at a young age, a mother that gave up on him and no friends to speak of, Kenji never had anyone to rely on. He always had to stand up by himself, bear through everything by himself and fight by himself. The young man technically had to grow up alone while living surrounded by enemies.

Looking at him now, Kenji seemed emotionally drained and probably wouldn't be able to stand up anytime soon. Not wanting to pry on his privacy any further, the CPU candidates decided to take their leave and return to the hall where Histoire, IF and Compa were still waiting.

"Ah, you girls. Where did you-" Said IF before noticing their expressions "Eh? What's with those faces?"

"Everyone, what's wrong?"

The two girls couldn't help but feel worried about the CPU candidates, since all four of them looked like they had just returned from someone's funeral.

"Nepgear, what happened?" Asked Histoire while looking at her with concern

"Well..." Said Planeptune's CPU candidate with certain hesitation

She then explained about them overhearing on Kenji speaking to the sleeping Neptune about his past, but tried to keep as little detail as possible about what they heard. After all, it would be extremely rude to reveal the young man's secrets without his consent.

"I see...so that's why he wanted to see Nepko so badly" Said Histoire while looking at the CPU candidates

Although the reason why Kenji did a full confession about his past to Neptune was a complete mystery for Histoire, Compa and IF. But the oracle assumed it was probably an impulse born out of guilt, or maybe Kenji just needed to get it out of his system. He probably also wanted to do it while Plaenptune's CPU was still sleeping so it wouldn't weight on her consciousness later, nor would she remember anything about it.

As she pondered on about this, the young man was still sitting on the side of Neptune's bed in silence while thinking about everything that he said. After a moment or two, he looked at Neptune, then lowered his head and sighed.

Part of the reason why he never told anyone about it is because he felt people would just mark him out as an edgy guy. And even if he was a bit edgy on that regard, he didn't like the idea of that one stereotype being the thing to describe his entire character.

But at the very least, Neptune knew it now. And since she was asleep, she wouldn't be able to either spread the word nor to make jokes about him being edgy, which he imagined she would definitely do if she were awake right now.

"Well, no point in making them wait any longer. Better get going..." He muttered to himself

As he turned his head around and was starting to get up from the bed, Kenji suddenly felt someone grabbing his hand. He quickly turned his head and saw it was Neptune's. But when looking at her face, he noticed she was still sleeping.

"Kenny...Let's eat a pudding…together...with everyone"

The young man's eyes widened when hearing the words Planeptune's CPU mumbled in her sleep. They were probably just related to the dream she was already having, but those words somehow made Kenji feel more at ease.

"Yeah, I promise" Said the young man while nodding

Kenji softly grabbed Neptune's hand with his free hand and released himself from her grip before placing it softly on the bed again. He then turned around and left the room with an even stronger will than before.

*Scene*

As the resurrection of the deity of sin came closer and closer by the minute, the three felons awaited for the moment to arrive.

"Argh, damn it! Why can't I break these things!?"

While their enemies were distracted, Black Heart and White Heart struggled to break free from their bindings, but it was to no avail.

"It's no use. These were probably made with the intention to bind us" Said Green Heart

The cables that were binding them right now were probably designed with the idea of withstanding a CPU's strength, so they surely were designed with the idea of outstanding resilience in mind.

"How can you be so calm right now!? If we don't do something, Arfoire will be resurrected and destroy Gamindustry!" Snarled Black Heart

"I am concerned about it, but wasting our strength like this won't do us any good...Besides, the deity of sin will be reborn wherever we want it or not at this point"

"Then what do you say we do?" Asked Lastation's CPU again, but with a more calmed tone

Even if she didn't want to admit it, Black Heart knew Green Heart was right.

"Right now, the only thing we can do is wait. I'm certain your sisters and Kenji will be here to help us soon enough"

"Our sisters I get it, but I'm not sure if he will return" Said White Black while trying to turn her head to look at her "I mean, I know we told him to run away with Neptune, but didn't you see his face?"

The three CPUs then recalled the horrified look in Kenji's eyes after seeing what happened to Planeptune's CPU.

"Certainly, it must have been rather shocking for him…" Admitted Green Heart, who knew even the three of them were stricken with a terrible shock as well during that moment

A moment of silence ensued between the three CPUs before White Heart spoke.

"Hey, do you think Neptune is-"

"Stop it there..." Interrupted Black Heart "Neptune might be an idiot, but she's the most stubborn one among us. It'd take a lot more than that to kill her... Also, that other idiot will be back"

"How do you know that?" Asked White Heart

"Because..." Said Lastation's CPU while recalling the determined look Kenji had in his eyes during their match so many weeks ago "He's too dumb to know how to give up"

"Indeed...he's proven to be quite stubborn in that regardl" Added Green Heart while smiling with her eyes closed

The CPUs still didn't know or understand a lot of things about Kenji, but there was one thing they knew for certain. He was a very strong-willed person.

This was proven to them not only during their duels against him, but also during the time he spent in their nations and even after that. He was a bit distant and reckless sometimes, but the young man always stood up to any challenge placed in front of him and came out on top. Be it hordes of monsters, the CPUs, the four felons, or even the deity of sin.

"So there's only waiting left, huh?" Said Black Heart after sighing

While the CPUs decided to remain calm and wait for help, the three remaining felons kept waiting for the moment when the deity of sin would arise once anew. Judge was incredibly hyped up since he knew the moment she arrived he would be able to rampage through Gamindustry to his heart's content. Trick wasn't very interested in the idea of mass destruction, he only wanted to be able to find Rom and Ram to entangle them in his tongue again. Magic, on the other hand, was patiently awaiting the arrival of her goddess. But there was something she had to deal with in the meantime.

"Ma-Master Magic, let's just stop this please..." Said Linda while looking at her leader "Master Magic!"

As The underling tried to convince Magic to stop, Warechu pulled on her hoodie while trying to get her attention

"Please, let's just get out of here! Things are getting out of control already-chu!"

The mouse was starting to get scared, and he had a reason for it. With every passing minute, the weather on the graveyard became more and more chaotic, along with constant earthquakes taking place.

"Just shut up for a moment, will ya'!? I'm not giving up on this!"

"It's Impossible! She already lost it-chu!"

The CPU of ASIC had long since made this her choice, and the insanity behind it was one anyone could see. But even so, Linda refused to give up on her.

"Master Magic, Master Magic! Are you really okay with this!?"

"I told you already, this is what our goddess wants...As such, we must obey"

"I believe in Master Arfoire too, but isn't killing everybody a bit extreme!?"

"So you're not going to obey our goddess's will?"

"I...I..."

Linda thought about it for a moment. She had given up on many things for the sake of ASIC and always thought Arfoire was awesome, but the real reason behind her joining ASIC was Magic, not Arfoire.

Ever since she was young, Linda had never been good at studying because of how much she hated schools. Her punk and tomboyish attitude always made it impossible for her to get along with boys or other girls, so she wasn't one to rely on friendships either. Eventually she grew sour and despised the world, loosing any interest in life. Or at least that was the case until she met Magic.

In Linda's eyes, Magic was much better than any arrogant professor, any dumb authority, and certainly much better than any CPU. Her ruthless and relaxed attitude, her overwhelming power to match even the CPUs and her burning determination to challenge current society and destroy it. The underling's resentment and hatred soon were replaced by respect and admiration towards Magic, which led her to abandon everything else in life and become part of ASIC.

For the first time in many years, Linda finally felt like she had found the place where she belonged. But now, things were different. The burning determination she once felt from Magic was no longer there. The woman she admired was now just following someone else's orders like a mindless puppet, repeating her words like a broken record.

"I'm sorry…I can't obey something like that"

As much as she admired Magic, Linda just couldn't do something like senseless mass genocide.

"I see...So that's your decision…"

"I mean, I don't think this is what Master Arfoire really wa-" Said the underling until she saw Magic raising her scythe "Ma-Master Magic?"

"If you won't obey, then at least I'll grant you our goddess's blessing beforehand!"

The leader of ASIC then attacked Linda, attempting to kill her by chopping her head off.

"Look out-Chu!" Said Warechu as he jumped towards the underling, pulling her away just in time to avoid the blade that nearly beheaded her

"It seems you can't even accept our goddess's mercy..." Said Magic while looking at Linda

"No...no way...Master Magic….she tried to kill me?" Muttered the baffled underling while looking at her

Magic raised her scythe again and was about to attack again, but suddenly froze up after seeing the tears in Linda's eyes

"No, this isn't true! This isn't the Magic I know!" She yelled before getting up, turning around and running away with tears running down her face

"Ah! Wait for me-chu!"

While Warechu ran after her, Magic stared at Linda as she got further and further away. It was then that her mind played back the first day she met her.

In ASIC, the most important trial needed to become a fully-fledged and trustworthy member was to venture into the Graveyard and get the approval of one of the four felons. Most members would usually seek Brave, as he was usually the most understanding and accepting one. Or Trick who, despite his lolicon tendencies, was rather fair as well. Judge was obviously out of the choice since he'd always end up killing anyone that got in his way. And while many people admired Magic, very few would seek her, as she had very high standards and had yet to see someone as trustworthy.

"E-Excuse me, Miss Magic...?" Said a timid female voice

When turning her head, Magic saw a young girl with green hair, red eyes and a mouse hoodie. She seemed more nervous than scared, which was an odd reaction, to be honest.

"Yes?"

"I-I-I'm here to ask for your approval!" Answered Linda while bowing down

The leader of ASIC looked at her for a moment.

Naturally, she got rejected just like everyone else, but the underling didn't give up. Day after day, Linda would return to the graveyard. Each time with a different approach, each time with a different idea and more confident with every encounter. It took two months before Magic finally acknowledged Linda's determination and decided to take the young girl as her underling.

"For reals!? I'm getting your approval!?" Said a hyped Linda

"You might be weak, but your faith to our goddess is genuine...I shall allow you to serve as my underling"

"Thank you very much! I promise I'll do my best!"

Thinking back on it, except for the other felons and the CPUs, most people would always see Magic with fear or respect. Linda, on the other hand, was the very first person that had ever smiled to her like that. It was a smile filled with hope and happiness, something rarely seen among ASIC.

Recalling that happy and innocent expression and comparing to the teary-eyed and heartbroken one she had now, It somehow made Magic feel odd. It was an aching and rather annoying feeling surging within her breast. Could it be she felt remorse for attacking Linda and making her cry?

"(No...such a thing is impossible...my existence isn't meant for meager emotion...)" Thought ASIC's leader while closing her eye

She tried convincing herself of this, but a part of her kept pondering about it.

At the beginning, Judge, Trick and Brave were like her. All four only concerned about Arfoire's resurrection. But with time, each of them began developing his own persona, his own mindset.

If Judge became a warmonger that desired destruction, Trick a lolicon obsessed with little girls and Brave a warrior that fought for the sake of children, then why couldn't the same happen to her? Who was to say she couldn't develop emotions as well?

Magic then opened her eye again and saw Linda was already gone. With all of the thoughts coursing through her mind right now, she began to wonder if the one Linda placed her faith on was really Arfoire. This doubt plagued her mind for a moment or two, until the sudden feeling of the ground shaking even harder than before snapped her out of it. When turning around, she saw the ground on a large circular area breaking down and crumble, creating a deep hole. From the cracks, a gooey black liquid began pouring out in bulks until the large hole began getting filled and become a large pond.

"Oh, it looks like she's finally about to be reborn!" Said Trick while approaching the dark pond

"Hahahaha! Finally! Finally I don't need to wait anymore!" Yelled Judge between laughs

"It seems we ran out of time" Said Green Heart while looking at the felons gathering around the pond in the distance

"No way, she's already being reborn!?" Said Black Heart with shock

The weather became even worse by the second until it finally turned into an apocalyptic storm. Among the countless dark clouds gathering over it and purple thunders roaring like a herd of wild beasts, the dark liquid began shivering and creating bubbles. Suddenly, something abruptly emerged from within the dark liquid and spread her wings. The deity of sin was once again setting foot upon Gamindustry. But this time, it was far different from before.

Unlike the massive beast from before, this time it was a much smaller form. The body was similar to that of a human, but the skin was ash-white and she had waist-length pink hair. The clothes consisted of a revealing feathered bikini-lace set of clothes with purple leg and arm armor. She also had a long black skirt on the back of her belt and a piece of long black cloth as the only thing covering her lower half and two massive robotic black wings. She wielded a twinblade with two large red blades on each side. But without a doubt the most notable aspect was the bunny head with ears that resembled wings.

"That's…the deity of sin?" Asked White Heart with widened eyes

"She looks completely different from before" Added Black Heart Heart

"Hmm….This body...It feels better….,much better..."Said Arfoire while raising her hand to look at it as she clenched it into a fist a few times.

Despite her odd appearance and smaller body, the CPUs could feel this form was far worse than the last one. The beast from before was resilient and overwhelming, but this form felt significantly smarter and much more powerful.

"All that power, condensed into a small and versatile body….I'm afraid we might not stand a chance after all" Said Green Heart while analyzing their new enemy

"Master Arfoire, welcome to Gamindustry. We have been waiting for your return" Said Magic as she and the other two felons keneeled down to their Goddess

Arfoire looked at them for a moment before looking around her and noticing the three bound CPUs.

"CPUs…"

"Yes, we captured them to serve as an offering for your arrival"

The deity of sin kept staring at the them for a moment before grabbing her twinblade tighter and flying towards the CPUs with an astounding speed, ready to slaughter them. As she quickly got closer and closer, Green Heart noticed Arfoire was aiming towards Black Heart first.

"Noire!" She yelled in impotence as she was unable to do anything but watch

Black Heart tried struggling, but it was no use. As the deity of sin got close enough, the CPU closed her eyes and prepared for the worst.

Although she heard the sound of the weapon clashing, she couldn't feel a thing even after a while. Curious as to what happened, Lastation's CPU opened her eyes. In front of her, there was someone standing in the way of the deity of sin. At first she couldn't tell who it was, but it didn't take long for her, just like the other two CPUs, to recognize the man that protected them.

"Kenji?"

The young man turned his head to look at Black Heart over her shoulder. He was now wearing his usual clothes, except his didn't have his t-shirt on.

"Hey there..." He said calmly before breaking the struggle, pushing back Arfoire and then turning around to look at them "Sorry for the wait"

Lastation's CPU looked at him with widened eyes for a moment before sighing with relief and smiling.

"You sure took your time getting here..."

"What, never heard about fashionably late?"

"Hey…where's your t-shirt?" Asked White Heart

"They couldn't wash it in time" He answered bluntly, making Lowee's CPU sweatdrop

"Big sister!"

After hearing Black sister's voice, the CPUs turned their heads and saw the CPU candidates flying towards them and landing next to Kenji.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there right now!" Said Nepgear while trying cutting the cables

"Do you think we'll let you!?"

Everyone turned their heads and saw Magic, Trick and Judge heading towards them.

"Ahhh, my precious little girls have come for me!" Said Trick with glee

"Ewww...That guy is still as gross as before" Commented White sister while sweat dropping

"You girls help your sisters, I'll deal with them"

"Eh?" Said the four CPU candidates while looking at Kenji

"Wa-Wait a minute, Kenji. Even if you trained a lot, there's no way you can-"

Before Nepgear could even finish her phrase, Kenji dashed forward at an incredible speed. First he headed towards Judge, who was hyped about the idea of getting his payback against him.

"Yes! That's right! This is how it should be! A rivalry that makes us want to kill each other!" He said while raising his weapon as high as he could before lowering it with all of his might

Kenji then dashed forward even faster, avoiding the axe and attacking Judge directly. This caused him to stagger before the young man sliced at his arm, causing the warrior to lose grip of his axe as it flew away into the sky, which Kenji grabbed in mid-air after dismissing his sword and slashed downwards like a guillotine, shattering it against him

"Urgh! What the fuck!?"

Although this didn't kill him, it did work to damage his armor. But this didn't stop there, as the young man quickly summoned back his weapon and used a coldfire edge to hit Judge in the chest, destroying the already damaged armor and creating a large hole in his chest.

The bulky warrior was too slow to react against this fast and powerful barrage of attacks, and neither was he able to stop the young man from picking up the spike remaining from his shattered axe and stabbing Judge through the hole in his armor with it. Needless to say, this was a lethal hit.

"Argh…Noooooo! Not like thiiiiis!" Yelled the bulky warrior as he felt his lifeforce leaving him once again "There's still things I want to destroyyyyyy!"

After Judge exploded into oblivion once more, Kenji dashed towards Trick.

"Wha-!?" Said the felon with shock

He wasn't even able to react before the young man infused his sword with flames and stabbed him in the stomach. He then released the suppressed flames within the sword inside Trick's body, burning him to a crisp from the inside out. The felon simply opened his mouth widely to let the flames raging within him come out through it as if it were a dragon's breath before it became a smoke column as he fell on his back and exploded into oblivion, just like Judge.

Despite seeing two of her fellow felons fall so easily in battle, Magic dashed towards Kenji and attacked him, with the idea that she could catch him off-guard. But the young man quickly turned around to face her and blocked all of her attacks before parrying the last one and sending her scythe flying into the air.

Magic watched as her weapon flew in the air and landed far away from her.

"Hey..."

Hearing the young man's voice, the leader of ASIC looked at him again just in time to see his hand heading towards her and grabbing the top of her head.

"...You're in my way" He said bluntly while looking at Magic straight in the eye

In just a split second, he pushed her down with herculean strength, causing her to crash head first against the ground. A loud crumbling sound equal in power to an explosion and a shockwave were produced as the ground cracked and produced a small crater. And as Kenji released his grip on Magic's head and stood straight again, everyone could see the leader of ASIC had been knocked unconscious.

"He took all three of them out...with one hit each?" Said Green Heart with widened eyes as she finally got free from her bindings

"Hey, hey...You're kidding me, right? That's just beyond getting a bit stronger…" Added White Heart with equal shock

"Just what on did he do during the last four days!?" Asked Black Heart to her younger sister

"Actually, we don't know either…" Replied Purple Sister "He disappeared shortly after you got captured, and when he finally returned, he told us he'd been training"

Black Heart then turned her head and looked at Kenji. She couldn't stop wondering what kind of crazy training regime could make someone so strong in such a short amount of time. But before anyone had any more time to think, Arfoire dashed towards Kenji and attacked him by the back. The young man reacted quickly by turning around and blocking the red blade.

"Kenji!" Said Purple Sister as she went to aid him

"You girls! Get your sisters out of here!"

"Eh!?"

"There's no way they can fight right now the way they are!"

"Are you trying to be funny here!? There's no way we would-"

Black Heart tried to argue against Kenji's request, but before she could finish her phrase, Lastation's CPU felt her body growing weaker as she reverted back to human form and fell on her knees.

"Wha-What!?"

"Big sister!? Are you okay!?" Said Black Sister as she hurried to aid Noire

Within seconds, the same thing happened to Vert and Blanc.

"Damn it...what's going on now!?" Said Blanc while falling to her knees

"It seems...our bodies are finally feeling the effect of all that time spent in HDD..." Explained Vert while sitting on the floor

Due to being bound and forced to remain in HDD form for four days straight, the CPUs were able to avoid starvation through using their shares as sustenance, but now they had no strength left to fight.

"Are you kidding me!? Right when we needed HDD the most!?" Said Noire with a forced tone

While the CPUs tried getting back up on their feet, they saw Kenji being pushed back a few feet by Arfoire's attack after a momentary struggle.

"It's no use…you cannot defeat me..."

"True...Even if I go all out, there's probably no chance of my human form winning. And my HDD wouldn't be enough either..." Said the young man while getting up on his feet

The deity of sin didn't answer, she simply kept looking at him.

"Well, or at least that's what I'd say if my HDD was still the same"

"The same?" Muttered Black Sister, who had no idea what Kenji was talking about

Kenji then took an assault stance and closed his eyes. Just within seconds, the CPUs could feel an intense share energy emanate from within his body.

"(This is...just like back then!)" Thought Noire, who recalled Kenji doing something similar during their match

This was similar to the first time the young man achieved HDD, but something was different. This time, the aura around him wasn't as large nor as wild, meaning that the shares were more controlled and better focused. And they felt far more powerful than before.

While everyone stared at him in silence in wait to see what was about to happen, Kenji's mind played back the memory of Caelum's teachings.

"Young man, do you know what shares are?"

"They're the life force of the CPUs, right?"

"And where do you think they come from?"

"Erm...from faith?" Said the young man with slight hesitation, as he wasn't completely sure of it himself

"That is only partially true...Shares come not only from faith, but from strong positive emotions and desires"

"Desires?"

"Hope, affection, respect, friendship, love. It doesn't have to be anything specific as long as it's born from a positive emotion. Any sort of desire can become a strong source of shares" Explained Caelum "HDD is the product of large amounts of shares gathering within a single body and enhancing the capabilities of such individual to inhuman levels"

The young man thought a bit about Caelum's words. He had already used HDD enough times to know it made him far stronger than his usual human form.

"CPUs usually require the faith of hundreds of people to use HDD, as they cannot sustain it with the shares their own bodies produce..." She said before looking at him "I still can't fathom how or why, but you seem to have the ability to produce immense amounts of shares by yourself...The only thing that seems to be holding your full potential back is yourself, though"

"Myself? What do you mean by that?"

"HDD has two stages. One is the base HDD, which all CPU candidates acquire naturally at some point, and the second is the awakened HDD, which will be the true form of a CPU...The base HDD can normally be acquired naturally through time and training, but the awakened form requires more than simple training. It requires you to clear your mind of what's holding you back and forge your true resolve"

"True resolve..."

Kenji then lowered his head and recalled Brave's words, as they had been very similar to what Caelum just said.

"Tell me, young man...Why did you come here?"

"Because I want to defeat the deity of sin" He said bluntly while raising his head to look at her again

"And why do you wish to defeat her?"

"Ain't it obvious?"

Back to the present time, Kenji then recalled all the time he spent on Gamindustry with the CPUs. All the things he went through so far.

"(It wasn't for long, but in these last months I've been more alive than in the last ten years...But because I was too dumb to notice, I couldn't bring myself to trust them, and nearly lost everything again...)" He thought to himself before recalling the moment when Neptune got nearly killed by Magic and she was in bed, all covered in bandages "(I never want to see something like that happen to them ever again! I will never let it happen ever again!)"

As his determination grew stronger by the second with every thought, all the share energy rising up within him suddenly expanded and formed a stronger sapphire aura that produced constant wind pressure all around him, almost as if it had turned into blazing tornado of blue flames with his soul and heart as the core.

"(This might sound cliche as all hell, but I don't give a damn!)" Thought Kenji before opening his eyes and yelling out his true resolve with all of his might and fierceness "I will protect the CPUs!"

In response to his fierce will, the flames exploded into a pillar of blue light that rose up into the sky. After a moment, the pillar dissipated and revealed Kenji's new form.

His blue hair had now grown slightly longer, being almost chest-length. The black sleeved shirt with accents had now changed into a long trench coat that reached all the way down to his calves, had neon blue accents and opened both on the top and the bottom around his belly-button, giving a clear view of his abs. It had many neon blue accents decorating it with an alien-like pattern on the back and a piece of black armor with blue accents on each shoulder. His pants had also changed, with the left half turning blue while the right remained pitch black. Another notable aspect was that his shades became slightly brighter and they were connected to some sort of black Headphone-robotic ears shaped slightly similar to robotic elf ears that were partly hidden under his hair except for the tip, which extended a few inches slightly up and towards the back. They were pitch black and had two neon blue lines close to the tip as decorations. His sword changed as well. Now it was much longer, probably even larger than a longsword, and had neon blue energy coating the edges of it's blade along while shinning brightly along with a longer guard and pommel both made out of clear blue metal.

"Awakened form: 2nd drive..." He said while looking at the deity of sin "That's the name of this new form..."

The CPUs looked at him with widened eyes after his transformation

"Wha-What is that form?" Asked Black Sister

"He just said "Awakened form", didn't he? What does that mean?" Added White Sister Ram as she turned her head to look at Blanc.

"Awakened is the name given to a fully unlocked HDD form..." Explained Vert while looking at Kenji with slight shock "All this time, Kenji's HDD must have been a base HDD"

"Then you're telling me he's been fighting using a candidate level transformation all this time!?"

"No way…"

This was shocking to say the least for the CPUs. Despite the young man always seeming like an incredibly powerful indicividual, all this time he had yet to unlock his full potential. And the true scope of that potential was now in front of them, burning as brightly as the fires of hell itself.

Nepgear..."

"Eh?"

Upon hearing the young man calling her name, Planeptune's CPU candidate snapped out of her shock and looked at him.

"Hurry up and get them out of here already"

"But what about you?"

After hearing Purple Sister's question, Kenji turned his head to look at her over his shoulder.

"I'll be fine...I'm here to kick ass, not to lose"

Planeptune's CPU candidate looked at Kenji for a moment or two while thinking what to do. At first she wasn't sure about following his plan because he'd end up having to deal with the deity of sin by himself, but after witnessing his overwhelming victory over the felons and this new form, Purple Sister felt a lot more confident about the young man's chances.

She nodded in agreement with him and went back to help Vert get up.

"We'll be back soon, please just try to hold on!" She said before leaving along with the other CPU candidates, who helped their respective elder sisters get away

Kenji watched them get away for a moment before turning his head again to look at Arfoire.

"All right, now that that's out of the way...Time to deal with you"

"That power…It won't change a thing...I will not lose…I will destroy everything..."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!"

A moment of silence ensued before both of them dashed forward at full speed and began fighting it out. Their weapons clashed hundreds of times as Arfoire would spin her twinblade around to attack Kenji with both red blades without stopping as he would constantly keep them at bay by parrying or blocking. After a few more moments of attacking the same way, Arfoire decided to change her strategy and fly up into the air to get an advantage.

"So we're taking this up above, huh?" He said while looking at the bunny goddess rise into the skies

Fortunately, his new form came with little new trick. He was now able to fly. It was only up to a certain extent as he didn't have much time to practice back in the Lan castle, but what little he knew should be enough for this battle.

A few pebbles around his feet began to shake as he slowly ascended into the air. Once reaching the same altitude as Arfoire, he looked at the ground below him.

Flying felt slightly odd yet, and hopefully he would be able to get more used to it as the fight went on. But at least he still had the ability of using sigils as stepping platforms just in case.

When looking at the deity of sin again, she now had her hand raised. Within her palm, there was a sphere of black energy forming on her palm.

"This will be it…!" She said before aiming at him with her palm and causing the black sphere to be shot towards Kenji

The young man didn't even faze as he raised his sword, set it ablaze with as much focused energy as he could muster and threw a slash attack.

"Crescent Sapphirus!" He yelled as the energy gathered within the sword got released, ejecting a sapphire-colored wave of fire energy that was shaped like a crescent moon.

Kenji's attack flew and crashed against the dark sphere, causing both powers to clash and struggle for a bit before exploding in midair and producing a large cloud of smoke.

Among it, both fighters dashed forward into the darkness and clashed their weapons once more, creating a shock wave that dispersed the smoke away. At that moment, another barrage of attacks began as both of them dashed through the air and clashed against each other countless times. After a few moments, Kenji's attacks were finally starting to hit the mark, but so were Arfoire's.

"Impossible...how can this be…!?" Said the bloodied deity of sin "No...I refuse to accept this….I won't accept it...!"

She then dashed forward with her weapon fully charged by a dark aura. Kenji did the same by charging his own sword and dashed towards the deity of sin, fully intent on this being the final clash. Both weapons, fully charged with the power of their wielders, clashed, creating a shock wave.

They struggled with all of their strength for a moment or two before Kenji decided to use a tactic he had under his sleeve.

"Outburst!" He yelled, causing the pent up power within his sword to suddenly explode

This caused a new cloud of smoke to cover the area and the impact made Arfoire get ejected out of it.

When the deity of sin regained her balance and looked up, she suddenly saw a large mass of sapphire-colored energy splitting the cloud in half and coming right at her, but before Arfoire could do anything, the wave of energy hit her directly.

"AAAAARRRRRGHHHH!"

Unable to withstand the pressure of Kenji's last attack, the deity of sin got pushed all the way back to the ground where she crashed like a meteorite as the wave of energy kept crushing her before destroying the ground and forming a large hole.

Unable to see if the deity of sin had been destroyed, Kenji quickly descended to ground level. He was beaten and bleeding from both the fight and his own outburst attack, but nonetheless it seemed as thought he had won the fight.

The young man was about to revert back to human form, until he heard a clapping sound.

He quickly looked around and saw an individual hidden by a black cloak. It was wearing armored bracers and his face was hidden by a rather creepy mannequin mask. The cloaked figure slowly clapped a few more times before hiding his arms under the cloak again and breaking the silence.

"To stand against an ancient fallen CPU and win by yourself...it seems your powers have developed rather well these last months" He said with a calm tone "Rudimentary tactics, for sure, but hey, as long as it works"

Kenji didn't say a thing, he simply kept looking at the cloaked figure.

"Analyzing those you meet while considering them a potential threat? Rather commendable behavior, not very good for making friends, though"

"Who are you?" Finally asked Kenji

"Me? I had many names these last few millennia, but the most recent one is Ibiem...I suppose you can call me that if It suits you"

"What do you want?"

"With you? Nothing, I'm simply here to be rid of a pest" He said while looking around him, then at Kenji again "A pests the people in this dimension refer to as "goddesses" or "hearths""

Upon hearing the words goddesses and hearts, Kenji immediately knew he was talking about Neptune and the others.

Without hesitation, the young man dashed forward with all the speed his beat up body could muster and prepared to use a thrusting attack to pierce his sword right through the cloaked figure's neck.

"Like hell I'm letting you!"

Kenji then thrust his sword with all of his might, but the cloaked figure merely lifted a hand and stopped it with his index finger. The young man watched with utter shock as an attack he put all of his strength into was so easily stopped with just one finger. As the tip of the sword remained in contact with the tip of Ibiem's finger, he looked at Kenji for a moment before scoffing at him.

Without any sort of warning, a large slash wound appeared on Kenji's chest, going from one side of his torso to the other. The young man coughed up blood as he bled profusely through the large wound in his torso. While slowly falling down to the floor, he saw something shinny and metallic coming out of Ibiem's cloak. It was a sword, although a rather basic-looking one.

"(The hell? When did he...pull out that thing?)" Thought the young man before falling to the floor and reverting back to human

"To rush forward without thinking...It seems you're still lacking control over your emotions"

While Ibiem looked down at Kenji, the deity of sin slowly crawled out of the hole where she had been lying in. Her body was starting to crack and break down, but she could still do one last thing.

"If I must go….I will take you with me!" She said while slamming her hand against the ground

After that, the ground began to shake abruptly. If the deity of sin was to return to the realm of the dead, then at least she would make sure to take Kenji with her along with the entire graveyard. All the way to the bottom of the ocean.

Noticing the earthquake taking place, Ibiem looked around him for a moment before noticing Arfoire lying on the floor, already starting to shatter to pieces.

"I suppose she wasn't dead yet..." He said before looking at Kenji again "Young man, it seems our little chat will have to continue another day"

Ibiem then turned around and lifted his hand, opening a dark portal. But before entering, he looked over his shoulder to look at Kenji one more time.

"Oh, and about what I said of the CPUs. Hold no worry, it was simply a test to see how you'd react" He said while looking at Kenji laying on the ground "Now then, I'll be taking my leave...Let's try meeting another time, that is, if you make it out of here alive"

As he said those last words to the young man, Ibiem looked at the portal once more and walked through it. Shortly after that, the portal then closed. Leaving Kenji on the floor to bleed out.

"(Damn it...the hell was that guy? I couldn't do shit against him...!)" He thought before his strength began to fail him "(Ah man…I feel really sleepy all of a sudden...)"

Slowly, he could feel his body growing cold and his limbs going numb. The profuse bleeding was already doing its work on him.

"(maybe I should take a nap...)" He thought as he felt more and more exhausted "(yeah...I'll probably feel better after that...)"

As Kenji slowly closed his eyes, the world around him turned to pitch black darkness as his consciousness began to fade away. For a moment, he could feel himself slipping away into a deep dream, until he heard something in the distance. It was blurry and hard to understand at first, but soon the young man noticed it was a voice. A female voice that seemed to be calling for him.

"(Hm...who's that?)" He thought as he strained his ears to hear it better "(It's so loud...)"

The sound kept repeating itself constantly, like a heartbeat trying to echo through the grasp of death. And the more it beat, the clear this noise became. Right until it became completely clear. And it was then that the young man managed to hear the voice calling out to him, and the words she was saying.

(Kenny, let's eat pudding together!)

The second he heard Neptune's request, Kenji's eyes opened widely as he took deep breaths and felt his body once again.

He had remembered the most important thing of it all.

"(That's right...how could I forget…?)" Thought the young man while slowly forcing himself back up to his feet "(I made a promise...to eat pudding with her...)"

The young man then turned around and slowly walked towards the direction where Planeptune was.

With his profuse bleeding and exhaustion, every step felt heavier than the last one, and the numbness of his limbs only made it even worse. But despite his strong will, the wounds and the intense bleeding had brought his body way beyond their limits.

Not able to walk any longer, the young man fell down to the floor once again, but he then extended his arms and began dragging his body

Kenji refused to stop moving, he refused to give up. Even as his surroundings began to crumble down and the earth began to shatter, he would still keep moving, he would return to the others, he would return to his home no matter what. Even if he had to drag himself all the way back, he would keep his promise to her.

"(Just a little more...Just a little more...I just need to keep moving...a little more!)" Thought the young man while leaving a trail of blood behind him

"There he is! I found him!" Yelled a voice in the distance

After hearing someone, Kenji turned his head and saw Nepgear heading towards him, back in her human form

"Kenji!" said the CPU with utter shock and widened eyes

"Nepgear!"

After her, the other CPU candidates ran towards them along with Vert, Blanc and Noire.

"Kenji!" Said Uni and both twins in unison with shock equal to Purple Sister's

"Damn it! This is why we told you not to fight her alone!" Added Noire with an a mixture of anger and worry

Kenji slowly looked at them before speaking.

"…Why..."

"-are we here instead of running away?" Asked Vert to finish the young man's question that probably couldn't even do himself at the moment "I think you're looking down on us a bit too much, Kenji"

"We weren't planning to leave you behind, we were just waiting for our shares to replenish enough to join the fight" Explained Blanc

"Although judging by the scenery, I'd say he took care of it already" Added Noire while looking at the graveyard collapsing

"Erm...everyone? I think we should hurry up" Said Planeptune's CPU candidate while growing anxious at the sight of the ground a few feet from them cracking

"Nepgear is right. It's probably just a matter of time before the entire graveyard sinks down to the bottom of the ocean. And Kenji here needs some serious medical assistance..." Said Vert while looking at the young man before looking now at the other CPUs "All right, it seems we'll have to carry him if we wish to get him out of here alive"

"Seriously, you're such a troublesome guy sometimes" Said Lastation's CPU after sighing

"Nepgear, you and Rom will have to use your healing skills while we carry him to keep his condition from getting any worse than this"

"We'll do our best!" Said Nepgear after nodding.

"I won't let him die..." Added Rom with a determined look in her eyes "Leave the healing to me...!"

"Well said...Now then. At the count of three"

The CPUs then turned Kenji around and grabbed him carefully by the limbs. Noire and Blanc would lift his arms while Uni and Ram would handle the legs and Vert would handle the head and shoulders.

"One, two, three!" Said all the CPUs in unison while lifting the young man off the ground

"He...He's even heavier than he looks..." Said Blanc while using the little strength she had left to carry him

The CPUs quickly ran away while carrying the young man and both Rom and Nepgear would try to heal them as best as they could. Slowly, he closed his eyes as his worn out body could handle no more.

*Meanwhile, outside of of the graveyard*

The sound of crumbling ground and destruction in the distance caused Magic to wake up. As she slowly opened her eye and looked around her, the leader of ASIC saw she was moving. But she couldn't feel her legs moving. When looking down, she saw Linda was carrying her away from the graveyard.

"You?" She said weakly

"Ah, Master Magic! You woke up!" Said Linda, who felt glad Magic didn't kick the bucket yet

Turning her head around, Magic could see the graveyard crumbling down into the ocean. Seeing that scene gave her a sense of sadness and failure, but there was also something else within her mind. If she was there right now, then that meant only one thing. Linda must have returned to the graveyard and sneaked Magic out at some point during Kenji's fight against Arfoire.

"Chu...This thing is really heavy-chu!" Said Warechu, who was carrying Magic's scythe

"Don't complain, at least we made it out alive" Replied the underling

"You...Why did you help me?"

"Why? Well...I ain't really one for touching crap or stuff like that, but I wouldn't just run away and leave you to die"

"Why?"

"Because….I think you're really baddass, and I look up to you a lot" Admitted Linda while blushing

Magic's eye widened for a moment. It seemed as thought her suspicions about the underling's feelings towards her were right after all. But she was more shocked at the fact that, despite what Magic did to her, Linda still risked her life to save her.

"Young girl...what's your name?"

"Eh? Ah, it's Linda"

"I see…Thank you, Linda..."

The underling quickly turned her head to confirm if what she hear was not just an illusion, but after seeing Magic's expression, the underling knew it was real.

"We-Well, it's nothing really. I am your underling after all" She said while blushing with a smile

While the underling carried her away from the graveyard. Magic began to understand a bit more why the other felons had developed different personalities.

"(Emotions...Perhaps they aren't so bad after all…)" Thought the woman while making a smile for the first time in her life.

Going forward a few days later…

The young man suddenly opened his eyes and after waking up. Looking around him, he saw it was his room in Planeptune's tower.

"(Eh? What happened?)" He thought for a moment before recalling the events that took place in the graveyard "That's right! The deity of sin!"

Kenji quickly sat up, but the throbbing pain he felt in his gut stopped him from getting up.

"Ugh! What the…?" He said to himself while looking down at his body.

He was covered from head to toe in bandages. This odd and meticulous technique was, without a doubt, Compa's handiwork.

Kenji placed his hand over the bandages and analyzed his wounds for a moment before remembering what happened.

"Oh, right...I won against her, and then that guy appeared..."

While he wondered about the cloaked figure, the door suddenly opened. Kenji raised his head to look and saw Compa entering the room with a set of clean, new bandages.

"Ah! Kenji, you're finally awake!" Said Compa with glee after seeing the young man sitting on the bed

The young nurse then placed the set of bandages on the bed and left the room to tell the good news to the others while Kenji looked at the bandages.

"(I'm really glad I woke up now...)" He thought while sweat dropping

Waking up a few minutes later would have probably created a very uncomfortable situation.

Without delay, Compa returned with the CPUs and the CPU candidates accompanying her along with IF and Histoire.

"Good day, Kenji. How are you feeling?" Asked Vert with a smile

"Good I guess..." He answered while scratching the back of his head "For how long did I sleep?"

"Five days, But the doctors said it'd take weeks for you to wake up" Explained Blanc

"Why is everyone here?"

"Isn't it obvious? We were waiting for you to wake up" Answered Noire calmly before Kenji looked at her "Do-Don't get the wrong idea, though! I also just happened to visit for some business related to Lastation today! it's not like we've been visiting every few days to check on you or anything like that!"

While Lastation's CPU crossed her arms and looked away, Kenji and Uni both looked at her and sweat dropped.

"Wait..." Said the young man after realizing something "Where's Neptune?"

"Big sister? She's right-Eh?" Said Nepgear while turning her head to look at Neptune, but noticed she wasn't in the room with them "Where's Neptune?"

"I'm not sure, she was with us just a moment ago" Said IF while feeling confused

"Move it, move it! Protag coming through!"

"Wha-Whoa!?" Said the guild member as she suddenly had to move aside to avoid Neptune, who was running at full speed into the room

"Hey Kenny! How are you feeling?" Asked planeptune's CPU with a smile

"Like someone tried to mummify me while I was asleep" Answered the young man bluntly

"Yeah, that's usual when Compa's doing the patching up"

Despite not looking like it, Kenji felt very relieved of seeing Neptune back on her feet and still as perky as always.

"Anyway, I have something special for you" She said while searching through her pockets and then taking something out to hand over to Kenji "Here you go!"

Kenji looked at the object In Neptune's hand and his eyes widened.

"A pudding?"

"Yeah! You just beat the big boss in this arc, so what better way to celebrate than with some good ol' pudding!? I even brought one for me!" She said while showing him a second one, both of them were chocolate flavored and each with a plastic spoon ready.

Everyone looked at Kenji, wondering what would happen, and he could notice these stares.

*(I see...so that's how it is...)" Thought the young man for a moment with his eyes closed

Even if he had yet to know who Ibiem was, or what his intentions were. That didn't matter right now. ASIC had been dealt with for good, Arfoire had been defeated, and Gamindustry would be in peace for the time being. That was more than enough for the him to feel satisfied for now.

And the best of it all, Neptune was already in top shape again.

"Hey Kenny..."

Kenji then opened his eyes and looked at Neptune.

"Yes?"

"Let's eat them together!"

The young man looked at her with widened eyes for a moment before his expression returned to normal. He wondered if Planeptune's CPU had overheard part of what he said to her while she was sleeping, or if this was just her usual behavior again. Either way, he didn't bother thinking too much about it.

"Sure thing!" He answered cheerfully

Kenji then extended his hand, took the pudding and looked at Neptune with a smile. Feeling truly happy for the firs time in many years. Happy of being able to eat his favorite food with his very first friend.

* * *

 **Note from the author: 8/28/16**

 **Hello everyone. This is the end of the first arc or "part", which I thought about nicknaming "the ASIC arc". I just wanted to take a bit of time to thank you for reading up to this point. By the way, I recently opened a poll regarding the following arcs. If you feel like it, please check my profile and vote. Anyway, hope you enjoyed today's chapter and see you next week.**


	14. Prelude to a new storm

**Note from the author: 10/03/2016**

 **Hey everyone, hope you're doing okay. Sorry if this chapter is a bit all over the place. I'm still fleshing out some parts of this arc as I go and this week has been rather rowdy.**

 **Anyway, I'll try to make next sunday's chapter a bit better. Hope you can enjoy this one. And by the way, the voting is already closed. Thanks to everyone that voted and don't worry if you didn't vote. As long as you enjoy reading my story, I'm happy.**

* * *

The people of Planeptune went by, dealing with their everyday lives. While on the blue skies high above, Kenji flew around at a rather lax speed. He didn't bother checking the streets below him while flying towards Planeptune's tower.

Three months passed since the fight against Arfoire and ASIC's defeat. The destruction left behind by the battles they waged in Leanbox and Planeptune caused a period of turmoil on both nations along with many wounded both physically and mentally. But without the influence of ASIC or the fear of an impending doom, the people quickly stood back up and began rebuilding what little they had. In a month and half, Leanbox was already back in its feet. Planeptune, on the other hand, suffered far more destruction and would probably need a week or so for it to be fully repaired.

"(Man...that quest sure was a letdown...)" He thought to himself after sighing with disappointment

Unfortunately, this series of events came with certain results that weren't very favorable for a few individuals like Kenji. After the destruction of the Gamindustry graveyard, the number of monsters surrounding the nations decreased considerably. Not only did this lower the amount of job Kenji could get at the guild, but also the amounts of credits he could earn. The number of mighty and powerful monsters decreased as well, but the young man fortunately still had the modified CPU breaker left in Caelum's secret chamber to help him train. And even if his economic situation had turned a bit harder, at least Gamindustry was at peace. He tried making that thought go through his head all the way until finally reaching Planeptune's tower and landing on the balcony. Once he had set foot on solid ground, Kenji reverted back to human before entering.

"I'm ba-" He said before being abruptly cut off by Histoire's yelling

"Neptune-san! How many times have I told you this already!?"

Kenji raised his head and saw the oracle lecturing Neptune.

"Oh, come on Histy! You're exaggerating!"

"How am I exaggerating!? In the last three months, you have hardly done anything noteworthy! Despite all the paperwork piling up, you just make Nepgear do it all and run off to slack off everyday!"

"That's…well…" Said Neptune while looking around her in hopes of finding a way out before noticing Kenji "Ah! It's Kenny!"

The oracle turned her head for a second to look at Kenji.

"Oh, welcome back Kenji-san"

"Yeah, I'm back..." He said while raising his hand shortly before lowering it again

"Kenny! Help this little Nep get out of a pinch!" Said Planeptune's CPU as she quickly got behind him to shield herself from Histoire "Histy is being a total Pisty right now!"

"(Pisty...?)" thought Kenji while looking at her for a moment

Lately, Neptune seemed to have developed the habit of giving people different nicknames depending on the situation. One example would be when Kenji shaved his beard. It was hardly more than some overgrown fluf on his face, but it always got itchy as hell whenever he would sweat after training. Tired of it, Kenji decided to just shave it all off one day. Most people saw it as a pleasant surprise since not only did it make him look younger, but it always made him look rather good. Even the young man had to admit he liked the new look. Or at least that was how he felt until Neptune started calling him "Smoothny" for nearly a week before dropping it off and returning to calling him Kenny.

"So, what did she do this time?" He asked while looking at the Oracle

"She keeps avoiding her work and makes Nepgear do all of it while she slacks off (-_-)"

"Same as always, huh?"

"Hey, you're making it sound like this is an everyday thing!" Said Planeptune's CPU with a slightly angry expression

"That's because it is" Answered both the young man and the tome rather bluntly with an amazingly good synch while looking at her

"Nepu! Even Kenny joined the Pisty side!?"

"Seriously, why can't you just be more like the other CPUs? Or at least more Like Nepgear?" Asked the tome with her head lowered and her eyes closed

"Histoire-san, just let it go already. There's no point in lecturing her any longer" Said Kenji while Neptune nodded in agreement behind her "Anything you say to this idiot goes in one ear and out of the other anyway"

"Rude!" Snarled Neptune, who felt offended by Kenji's remark

Histoire went silent for a moment before sighing with resignation

"I guess you're right, Kenji-san" Said the tome while rubbing her temples with her index and middle fingers in an attempt to ease the rising headache "I might as well go to sleep (=_=)"

After seeing the tome leave, Neptune got some distance from Kenji and sighed with relief.

"Man...I'm just glad that's over" She said while sweat dropping

Normally, Histoire's lectures would last hours on no end. But today the endless rumbling was avoided thanks to Kenji's intervention.

"You know, maybe she wouldn't lecture you so much if you actually WORKED a little" said the young man while looking at her

"I don't wanna! Working is boring! It takes gaming, manga and napping time away from me!" Complained Planeptune's CPU with a pouty face

Kenji lowered his head and sighed. No matter how much anyone tried, Neptune refused to work. But Histoire also refused to give up on the goal of making Neptune an ideal and hardworking CPU, or at least a decent one. This clash of different ideals always resulted in Histoire lecturing Neptune, and the CPU completely ignoring her words. Only for this cycle to repeat endlessly nearly everyday.

"Well if you really want her to stop lecturing you, you'll need to get shares. And quests aren't exactly a good option right now"

As far as Kenji knew, there were only two ways to earn shares. One was through hard work and the other was through quests. Neptune hated working with a passion, and the decreased number of quests resulted after the destruction of the graveyard made the latter option much less viable than before. Neptune thought long and hard what to do, but couldn't come up with anything.

"Kenji-san?"

Both of them turned their heads and saw Nepgear entering through the hallway.

"Nepgear?"

"Ah, Kenji-san! There you are!" Said the CPU candidate while beaming at the young man before approaching him

"And so, the young CPU candidate approached the man she had come to love over the course of the last few months. Glad to receive his husband with a lover's kiss once again"

"O-One-chan! Please don't say things that will confuse the reader!" Quickly replied Nepgear while blushing like a red pepper

"Sorry, sorry. I just wanted to build a better mood" Said the CPU with a smile while Kenji looked at Neptune and sweat dropped for a moment before looking at Nepgear again.

"So, what did you need me for?"

"Ah, that's right" Said the CPU candidate before searching inside her pockets and taking out a CD with a picture of 5pb in the front of the case "Here, this arrived in the mail this morning"

"Oh, thanks. I've been waiting for it" Said Kenji with a smile while taking the disk from the CPU candidate

"Oh!? What's that, what's that!?" Asked the CPU with great curiosity while moving around Kenji in an attempt to get a better view of the object he just received

Although the young man became more light-hearted after the fight against Arfoire and Neptune's recovery, it was still uncommon for him to smile often.

Planeptune's CPU assumed it had to be something good if it could get a smile out of him so easily.

"It's a music CD" He answered while showing her the case "5pb released a new album last week, so I ordered a copy online"

"5pb, isn't that an idol?" Asked Planeptune's CPU with a surprised expression

"I was surprised too. I didn't know Kenji-san liked idols"

"I saw one of her concerts while I was on Leanbox and I ended up liking her songs"

"(Idols...)" thought Neptune while Kenji explained his new taste in music to Nepgear

Planeptune's CPU thought about what her younger sister said for a moment before a shock of creativity hit her

"I got it!"

Surprised by Neptune's sudden yelling, both Kenji and Nepgear looked at her.

"What's wrong, One-chan?"

"I finally figured it out now!"

"What are you talking about now?" Asked the young man, who was completely lost as to what the CPU was trying to explain between her excitement and constant jumping

"Like-I-said!" Said Planeptune's CPU slowly, feeling annoyed that Kenji wasn't understanding her genius idea "I finally figured out how to get shares! And not just a few, but lots of them!"

"Really? How?"

"Simple! Me and will do a concert as idols!" Explained Planeptune's CPU while pointing at her younger sister

"Eh?" Said the CPU candidate before a moment of silence ensued between that and her following reaction "EHHH!?"

"You can't be serious..." added Kenji while sweat dropping

"Of course I'm serious! I'm seriously serious!"

Kenji knew Neptune would get some crazy ideas sometimes, but he could tell this time she was serious about it. Her ridiculous way of answering was more than enough proof of it.

"One-chan, there's no way I can do something like that!" quickly replied an alarmed Nepgear

"Don't worry , I have it all under control!"

"Being an idol is not that easy, you know..." Said Kenji while fondling his arms

"I keep telling you, I have it all under control!"

"Oh really?" Asked Kenji with a raised eyebrow

He then began mentioning the various requirements needed to become an idol to Neptune while counting each of them with his fingers.

"First of all, you need to be attractive"

"No problem! I'm the cutest Nep out there and can charm the guys like a pudding charms my taste buds!"

"You need to be good at singing"

"Piece of cake! Just listen to my angelical voice!" She said while preparing to sing "LaLaLaLaLaLaLaaaaa!"

Neptune's attempt to sing caused a moment of silence, but not the good kind of silence.

"One-chan..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

The death screams let out by some of the monsters she slayed were more pleasant to the ear than her elder sister's attempt to sing.

"You need to be a good dancer" Said Kenji after a moment of silence

"Just call me Nep Nep Revolution!"

"(At least she didn't dance)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping with some relief before counting the final one "And most importantly, you need a manager"

"I already have one!"

"What kind of idiot would agree to-?" Snarled Kenji until he noticed the way Neptune kept staring at him "...Oh..."

It hardly took the young man any effort to understand he had been chosen as the man for the job. At first he tried refusing, but Neptune kept insisting until he agreed. Kenji then tried to rely on the chance of the other two refusing, but Nepgear was quite weak to pressure and, although Histoire refused at first, she couldn't deny the offer of getting more shares and the hopes that all that hard work would make Planeptune's CPU more diligent was very tempting. The following days were filled with endless idol training. From singing to dancing to even going out into the streets to spread fliers, Neptune worked diligently everyday to make sure her concert would be a success. At first everyone believed she'd get bored and go back to gaming, but they were soon proven wrong and even amazed by the CPU. On the day of the concert, countless people attended.

"Amazing, there's so many people here!" Said Compa with amazement while seeing the crowds around

"That Neptune...she really can do some amazing things when she puts her mind on it" Added IF while sweat dropping

"Everyone! Thank you for coming to our concert!" Said Neptune as she ran into the stage with Nepgear on her side, both of them wearing pink idol clothes "Today we'll be singing for you as a reward for working so hard in rebuilding Planeptune. Make sure you enjoy it!"

And in accordance to Neptune's signal, the music started. During the concert, the young man looked at the Planeptune sisters and felt honestly impressed. Despite her lazy nature, Neptune not only managed to gather this many people but also became good enough at singing and dancing to be on par with any idol. Kenji, on the other hand, felt rather useless. Even though he was the manager, the young man didn't do much. Keeping track of the schedules and watching over the sisters while they practiced was pretty much it.

As the concert went on, everything seemed to be going well. Or at least it did until the clouds over the stage began to darken.

"Why is the sky getting so gloomy?" Asked Compa while raising her head and looking at the sky

"Looks like a storm is on its way" Answered IF while looking at the clouds with a stern expression

"No way! If mister rain falls down now, the concert will be ruined!"

It wouldn't take much longer for the concert to end. But if the rain fell down on them right now, it would be a rather damp ending.

"I've got to admit it's saddening too, but it's not like we can push the clouds away"

Suddenly, IF's words gave Kenji an idea. It might be somewhat crazy, but it could probably work. He inmmediately transformed and flew high up into the skies above the concert.

"(All right, time to be a manager)" Thought Kenji before summoning his sword and getting ready

"What is Kenji-san doing?"

"Hey, don't tell me he's going to do what I think he's going to do..."

Kenji looked down at the crowds for a moment before looking at the cloud again.

"(I hope this doesn't cause a panic)" He thought while sweat dropping before yelling out his attack and slashing towards the cloud "Crescent Sapphirus!"

The crescent wave of energy released by the slash his the clouds and managed tu push them away, dispersing them enough to avoid the rain and make the sun shine again.

"Whoa! Kenji-san pushed the clouds away!" Said an amazed Compa

"I was just kidding when I said pushing the clouds..." Added IF while sweat dropping

"Iffy-chan, look!"

A few seconds after the clouds dispersed, the remaining particles leftover from the Crescent Sapphirus rained down on the stage, creating a beautiful rain effect that worked as the final closure for the concert's end.

"Ahhh, it's so pretty!"

"That guy really does some crazy stuff when he wants to" Said IF while siling and placing her lef hand on her hips

"(okay, now I feel like a proper manager)" Thought the young man while resting his sword on his shoulder before looking down at the Planeptune sisters and simling

The concert ended up being a success and Planeptune's shares multiplied tenfold. Once the Planeptune sisters got off stage and changed back to their usual clothes, everyone met at the tower where they were received by a happy histoire.

"Well done, Neptune-san, nepgear-san!" Said Histoire with a gleeful expression

"See!? I told you it would work!"Replied Neptune with both hands on her hips and a proud tone in her voice

"Dancing and singing in front of so many people was embarassing at first, but it got really fun after a bit!"

"You really got into it around halfway through" Said Kenji while looking at her

At the start, Nepgear's dancing was a bit sloppy but she quickly got a lot better once she got in the mood.

"I'm really glad you understood the value of hard work, Neptune. I hope to see your working hard from now on"

"Eh? No way, Histy! Being an idol is different from working!" Said Planeptune's CPU before turning her head to look at Nepgear "Nepgear, let's go play some games!"

"Eh? One-chan, wait for me!"

And with that, both sisters left.

"(I guess that's about it...)" Thought the young man before looking at Histoire "Well, at least we got some shares out of that, didn't-"

Kenji's words stopped after he saw the oracle. She was still smiling, but the blood pouring out of her mouth said something else.

"Yes...we did..." She said slowly

"Histoire-san!? Get a hold of yourself!"

While the young man quickly took Histoire to Compa, the oracle could only fear for the future of Planeptune's people.

Meanwhile, in a place far, far away. Croire floated down a long and seemingly endless hallway while looking at her surroundings.

"Man, this place creeps the hell out of me everytime I'm here" Said the floating tome

Although she disliked the place she was heading to, Croire could not deny the summons of the man that called for her. Doing so would cost the tome her life, or even worse than that. Once finally reaching a large door, she looked at it for a moment before it made a heavy noise and opened.

"Come in..."

"Ye-Yes"

Inside, there was a large room with a carpet going from the door to a large throne made out of black metal with neon blue trims at the end of a staircase. On that staircase, seven figures of different sizes and statures stood on the each staircase. Three of them on each side and one right next to the throne. And on the throne sat Ibiem. He was now using a black cloak with neon blue accents and, just like the rest of his followers, he was covered by the darkness the lights on the walls didn't reach.

"So, I see you arrived well. Tome of Tari..." Said Ibiem while looking down at her

"Yeah, did ya need me?" Said Croire before noticing the vicious look the figure next to Ibiem gave her "I mean, did you need something from me?"

"Matter of fact, I do" He said before opening a small control panel on the arm of his throne and touching a few buttons, causing a large blue crystal on the roof to glow and broadcast an holographic scene in the center of the throne room "I'm certain you remember this man"

The hologram seemed to be a recording of Kenji in his human form walking around a street.

"That's the man you told me to give the CPU memory to, right?"

"That's correct, and he seems to have developed his powers rather well over the course of these last few months"

After Ibiem mentioned Kenji's growth, the hologram changed. It showed Kenji in his HDD form, and then his fights against monsters, his training with Falcom, the duels against the CPUs, the four felons and even his fight against the deity of sin. Finishing with an image of him in his awakened HDD form

"I bet I can make a good sketch out of him-meow!" Said the shortest figure on the left row

"Doesn't look like that much of a big deal to me" Added the figure next to the shortest one while fondling his arms

"A rather common thing for a foolish man to say" Said the middle figure on the right row while lowering his head and closing his eyes

"What was that?"

Seeing two of his followers were already staring at each other with the intent to kill, Ibiem spoke with a lower tone.

"Silence"

"So-Sorry..." Said both figures while straightening up with slight fear

"Meager arguing aside..." Said the tallest figure on the right row, who now looked at Kenji "This young man shows a rather interesting potential, but that as well means he represents an equally potential threat"

"Should we get rid of him, Ibiem-sama?" Asked the figure standing next to the throne while looking at his master

"Not yet, for now we'll watch" Said Ibiem before looking at Croire again "And you, I have a job for you regarding Tari's CPU"

"Rei!?" Said the tome with widened eyes "It's no use, old ma-I mean- Ibiem-sama! That idiot gave up on being a CPU long ago and hardly has any power left!"

Ibiem took something from within his cloak

"I think you are aware of what this is?" He said while opening his fist, showing a Purple CPU memory powered with an eerie dark aura

"That's...Rei's-!"

"There's another version of that woman in the same dimension as his. I'm sure you'll know what to do with this"

Although confused at first, Croire quickly understood Ibiem's request and agreed with it. After the tome took the CPU memory and left while feeling excited with what kind of chaos this would cause, Ibiem and his followers went silent before looking at the hologram of Kenji in his HDD form.

"You bested the corrupted..." He said as the eyes of the figures around him began to glow with power symbols on them while looking at the hologram "How will you fare against the maddened, young man?"

As he asked the question to the hologram, Ibiem's eyes glowed brightly like sapphires with a power symbol on each eye.

Scene*

Kenji laid down on the grass while relaxing under the sunlight. There weren't many quests available today, so he decided to just take it easy for now. Unfortunately, that relaxing time was soon interrupted by his portable device.

"Hello?" He said while answering

"Kenji-san?"

On the small screen appeared Nepgear, who seemed to be outside in the streets of Planeptune.

"What's wrong?"

"Kenji-san, have you seen One-chan?"

"No...why?"

"We were supposed to be doing a ques together, but she ran off while I wasn't looking..."

"And now you want me to help you find her, right?" He asked while raising an eyebrow

"...Please! Histoire-san will get very angry if she finds out!"

The young man looked at Planeptune's CPU candidate lowering her head for a moment before sighing.

"Okay, I'll help you"

"Sorry for the inconvenience..."

"Don't be, I didn't have anything to do anyway" He said before hanging up and getting on his feet

Kenji then proceeded to search for Neptune. He searched through the streets of Planeptune, the arcades, the manga shops, and even her secret hiding spot in the Virtua forest, but it was to no avail.

"Okay, enough conventional searching" He said before accessing HDD "Time to do it the Kenji way"

Since searching the old fashioned way didn't work, he decided to find her using the best way he knew. With his sensory powers.

The young man flew all the way up to the top of a skyscraper and stood on the tip of the antenna before closing his eyes and focusing. The world around him darkened for a moment, but hundreds of dozens of lights appeared one after the other within seconds. Starting from the closest around him to those further away, all the way to the outskirts of Planeptune.

At first Kenji wasn't able to understand this ability very well, but he soon came to learn better about it. Mostly two things. First that the lights he could see weren't just people's life force, they were the shares produced by their bodies and the shares produced by the CPUs weren't only far more potent, but also had a distinctive feeling that differentiated them not only from normal humans but also from each other. And second, this power worked similarly to a sonar. The higher he was, the clearer the signal would be.

"(She's not within the Nation?)" He thought after carefully looking at all the individuals around Planeptune and its surroundings

After double checking and making sure he didn't commit a mistake, Kenji opened his eyes and looked around him. If she wasn't here, then there was only answer.

"Damn, what a troublesome goddess" Muttered the young man before taking flight towards Lastation first

Being able to fly was very conventional for moving around. Things like travelling from one nation to the others would usually take at least a few hours, but now it would hardly take minutes. The young man felt glad for having this power despite the difficulty to control it at first.

Once arriving on Lastation, Kenji didn't waste a second and went straight into Noire's office. She was handling paperwork as always while Uni placed a new pile on the desk.

"Sorry for the intrusion" Said the young man to announce his presence to the Lastation sisters, who raised their heads to look at him

"Ah, it's Kenji-kun" said Uni while beaming at him

"Do you need something?" Asked Lastation's CPU after raising her head to look at him

"Yeah, I was wondering if Neptune was here recently"

"Neptune? Not really, I've been here all day long"

"I see"

"Did something happen?"

"She ran out of Planeptune to skip work"

"Same old, I guess..." Said Noire while sweat dropping

Lastation's CPU knew Neptune very well. While she didn't put running off to fool around below her, Noire didn't think she would escape her own nation just to avoid working.

"If you're looking for Nepgear's One-chan, then she was here just a moment ago" Said the CPU candidate

"Really? did she say where she went to?"

"I think she said something about Vert-san and borrowing games"

"Oh, okay. Thanks"

"Kenji-kun"

Kenji turned around and was heading towards the exit until Noire called out to him.

"Yeah?" He asked while turning his head around to look at her

"You know, my offer to join Lastation is still up if you're interested." She said before lowering her head and making a confident smirk "I'm sure having ME as your superior would be far more easier than that lazy idiot"

A moment of silence ensued before Kenji turned his head around and spoke while scratching the back of his head

"Sorry, but i already made up my mind about that"

"I see..."

"Well then, I'll be on my way now"

The young man quietly left while the CPU candidate looked at him and then at her elder sister, who was staring intently at the doorway even after he was already gone.

Slowly, Noire began recalling the past. While still recovering, Kenji asked for Vert, Blanc and Noire to see him in his room while saying it was about the nation he would choose. The three CPUs didn't hesitate to go there and hear his decision, although they already had in mind what he might have chosen.

"Well? Did you decided already?" Asked Vert

"Yeah, I did..." Said the young man while looking down for a moment before looking at them again "You see, I really liked your nations. But I think I'll be staying here for the time being after all..."

The CPUs were a bit taken aback by this, but decided to agree with his decision without arguing. After all, Neptune did much more for Kenji than any of them. Not only did she help him at the start when she had no reason to do so, she also risked her life and nearly got herself killed to save him. That was something they weren't sure if they could or would do for him, at least not so readily.

"(I guess it can't be helped)" Thought Noire while lowering her head and closing her eyes for a moment

Besides from gratitude, respect or loyalty. Lastation's CPU, just like the other two, felt Kenji's decision to remain in Planeptune was because of something other than that.

While Noire and Uni returned to their work, the young man had already made his way to Vert's Mansion in Leanbox. He entered and quickly found Vert in her room, playing an MMO with one hand on the controller and a cup of coffee in the other.

"Come on, advance! Don't let them recover!" Ordered Leanbox's CPU through the microphone connected to her earphones

"(Does this woman ever sleep?)" Thought the young man before approaching Vert and patting her on the shoulder

Although it surprised her at first, the CPU soon beamed at Kenji after noticing it was him.

"Oh, Kenji-kun. What a surprise to see you here" She said while covering the microphone with her hand after putting the cup of coffee on the night table

"Yeah...where's Chika?"

Although Kenji was looking for Neptune, it was odd not seeing Chika being with Vert. As she would always spend all the free time she had with her.

"Chika? I think she's downtown handling a small commotion. Something about a factory's workers threatening to jump off the roof it their demands aren't met"

"Ooookay..." Said the young man while sweat dropping "And why are you here instead of there then?"

"I'm sure Chika can handle it. Besides, I've been waiting for this game's release for days already. There's no way I would lose a single second of it!"

While looking at the flaming will to game the days away within Vert's eyes, Kenji looked at her for a moment before lowering his head and sighing. In a way, Vert was even worse than Neptune sometimes. But if she said Chika can handle it, it's probably because she can.

"(Well, as long as she can handle it. I guess it'll be okay...)"

Meanwhile...

"I'll jump! I swear I will, damn it!" Yelled an angry middle-aged man from a rooftop

"Wa-Wait a second! Let's not get hasty here!" Yelled Chika with widened eyes while extending her palms towards them in an attempt to make them stop "It's just a bad month for economy, that's all!"

While the workers lined up on the edge of the rooftop, the oracle desperately tried to convince them not to do it among the sounds of the crowds that arrived to watch and the police attempting to break into the building and stop the suicidal attempt.

"No more lies!"

"Yeah! You said that last month too!"

The workers began yelling "raise in pay or death!" constantly while Chika lowered her head and closed her eyes

"(Uhhh, Vert One-sama! I really need help right now!)" She thought while making a sad expression

Back to Vert's mansion...

"Anyway, have you seen Neptune?"

"Neptune? She was here a moment ago, but left shortly before you arrived"

"Any idea where she went to?"

"She mentioned she'd go to Lowee"

"Ah, okay. I'll be going then"

"Okay, make sure you close the door" Said Vert while turning around and returning to her game

The young man looked at Leanbox's CPU and sweat dropped one more time before turning around and leaving the mansion. On his way out of Leanbox. he could see something that looked like a commotion happening downtown, but it already seemed to be calming down.

"(Guess she's not an oracle for nothing)" Thought the young man before looking forward again and speeding up

He quickly reached Lowee and hastily entered the castle, hoping to catch Neptune. But the first thing he received when entering the castle wasn't Planeptune's CPU or at least a warm welcome. Rather, he was received by a flying book that nearly hit him right in the forehead.

"Whoa!" Said the young man while moving sideways

"Eh? that didn't sound like One-chan..." Said Ram while getting out of hiding

"That's because I'm not" he replied while looking at her and sweat dropping

"Kenji-kun? Why are you here?"

"I'm just looking for someone"

"And who would that be?"

When hearing Blanc's voice, the young man turned around and saw her entering the room along with Rom.

"Kenji-san, good day" Said Rom with a smile

"Hello, Ram-chan" Answered the young man with a similar smile

Usually people would be unable to understand how two twins that looked so similar were so different in appearance, but Kenji soon came to understand it was actually rather logical. While Ram was the one to annoy, anger or even physically hurt people through her extreme pranks, Rom would be the one to calm them down and heal them. A really nice way to balance out both personalities.

"You didn't answer my question..."

"Ah, sorry..." Said Kenji while now looking at Blanc before noticing Mina wasn't with them "...By the way, where's Mina?"

"She said something about going on a trip to harden her resolve as a mentor before leaving a few days ago"

A moment of silence fell on the room. Kenji had no idea how to answer to that.

"I-I see...Anyway, have you seen Neptune?"

"She was here a while ago, but already left"

Hearing the same thing for the third time. The young man lowered his head and sighed.

"Okay, thanks..." He said before quietly leaving

Once out of the castle and of Lowee, the young man decided to return to Planeptune. In the end, it was all just a waste of time. When finally returning to Planeptune, Kenji felt his stomach rumbling. After spending hours flying aimlessly from one nation to the other, it was just a given he'd get hungry.

"(Guess I'll pay the old man a visit before meeting up with Nepgear)"

The young man then searched around before finding the old man's ramen shop and quickly headed there. He landed in front, reverted to human before entering.

"Hey old man-"

"Owner-san, one more bowl!" Said a perky girl after just finishing her last bowl

"One pork bowl, coming right up!"

He blinked a few times before realizing what he was looking at. Neptune, who he had been looking everywhere for, was sitting in his stool and ordering food.

"Here ya go Missy" Said the owner while picking up the empty bowl and replacing it for a filled one

"Thank you!"

While Neptune began chomping down the pork as if there were no tomorrow, the owner leaned his arm on the counter and looked at her.

"I've got to say. It's rare to see ya alone around here. Normally you're always with sonny when coming here"

"Kenny? I'm not sure where he's at, but I got really hungry after coming back from visiting some friends and I thought about eating here before meeting up with my baby sister" Said Planeptune's CPU after taking a breather from eating

It seemed as thought both of them had the same idea. Kenji began walking towards Neptune, until the owner spoke agian.

"By the way Missy, how are ya going to pay all these?" He asked while pointing at the tower of empty bowls

"Don't worry, just put it on Kenny's tab!"

"(Eh?)"

"Eh?"

"Yeah! Kenny is an usual around here, so I thought I could just come around whenever I felt like it and put it on his tab!" Explaned the CPU with a confident smirk and her eyes closed before opening them and looking at him "I call it "the Kenny piggy bank"!"

A moment of silence fell on the shop. The owner sweat dropped while kenji closed his eyes, raised his hand up to face level and clenched it into a fist.

"Perfect! Don't you think!?"

"Neptune...!" Said Kenji slowly and with a low tone

"Ah?"

Planeptune's CPU turned her head and saw the young man standing behind her. His eyes were closed and he was just frowning, but it would be impossible not to notice the burning rage within him

"Kenny?"

"Just tell me something..."

"Kenny...san?"

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE CALLING A PIGGY BANK!?"

"Nepu!"

Scene*

Nepgear walked between Kenji and Neptune down a street while sweat dropping. Neptune didn't seem specially annoyed or anything, but the gloomy mood was not exactly what she liked. Kenji, on the other hand, looked rather if not very annoyed.

"(...What happened between these two?)" Wondered the CPU candidate with worry

A few minutes earlier*

Nepgear waited on the accorded location to meet with Kenji and Neptune after she called her. The CPU candidate wouldn't have been surprised if the two arrived together since they would have to take the same route, but what she didn't expect was to see a very angry Kenji walking towards her while carrying Neptune over his shoulder.

"Ke-Kenji-san? Did something happen?"

"Nothing at all" Replied the young man calmly while putting down the CPU "Right, Neptune?"

"Ye-Yeah...nothing at all..."

When she saw them at that moment, Nepgear knew something happened. But there was no way she could ask without starting something bad.

"Hey, Kenny. You're still angry?" Asked Neptune while leaning her upper body forward slightly and turning her head sideways to look at him

"No"

"(He's definitely still angry...)" Thought Planeptune's CPU while sweat dropping

Despite his fast and calm answer, it was easy to tell he was still upset just by looking at his eyes. Kenji was already used to Neptune doing things like these, but after he acknowledged her as a friend. It did feel pretty upsetting to be referred to as a piggy bank.

"Oh, come on! I already said I was sorry!"

"If you're really sorry, then pay me back all the credits you owe me"

"Fine! How much do I owe ya!?"

"24, 450 credits"

"Eh!? That much!?" Said Nepgear with shock

What the CPU candidate didn't know was that Neptune ate like if there was no tomorrow every time she went with him. It was just a rough calculation he made with the help of the old man, but it was probably something close to it.

"Fine! I'll show you this Nep has the golden touch!" Replied the confident CPU before looking at her younger sister "Nepgear, what's the quest Histy gave us again?

"Ah! Ri-right!" Said the CPU candidate while snapping out of it and taking the request Histoire gave to her beforehand out of her pocket and reading it out loud "Let's see...Here it says there's a protest led by a person called Rei Ryghts happening a few blocks from here and the noise if bothering a lot of people"

"All right, time to Nep up some protesters!"

Neptune then ran towards the street Nepgear mentioned at full speed while the CPU candidate chased after her.

"One-chan, wait for us!"

Kenji looked at the two sisters running for a moment and sighed before going after them.

Meanwhile, on the supposed "Protest" site...*

"Erm, go-good day. Would you be interested in hearing our group's-"

"Hey, move it!"

"So-sorry, I'm sorry!"

Rei Ryghts, a civil rights activist , was spreading pamphlets. Or at least trying to.

She was tall girl with fair-skin and light green eyes. Her hair was pale silver, almost blue-ish in appearance and it had neatly combed bangs that that reached down to her ears and framed her face along with strands of hair worn down and straight that reached down to her chest. The rest of it flowed outwards and was more or less waist-length.

She was wearing a black attire similar to a business suit and white accessories. It consisted of a black suit top that almost resembled a skirt or dress at the end of the jacket,with a white shirt beneath it and black tie, with big black and white piece shoulder attachments with blue accents and a loose white belt. It had a skull without jaw or nostrils directly below it, along with a thin white cloth over her lower half. She also had a pair of glasses with a black small wire frame, black leggings with a black pantyhose and tall white boots with X-shaped black laces along with two small black skulls attached to them as decorations. One odd detail about her was her hairpiece, which seemed to resemble a horn.

"We should try to live in a society without CPUs and instead live under regulations made by-"

"Mommy, what's that weird lady saying?" Asked one child to his mother while pointing at her

"Shh, just ignore her and keep walking"

After seeing the mother leave with her child, the civil activist lowered her head and sighed.

"This is the worst...Everyone's ignoring me, and no one even bothered coming to the protest...I even spent all night printing these pamphlets" She said with low spirits "Maybe I'm not cut out for this after all"

Despite her best efforts, no one would even bother listening to Rei's words. This made her feel depressed.

"No. You can't get discouraged now Rei!"

Nonetheless, she managed to get back up right away. As someone who was used to this sort of treatment, Rei had developed the ability to regain her composure and positive mindset quickly. Even if everyone around her said that what she was doing right now was a waste of time, the civil activist would keep it up. No matter how difficult it would be, she would fulfill her ambition.

"All right, today I won't go home until I give out each and every single one of these!"

"Prepare yourselves, protesters!" Yelled Neptune while running towards Rei with Nepgear and kenji following behind

"Kyah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Okay people! Time to spread out or get nepped-" Said Planeptune's CPU with confidence before noticing the civil activist was the only one around "Eh? No one's here?"

"Erm, excuse me. Wasn't a protest supposed to be taking place here?" Asked Nepgear

"Well...yeah, it was...but no one assisted except for me..." Answered Rei with a mixture of sadness and disappointment in her tone

"(Talk about lack of cooperation)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

It was a given groups would usually have at least two or more individuals whose interest collided and caused difficulties at the hour of making projects, but this was the first time Kenji saw such a divided group.

"Are you Rei Ryghts?"

"Yeah, that's me. Who might you be?"

"Ah, that's right. I'm Nepgear, and they are my elder sister Neptune and Kenji"

"Nepgear, Neptune and Kenji? Where did I hear those names before?" Muttered Rei to herself while trying to recall the last time she heard those names being mentioned and panicking once the memory came back to her "Ehhhh!? Neptune-sama and Nepgear-Sama!?"

"It feels kind of weird being referred to as "sama" by someone older than me, but that's right. We're-"

"Oh no! I brought the wrath of the CPUs down upon me, and they even brought along the man that defeated them to make sure I'm properly dealt with!"

"Actually, I'm just-"

"Nooooooo! I'm sorryyyyyyyyyyy!" Yelled the civil rights activist as she ran away like a bat out of hell

"Ah, wait a moment..." Said Nepgear while extending her hand, but seeing she already ran out of view "She's already gone..."

"She runs fast for someone that skinny" Added Kenji

"Are we really that scary?"

"I think she just lacks courage..."

"Anyway, forget about her. We're already done here!" Said Neptune before turning around "Come on! Let's go home and eat some pudding!"

Hearing the offer to eat pudding, Kenji turned around and followed Planeptune's CPU

"Eh? But what about that woman?"

"Don't worry, I doubt she'll be a problem" Answered the young man while looking at Nepgear over his shoulder and then facing forward again

Planeptune's CPU candidate still had her dobuts regarding Rei Ryghts, but she decided to go along with Neptune and Kenji's idea of leaving it as it was for the moment.

*A few hours later*

Rei kept running and running as fast as she could for hours on no end until finally running out of breath and stopping in an alleyway.

"(Di-Did I lose them?)" Wondered the activist before turning her head around and seeing no one behind her "Eh? They weren't following me?"

Rei ran like crazy because she initially thought Kenji or the Planeptune sisters were trying to chase her down and eliminate her. But in the end, they didn't even bother chasing after her. It made her feel silly knowing she ran so much for nothing, but at least now she could regain her breath without fear of getting killed.

"Now that I think about it...where am I?" She muttered to herself while looking around, only to see the streets around the alleyway had names she didn't recognize "Could it be...I got lost!?"

Not only did she lose the pamphlets, but she also got lost as well.

"No way...why did this happen to me? Why does this kind of things always happen to me!?" She yelled while getting teary eyed "I'm always...I'm always trying my best, but it always ends up like this...Maybe I AM a failure after all..."

Rei then began sobbing and eventually crying. At this moment, she felt in complete despair.

No matter how hard she tried, things would always play against her. Ever since her childhood, nothing would go right for her. It would be frustrating and enraging for most, but for Rei it was far worse.

"I just wanted to do something good for a change..."

"Stop crying already, will ya? It's getting annoying" Complained Croire

"E-Eh?" Said Rei while getting up on her feet and looking around her "Wh-Who's there?"

"What do you mean who? It's me"

The activist looked around her, but she couldn't find anyone.

"No way, don't tell me I'm starting to hear voices in my head now. Am I finally going crazy?"

"Are you dense or something? I'm right HERE!"

Tired of not being seen, the tome floated right in front of Rei's face to make sure she would see her.

"Oh, so it was someone after all..." She said with relief, knowing she didn't go crazy yet until realizing one thing "Wait..."

It took a moment of processing for Rei to figure it out, but she soon realized there was a miniature human being sitting in a floating book right in front of her.

"ah-"

"Ah?" Asked Croire with a raised eyebrow "Ah what?"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Caught up by the sudden scream, the tome quickly flew a few steps away from Rei with eyes as wide as plates.

"Whoa! Don't scream like that! That scared the crap outta me!"

Although scared, Croire had to admit she was impressed by the lung strength of the Hyperdimension's Rei

"Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Monster!?"

"Hey! Who are ya calling a monster!? I'm a tome, you dense idiot!"

"What do you want from me!?"

"Damn it! Calm down already!"

"I-I'm sorry..." Said Rei while trying to regain her calm "So...what do you want from me?"

"I'm here to give you something"

"Give me something? You mean like a gift?"

"Yeah, sure. Whatever perks you up" Said Croire before summoning the CPU memory given to her by Ibiem and giving it to Rei "Here ya go"

"Ah, thank you-Wait a moment! What is this evil-looking thing!?"

At first, Rei was slightly happy about the idea of receiving a gift. But after seeing the CPU memory, which was shrouded in an aura of energy as dark as the void, her happiness changed to worry.

"It's a CPU memory"

"And what do you want me to do with it?"

"Eat it"

"EAT IT!?"

It was just a given Rei would get shaken up by the idea of having to ingest such a thing. After all, it looked like something pulled out from a swamp lying deep within a pit of hell. Dying from consuming it was the least of her worries at the moment.

"Just stop complaining and eat it already!"

Tired of Rei's whining, Croire decided to speed things up and tried forcing the CPU memory into the activist's mouth.

"N-Nhooo, shtaaph!"

"Eat it, eat it!"

It took a bit of pushing and effort from the tome, but Rei ended up eating the CPU memory.

"There we go! How do you feel now?"

"U-Uhhhh..."

"What?"

Rei didn't seem able to speak properly for some reason. Croire soon found out why after the activist released a few bubbles from her mouth and fell unconscious.

"That's a first..." She said while sweat dropping "Oh well, at least I did my part already. Time to go!"

With her job done, the tome flew up into the skies and left Rei, who shortly woke up afterwards without being able to remember a single thing about what happened.

The following day, Kenji woke up and headed to the kitchen for a morning snack.

"Hey you two, good morn-"

"WAWAWAWA!"

The first thing the young man saw when entering was Nepgear with her hands on both ears while yelling like an infant over and over again for no apparent reason.

"Nepgear?"

"WAWAWAWAWAWAWAAAA!"

Kenji looked at Planeptune's CPU candidate for a moment while sweat dropping before walking out of the kitchen and heading outside.

"(...I'll just pretend I didn't see that...)"

"WAWAWAAAAAA"

Quite a few odd things happened from time to time In Planeptune, but Kenji already accepted it and decided to separate those event into two types. Those he felt like checking out, and those he wanted nothing to do with. In this case, it was the later type.

Kenji then headed out into the streets and walked around while wondering what to do today.

"(Hello?)"

After suddenly hearing a voice, the young man turned around but saw no one close enough or even looking at him.

"(Helloooo? You in there?)"

"(What the hell?)" He thought after hearing it a second time

"(Cool, I patched through!)"

"(That voice...the tome!?)"

"(Croire! I'm Croire! Just get it through that damn brain of yours already!)"

"(Yeah, yeah...What do you want?)"

"(Ah, right! I have something to talk to you about! It's about that Ibiem guy!)"

"(Ibiem!? you know him!?)"

"(I heard some stuff about the guy...and most of it ain't good)"

"(Tell me then!)"

"(Not that fast buddy! First we need to see face to face. Meet me in the Virtua forest)"

After telling Kenji the meeting location, the connection Croire made dissipated. He could easily tell there was something fishy about this, but the chance of finding out something about that ridiculously powerful guy was not something he could afford to miss out on.

"(No choice but to risk it...)"

Kenji then transformed and flew all the way to the Virtua forest as fast as he could. There, he found Croire waiting for him.

"Whoa, you got here fast" Said the tome after turning her head to look at him with a smirk

"Cut the chat. What do you know about that Ibiem guy?"

"Besides that he's insanely powerful, not much else. But I do know he's up to something"

"Up to what?"

"Ahhh how boring!"

Both Kenji and Croire looked at the forest and saw a woman walking out of it.

"Ah! I told you to wait, didn't I?"

"Don't wanna! Waiting around is BOOOORING!"

"(I knew there was something fishy about this!)" Thought Kenji while summoning his sword

Once the woman was fully in view, Kenji recognized her. It was Rei Ryghts, but something seemed odd about her.

"Hey...aren't you the woman from yesterday?"

"Yesterday? Yesterday you mean!? Heck if I know! Someone as great as this me has no time for thinking about the past!"

After her answer which didn't make much sense, Kenji had confirmed there was something different.

Just yesterday, Rei was a cowardly and depressed person, but now she seemed aggressive and downright mentally unstable. Not only that, but Kenji could feel an intense amount of shares coming from within her. a dark and rather eerie type of shares.

"Hey, you sure you should fight her right now?"

"What do you mean by that?"

"That? That means _that_! and _that_ means _this!_ " Said Rei while tossing a small object at Kenji

The young man was about to slice it in half, until he noticed the familiar feeling of the shares emanating from within it and caught it. He then turned his hand around and opened it to confirm his suspicions.

"(This is...Neptune's hair clip?)" Thought the young man with shock and widened eyes while looking at it

"That little friend of yours, we just sent her somewhere else. Not to that Ibiem guy though" Explained Croire

"Then to who?"

"To a group called the seven sages"

"and what do you want from me?"

"You see, there's a few things I want to do over here. But with you around, it's going to be a bit too hard, so I want you to go over there" Explained the tome while floating away from Kenji and closer to Rei

"So that's why you sent Neptune? To make me go after her?"

"You catch on fast, I like that" Said Croire with a smirk "So, what do ya say? Deal?"

Silence fell between the three for a moment or two before Kenji finally spoke again

"Fine...I'll go..."

"See? I knew you'd-"

"Right after I cut you two in half!"

Without warning, kenji dashed towards both of them with his sword covered in flames and a killing look in his eyes.

"Wha-? Whoa! Wait a second!"

Although Croire tried to stop him, the young man kept moving without heeding her words. Until suddenly, he felt something grabbing his leg and stopping him. Something like a chain. When looking down at his leg though, he didn't see a thing.

"Rei! Now!"

"Bye bye!" Said the twisted woman as she created a dark sphere and threw it at Kenji

The young man tried to move away, but his numbed leg wouldn't allow it. It hardly took a moment between the sphere getting close enough and him getting sucked into it.

"Damn it! I'll get you for this you damn book!" Yelled the young man before fading away completely into the dark sphere, which dissipated into nothingness after warping its victim to another dimension

"Man, that was close...Good thing he stepped on that trap I placed beforehand..." Said Croire while sweat dropping for a moment before smirking again "I bet this is gonna get really interesting"


	15. A world of stones and Plushies

**Author Note: 18/09/2016**

 **Sorry guys. Due to some circumstances, the next chapter will take a few more days to be complete**

 **Author Note: 10/10/2017**

 **Hey everyone. So I've been looking at this and the chapter before it, and sometimes I get asked why I never revamped these two like the other early chaptes. Well, the answer is...I just thought about keeping them as a memento. You know, like a small reminder of the times when I had absolutely no idea what I was donig (I still have no idea what I'm doing, by the way) and I used to do tiny cringy details like using Japanese honorifics because I thought they sounded nice. I keep them both like this to remind myself how much I've improved, and also to show people that improvement IS indeed possible through enough practice and dedication.**

* * *

Kenji was trapped in the portal, which looked like an endless tunnel of darkness stretching more and more as he went deeper. No matter how hard he struggled, the pressure induced by the darkness kept dragging him against his will and his numbed foreleg wasn't helping much at the moment either. It was almost as if he had been swallowed by a black hole.

"(Just where the hell is this thing taking me to!?)" Wondered the young man while still trying to struggle

He kept flying through the nothingness for a moment or two before a light flashed at what seemed to be finally the end of the portal. He got closer and closer, making the light grow larger and brighter until Kenji had to cover his face with his arms. After a moment of being surrounded by the blinding light and a deafening sound, both suddenly ceased and were replaced by the feeling of the wind hitting his body and the sound of it moving around him like a gust. Curious to know what happened, the young man moved his arms aside and opened his eyes. What he saw let him awestruck.

Below him, a wide continent was in sight. The mainland had three small islands around it and besides from being covered in wide green forests and nature, everything was surrounded by the ocean as far as the eye could see. Spreading before him was a whole new world, filled to the brim with countless new things to be seen and experiences to be had.

"Whoa…" Said Kenji with widened eyes

That mere word was the only thing he could manage to say in his awe. Even if this wasn't the first time he had moved through dimensions, this time he was able to get a good look at it from such a place. The young man felt so amazed by the view that, for a moment, his mind didn't think about Croire, Rei and Neptune. He also seemed unaware of the fact that he was falling from an insanely high altitude.

"Whoa!" Said the young man with a slightly more panicked tone this time after realizing his predicament

Seeing the speed at which he was falling growing and the distance between him and the hard, solid, ground shortening, the young man tried to take flight. But his leg still felt numb and made it difficult to get a good balance to properly control it. Nonetheless, he kept struggling to fly in an attempt to stop his fall or at least to try making it non-deadly.

*Meanwhile, down on the ground…*

"Noiiiire-chan! Wait for meeeee!" Said a girl slowly and with a drowsy tone as she chased after Noire

"Then hurry it up! I can't waste time here, you know!?" she replied while walking with a hasty step

The girl had fair-pale skin and bright magenta eyes. Her hair was light purple and about waist length with very messy bangs framing her face while her hair was worn down in a very thick braid held with a frilled ribbon.

She carried around a plush of a mouse and wore an odd outfit similar to a pajama that consisted of a very loose blue dress, a long white segment in the center held with a white multi-piece belt with a purple piece in the center and sleeves with a peach and white line. She also wore an uneven length white skirt that looked longer in back and opened in the middle. Along with pink and white striped socks and pink bear shaped fuzzy slippers.

"Buuuuut, you walk too fast!"

After hearing her follower's complaints, Noire stopped and sighed before turning to look at her.

"Look, I don't have time for fooling around with you Plutia! I have to hurry up and find a CPU memory so I can become a goddess and found my nation!"

Plutia listened to the raven-haired girl's complaints until she heard something in the distance.

"Eh? Noiiiire-chan, do you hear that?"

"Seriously…Even though you're a CPU already, you're always slacking off…" She added while crossing her arms and closing her eyes

"It sounds like something is falling from the sky…" Said the drowsy CPU before looking up "Eh? What's that?"

"And it was through such dumb luck too. I still can't believe It!"

"It's reaaaally high up…and coming down really fast"

"Hey! Are you listening to me!?" Said Noire while unfondling her arms and opening her eyes again

"Noire-chan….I don't think it's a good idea to stay there…"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

Curious to know what Plutia was talking about, the raven-haired girl raised her head just in time to see someone falling down from the skies quite fast. And it was falling right towards her.

"U-Uwaaaaa!"

Noire was only able to yell as the young man fell upon her, causing quite a loud sound and raising a lot of dust as he crashed.

"Whoaaaaa…that was a very loud explosion!" Said Plutia with more surprise than shock or fear

It took a moment, but once the smoke dissipated the drowsy CPU managed to see a young man lying on top of Noire.

"That was close…" Said Kenji while caressing the top of his head with one eye closed

It seemed as though his attempts to slow himself by trying to fly and the raven-haired girl's "assistance" helped mitigate the fall enough to avoid any serious injury.

"Mister, are you okay?" Asked Plutia as she approached Kenji out of curiosity

"Hm?" Said the young man while looki around him and seeing a girl looking at him "Ah…Yeah, I'm okay. Who are you?"

"Me? I'm Plutia. I'm Planeptune's CPU" She answered with a smile

"(Planeptune's CPU?)" Thought the young man while feeling confused

"Who are you, mister?"

"I'm Kenji" he answered while sitting up

"Kenji? Then I'll call you Ken-chan"

"Ken-chan? Where did she see the eye-patch?" He muttered to himself while sweat dropping

"But Ken-chan is really resilient. You fell from so high, but you're not hurt at all!"

"I'm known for being resilient…and I think I landed on something soft"

"Yeah…you landed on ME!"

"Eh?"

After hearing Noire's voice Kenji looked below him and saw he was sitting over her, who was face down on the ground.

"Just how long do you plan to sit on me!?"

"Oh, sorry" Said the young man while getting up "Didn't see you there…"

"Seriously, just what's your problem!? Falling on me like that!" Snarled the angry Noire while getting up and looking at him

"Noire?"

"Eh? How do you know my name?"

"What do you mean how I know? You're Noire, that's why" Answered Kenji as if the raven-haired girl had just asked a stupid question

"Noire-chan, you know ken-chan?"

"I've never even seen this guy in my whole life" Answered the raven-haired girl while turning her head to look at Plutia

Kenji felt confused at first about how Noire just said she didn't know him and also about Plutia saying she was Planeptune's CPU, but then remembered Croire and Rei sent him to a different dimension.

"(Oh, right…different dimension…)" Thought the young man while checking out the girl in front of him.

Now that he looked at Noire a bit more carefully, she was dressed differently from usual. It was a bit darker in terms of design and consisted of a revealing tank top with a blue ribbon and a yellow gem in the center, a short dark blue pleat styled skirt with many white lines between each pleat, puffed sleeves buckled with arm warmers that were loose and spiked at the ending with a large gem on top. She also wore grey boots with gems similar to those in her arm warmers and spiked dark blue stockings that reached over her knees and were held, like the arm warmers, with belts and buckles.

Her hairstyle was the same but the ribbons were now dark blue with black lining.

"Hey...Hey! Did the fall break your ears or something!?"

"Eh?"

"I was asking who you are!"

"I'm Kenji" Answered the young man after Noire snapped him out of his train of thought

"I see…Well, _Kenji_. I think you owe me an explanation as to why you fell on me all of a sudden like that!"

"That's….a little difficult to explain…"

Answering that request was a simple thing to do. Hoping for them to actually believe him was the hard part. After all, it's not every day that a guy randomly jumps through dimensions and just happens to fall right over you by accident. While trying to find a way to explain it without sounding crazy, Noire carefully analyzed the man in front of him.

"(Hm…he doesn't look like an average guy, and he can't be a normal human if he can survive a fall like that unscratched)" Thought the raven-haired girl before noticing his outfit "(And those clothes…They look similar to a CPU's processors, but that can't be possible. There have been no reports of male CPUs in recorded history, and the very few mentions of such a thing are mere myths)"

Noire thought long and hard about it. From what she had learned about CPUs through her constant studying, history always spoke of female CPUs and only mentioned male CPUs as myths or just made up stories. There was no way the man in front of her was a CPU, at least that's' what she thought.

"(Maybe I could just ask him…but how am I supposed to ask something like that?)"

"Hey, hey…Ken-chan… Are you a CPU?" Calmly asked Plutia

"(She just went and asked it!?)" Thought the raven-haired girl while turning her head to look at her friend with eyes wide as plates

While Noire was one to carefully think things through and try to find the best way to do them, Plutia preferred to simply ask it directly rather than waste time hesitating about it.

"Why do you ask?"

"Beeeecause...you look a lot like one"

After hearing Plutia's comment abouth his resemblance to CPUs, the young man thought about how to answer to that. Back in Gamindustry, there were quite a few people that referred to him as a CPU becasuse of his ability to use HDD and his victories against the CPUs and Arfoire. But he never really felt like he could call himself a CPU, since he didn't have a nation of his own or an oracle like the others.

"I guess you could say that" Answered the young man while scratching the back of his head

"Ehhhh, that's amazing! I've never seen a male CPU before!" Said Plutia while putting her hands together and looking at the yougn man with amazement

"Plutia, don't just believe him so easy! He could belying to you!"

"Ehhhh!? Ken-chan is lying!?" Asked he drowsy CPU with widened eyes

"No, I'm not"

"Ohhhh, thank goodness...I thought Ken-chan was lying for a moment"

"(This girl is either very innocent, or very gullible...)" thought Kenji while looking at her relieved expression and sweat dropping.

"Well I'm still not convinced of it. You might be able to fool Plutia, but I know only women can be CPUs"

Although the posibility of a male becoming a CPU wasn't impossible, Noire still refused to believe Kenji was one. Because that would not only go against the basic teachings she had since youth, but it would also mean there was one less CPU memory for her to take.

"If you really are a CPU, then just revert back to human"

Kenji lowered his head and sighed, this conversation would go nowhere if things kept going as they were. So he decided to comlpy and revert back to human.

"There...happy now?"

"No way...you really ARE a CPU then!?" Asked Noire with widened eyes

"Look, I don't really care wherever I'm a CPU or not. All I know is that I can use this power to kick ass, and that's all I need to know"

While Kenji spoke with Noire, Plutia looked at his hand and noticed he had something in it.

"Heeey, Ken-chan...What's that on your hand?"

"Hm?" said kenji as he looked at Plutia and then at his hand before opening it "Oh...this..."

The young man didn't notice it because of everything that happened so suddenly, but he was still holding on to Neptune's hairclip.

"It's...something from a friend of mine..."

"Did she get lost?"

Kenji noded before raising his head and looking at Noire.

"Her name's Neptune. She's about Plutia's height, has pink hair, purple eyes and is very perky all the time"

"Sorry, I've never seen someone like that"

"Me neither..." Added the drowsy CPU, feeling sad she couldn't give the young man any useful information

"I see..." Said kenji while looking down at the white gamepad hairclip for a moment before putting it away in his pant's pocket and looking at Noire again "Mind telling me where can I find a town?"

"In that direction, just follow the path"

"Thanks"

The young man then turned around and headed towards the direction Noire pointed at while she and Plutia looked at him walking away. The numbness in his foreleg seemed to have gotten better, as he now could walk properly.

"Heeey, Noire-chan...Can't we help him?"

"Huh!? Why should I helphim after he fell over me like that!?" Snarled the raven-haired girl

"Buuuut, I feel sorry for Ken-chan...He lost his friend..." Said Plutia with a sad expression

Noire took a moment to turn her head and look at Kenji again. The young man didn't look like it, but he was probably concerned about the well-being of this Neptune girl.

"We-Well...I do feel a bit bad for him, but I still have my own things to do!"

The raven-haired girl did indeed feel a bit of pity for him, but she still wanted to focus on finding a CPU memory more than anything else.

"Noiiiiire-chaaaan, pleaaaase!"

Wanting to convince her friend, Plutia used the puppy eyes on her.

"Th-That won't work on me!" Said Nore while crossing her arms and turning her head

It wasn't the first time Plutia attempted to use the puppy eyes on Noire to make her do something. But the Raven-haired girl wouldn't fall for it, not this time. She waited for a moment before looking at the drowsy CPU again and noticing that, besides from puppy eyes, she was now getting teary eyed as well.

"Uuuh..."

Seeing her friend on the verge of crying with that cute expression, Noire was no longer able to resist.

"Ahhh fine, I get it already! We'll help him find her friend, but you better not slack off and make ME do all the work! Are we clear!?"

"Yaaaaay! Thank you!" Answered the CPU cheerfully while beaming at her friend before turning around and running towards Kenji "Keeeeen-chan! Wait for us!"

Noire sighed and followed the two back to the one from his dimension, this Planeptune was smaller and had a slightly more retro look to it. After entering the tower, they were received by Histoire.

"Noire-San, Plutia-san, welcome back (^-^)! You returned sooner than expected"

"Wha-!" Said Kenji with widened eyes

After seeing this dimension's Noire, the young man expected Histoire to look at least slightly different. But what he saw was beyond his expectations. Not only the tome was wearing frilly and cute clothes, but she was also far smaller, almost chibi-like in size. Even her voice sounded cuter.

"We're back, Histoire-chan" Said Plutia while looking at her

"(That's...Histoire!?)" Thought Kenji while looking at her

"And who is this young man?" Asked the tome after noticing Kenji and looking at him

"This is Ken-chan. He fell down from the sky"

"I feel there's something odd with the last thing you said..." Replied the tome while sweat dropping

Histoire then looked at Noire in hopes of receiving a better explanation.

"That's exactly how it happened..."

The raven-haired girl closed her eyes as well and sweat dropped while recalling the events that took place earlier

"Erm...I apologise for asking so suddenly, but would you please help me understand what's going on here?" Asked the tome while turning her head to look at Kenji

"Okay, but it might not be easy to believe..."

The young man then proceeded to explain to the three girls, who were looking Intently at him, what they wanted to know. First of all, he explained about the Gamindustry he came from, about the current situation and about him being sent across dimensions by Rei and Croire.

"I see...I think I understand the situation now, Kenji-san" Said the tome with a stern expression

"Wait a minute, Histoire. You actually believe that crazy story!?"

"Honestly, I don't want to believe a tome would commit a forbidden act such as altering history. And I find the idea of alternate dimensions hard to believe as well. But that theory can indeed give logic to his explanation" Said Histoire while looking at Noire

If some careful thought was put behind it, then the idea of alternate dimension would help explain many things, such as Kenji falling from the sky so suddenly or him knowing Noire so well despite that moment being the very first time they met.

"And I can indeed feel a power similar to that of a CPU flowing within him" Added the tome while turning her head to look at Kenji

"Fine, I'll assume you're telling the truth..." Said Noire with certain reluctance

Even if the raven-haired girl felt slightly doubtful about Kenji, she did see him in HDD form and reverting back to human. And now that even Histoire accepted it, Noire had no choice but to accept the young man was telling the truth.

"But even if what you're saying is true. Just how are you planning to find that friend of yours?" She asked while looking at him with a raised eyebrow "Do you even have any leads or something to start with?"

"Before sending me to this dimension, that tome said something about a group called 'the seven sages'..."

"The seven sages!?"

Noticing Noire's surprised expression, Kenji looked at her

"You know them?"

"Yeah, the seven sages are an anti-CPU organization. Their identities are a mystery, but they are all said to despise CPUs greatly. Although they also protect the rights of civilians all throughout the continent along with bringing economical support, so we can't really say for sure they're completely evil."

"Okay..." Said the young man before turning around and heading towards the exit

"Hey, wait a minute! Where do you think you're going!?"

"To ask around, maybe someone knows where to find them"

"Didn't you listen to what I just said!? Their identities are a mystery! And if they're a mystery, then that means no one knows who they are! Much less how to find them!"

"Well somebody has to know something!" He said while turning around to look at Noire

Kenji was convinced somebody had to know more about the seven sages. As much of a secret organization as they were, they had to be hiding somewhere, and someone out there had to know where.

"There is someone that knows where they are" Said Plutia while looking at Kenji

"Really!?Where's that person!?"

"I don't know, she only comes around from time to time...And I don't like it when she visits. Because she's very mean and loud"

"I see...so, when do you think she'll come around next time?"

"Well, It's been almost a week since her last visit, so I'm certain she will intrude in any-" Said Histoire before being abruptly interrupted by the sound of a sliding door opening

"Ga-thunk!"

"...Moment now..." finished saying the tome while sweat dropping

"Eh?"

When Kenji turned around again, he saw a little girl with blue/green eyes and long blonde hair wearing a pink dress with white frills, red bows and two skulls on both the largest ribbon in her dress and one in the ribbon decoraing her hair, which was also pink with red lining and white frills.

One very odd detail was that she was carrying around a portable sliding door, which she just used to make her entrance.

"Where is she!? Tell me right this instant!" Demanded the little girl while walking past Kenji without even noticing him and facing both Noire and Plutia

"What are you talking about now Abnes?" Asked Noire, who seemed more tired an annoyed than curious

"The new CPU! I'm talking about the new CPU!"

"New CPU?"

"That's right!" Said the little girl while pointing at Plutia "My sources told me there's a new CPU here in Planeptune, and I demand to see her right now!"

She then took a moment to clench her fist and close her eyes while imagining how the new CPU looked like. And felt incredibly angered by the idea of this new CPU being a little girl.

"If it's a little girl, I won't allow her to work as a CPU! Child labor is an infraction of international law! And if I find out you two had anything to do with it, I won't forgive you!" Said Abnes before opening her eyes and pointning again at the two girls "Now tell me, where is she!? Where's the new CPU!?"

Without hesitation, both Noire and Plutia pointed at Kenji. The little girl turned around and looked at him with widened eyes.

"Eh? Who is this guy?"

"That's the new CPU..."

Abnes looked at Kenji for a moment beforer turning around and looking at the raven-haired girl again.

"Is this a joke or something!?"

"Ken-chan is a CPU...He can transform like me" Added Plutia

"Oh yeah? Then make him do it" Said Abnes with confidence, knowing she would come out victorious in the end

"Well, you heard her" Said the raven-haired girl while looking at Kenji

"(Is my power a toy now?)" Wondered the young man while sweat dropping before transforming

"Eh?" Said the little girl while looking at the young man in his HDD form with widened eyes "EHHHHH!?"

"See? Ken-chan is a CPU like me" Said Plutia with a smile

"Bu-But he's a man! Men can't become CPUs!"

"Yeah...I used to believe that too..." Said Noire while sweat dropping

Abnes looked at the young man for a moment before regaining her composture

"We-well...since he's not a little girl, I guess it's fine"

"Hey, who's the little girl anyway!?" Asked Kenji after reverting back to human

"Little girl!? Who are you calling a little girl!?" Snarled the little girl "I'm the idol and official image of the seven sages, Abnes!"

After Abnes introduced herself, a flying text of her name popped in front of her.

"(Di-did that just happen right now?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping again with widened eyes before realizing she just mentioned the seven sages "Wait, the seven sages?"

"That's right! I'm one of the seven sages!" She replied proudly

Kenji looked at her for a moment before raising his head and looking at Noire.

"This little girl is one of the seven sages?" He asked while pointing at her

"Ah! You did it again! You called me a little girl again!"

"That's because you're a little girl"

"I'm not a little girl! I'm an adult!"

"You look like a little girl to me"

After being called little girl a third time, Abnes felt so angered to the point she yelled out in rage.

"I'M NOT A LITTLE GIRL!"

"Okay, okay...I'm sorry" Said Kenji while looking at her "(Man, this little girl has a short fuse...)"

The young man took a step forward and looked at Abnes more intently.

"So you say you're one of the seven sages?"

"That's right!"

Feeling it might be worth giving it a shot, Kenji took Neptune's hairclip and showed it to her.

"Say, have you seen a girl wearing a hairclip similar to this one? Her name's Neptune and she's a very perky girl with pink hair"

Abnes looked at the hairclip for a moment before looking at him.

"I've never seen someone like that. Why are you asking me?"

"Because I heard she was taken hostage by the seven sages"

"What!? How dare you accuse us of Kidnapping a little girl!?" Snarled the angered little girl while pointing at Kenji before moving her finger aside to look at him "She's a little girl...right?"

"Well...kinda"

"How dare you!? I'd never allow the other sages to harm a little girl as long as I lived!"

"I see..." Said Kenji while putting the hairclip back in his pocket

"Well, since there are no little girls in need of my help, I'll be taking my leave"

And with that, the little girl left using her sliding door.

"Sorry, Ken-chan...I really thought she'd know something" Said Plutia while approaching the young man

"It's okay...Croire probably just lied to rile me up"

"There's also the chance the other sages are lying to Abnes. It wouldn't be weird for such a secretive group to hide secrets even from each other" Said Noire

"Well, I guess I'll just have to keep looking around until I find her" Said Kenji while scratching the back of his head "After that, I'll have to figure out how to go back to our dimension"

"Then...how about you stay here on Planeptune with me and Histoire-chan?"

"You sure about that?"

Plutia nodded.

"I'm sure. It's more fun with more friends around"

Kenji looked at Planeptune's CPU for a moment before nodding with a smile.

"I see...Thank you, Plutia"

Lost in a new world and not too sure how to proceed, Kenji would now begin his search for Neptune and find a way to return along with the help of a new ally using this dimension's Planeptune as his home base.

*Scene*

Somewhere in an unknown location, the Rei from the Ultradimension spoke with Croire while feeling rather alarmed after hearing about the current situation the tome had caused.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no! What do we do now!?"

"Stop whining already! Seriously, you're such a pain in the ass!"

"How do you expect me not to panic!? We just got oursevles stuck into a horrible mess!" Said Rei while placing her hands over her head "Ohhh what are we going to do now!?"

"I'm telling you it'll be fine! You already sent that annoying brat and gathered the seven sages, didn't cha?" asked Croire in an attempt to make her regain some composture

"Ye-Yes, i did..." replied the leader of the seven sages before realizing the other sages were probably waiting for her right now "That's right! I forgot about the meeting!"

The tome watched Rei run away in a panic before lowering her head and sighing.

"Man, that woman never changes..." She said before raising her head and smiling "Oh well, not my problem"

Croire then turned around and extended her hand forward, creating a sigil which then turned into a small portal showing an unconscious Neptune floating among the darkness.

"Now then...what to do with this broad?"

While the tome took care of her own business, Rei quickly ran to the meeting room where she found the other sages all already sitting around the round table. All of them waiting for her. And some noticeably more irritated than others.

"E-Everyone, I'm so-"

"YOU'RE LATE! HOW LONG WERE YOU PLANNING TO MAKE US WAIT!?" Yelled Copypaste while slamming his fist against the table

"Eeek! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Argh, stop yelling you tin can!" Said Arfoire, who had grown tired ot the large robot's constant yelling

"You're pretty loud too, old hag-chu"

"Who are you calling an old hag, you dirty rat!?"

"What was that!? I'll have you know I bath twice more than my fellow rodent-kind, and I'm not a rat!"

"A rat's a rat, no matter what you call it!"

"Gahhh! Shut up all of you!" Yelled Abnes, who was tired of all the yelling

"Seriously, what a rowdy bunch..."

Mister Badd, a middle-aged man wearing an expensive suit and glasses, lowered his head and sighed. Despite the busy schedule his undercover job forced into him. He made time to travel all the way to attend this meeting after hearing it was something extremely important, but instead of a productive conversation or those important news he only heard and witnessed childish disscussions and constant yelling.

"Goodness gracious Rei-chan. Look at all the trouble you've caused" Said Anonydeath while looking at her

"So-Sorry..." Said the leader of the seven sages while lowering her head and making a saddened expression

"So? What was that you wanted to talk to us about?

"Ah, that's right..." She said while raising her head "It seems a new CPU appeared around Planeptune a week ago"

"And?" Asked Mister Badd with a raised eyebrow

"And...that's it..."

"...that's it?"

Not only the middle-aged man, but the other sages looked rather annoyed by this.

"YOU IDIOT! ARE YOU SERIOUS!?" Yelled the giant robot

"Eeek!"

"You made us come all the way here just to tell us that?"

"I guess old age is getting to her already-chu!"

"Forget it, I'm leaving!" Said Arfoire while getting up from her seat

The other sages didn't hesitate to get up as well and attempt to leave.

"Wa-wait a minute! There's something else!" Quickly said Rei while getting up

"Hm? Now what?"

"We-well...that's..."

"Damn it! Just spill it out already!"

"The new CPU is a man!"

A good ten seconds of silence fell on the room before one of them spoke.

"...What?" Asked the witch, feeling unable to understand if Rei was trying to joke around with them.

"Rei-chan, just what are you talking about now?"

"She's telling the truth..."

The sages now looked at Abnes, who was still on her seat with her arms crossed and her eyes closed.

"How do you know that?"

"Actually...I told Abnes about it before hand and she went to check it out a few days before the meeting"

"And why should we believe what this brat is saying?"

"Who are you calling a brat!? If you don't believe me just go to Planeptune and see for yourself!" Snarled Abness while opening her eyes and looking at Mister Badd

"I don't care if there's another CPU or if it's a man, I'll just get rid of it!" Said Arfoire

The witch was confident in her power being capable of crushing anyone, especially the CPUs.

"(Hm...a male CPU...I just hope he's as interesting as he sounds)"

Although he was skeptical about it at first, Anonydeath felt like something as rare as a male CPU would indeed prove to be an interesting discovery.

"Also, he seems to think we kidnapped his friend...A girl called Neptune"

"Ehhhhh!?" Said Rei with widened eyes "Kidnapped!?"

"There's no way we have her, do we?" Asked the little girl while looking at her with a stern expression

"Of course there isn't!" Answered the leader of the seven sages while panicking

Fortunately for Rei, Croire didn't tell her about Neptune yet. Making her able to make a convincing negation.

"I see...Anyway, whose turn was it now to search for CPU memories?"

"That would be me and the rat" Said the witch

"Okay then. If we're all done, I'll be going back now. That annoying brat is probably waiting"

"Okay everyone, the seven sages meeting is over" Said Rei to give an end to the meeting

With their leader giving them the okay to go, the sages went ahead and left. Each one to tend to their own business, A few hours later, each sage was back on their own places while Arfoire searched for CPU memories along with Warechu in an old ruin after receiving a message from Rei telling them where to find them. What they weren't aware of yet was that Noire, Plutia and Kenji were heading to the same ruins to help Noire search for a CPU memory.

"Noiiiire-chan, can we rest for a moment?" Asked Plutia, who felt tired of walking

"We're not stopping Plutia! I'm going to find a CPU memory for sure today!"

Kenji had stayed with Plutia for a few days, and during that time he noticed Noire had a strong determination to find a CPU memory. At first he couldn't understand very well what was the big deal about it, but the young man later learned about the importance of that stone as it was the required item to make someone become a CPU. Even Kenji had to use one to aquire his powers, although he had to eat his for it to work and had forgotten most of the details already.

"You two could have just stayed back in Planeptune" Said the raven-haired girl while turning her head to look at the two of them over her shoulder

"But I wanted to go with Noire-chan" replied Plutia

"I don't really like sitting still. Besides, I want to help you"

"Why?" Asked Noire while raising an eyebrow

"Why not?"

Kenji partly decided to help Noire because he wanted to help her, but also because he wanted to pay her back for saving his life back in the Gamindustry graveyard. Even if she wasn't the same Noire, she was still Noire. As such, it should at least count as something.

"Besides, if that idiot was here she would say something like "Kenny! It's our duty as Noire's pals to help her out!" or something like that"

"I...I see..." Said Noire while looking at him for a moment before quickly looking forward again and closing her eyes "Do-Don't get the wrong idea though! It's not like I'm happy you decided to help me or anything!"

The young man looked at the raven-haired girl for a moment or two. It seemed as tough this Noire was very similar to the other one in more than just appearance.

It took some more walking before the trio finally reached the old ruins, where they began their search for a CPU memory. At first Noire had planned for them to split up and cover more ground but Plutia refused to the idea, since she wanted all three of them to go together. The two girls argued until Noire got fed up with it and agreed with Plutia's idea. The trio then walked down the pathways of the ruins in search of their desired teasure. They searched and searched and kept searching, but their efforts yielded no result at all.

"Noiiiire-chan, we're not finding anything here"

"Are you sure there's one here?"

"Of course I'm sure!"

"How?"

"I just do!"

"You have no idea if there even is a CPU memory here, do you?" Asked the young man with a raised eyebrow

"If I say I do, I do! Now shut up and keep searching!"

"Hey, hey...are you two fighting?" Asked Plutia with a worried expression

"Eh?"

"I don't like it when my friends fight...it makes me really angry"

For a moment, just for a moment, the young man felt an horrible chill running down his spine.

"No-No, of course we're not fighting! Right!?" Said Noire while quickly looking at Kenji

"Ye-Yeah, we're not..."

"Thank goodness...for a moment I really thought you were fighting" Said the drowsy CPU with a smile

"(Wh-What the hell was that?)" Wondered the young man while looking at Plutia and sweat dropping "(That...couldn't come from her...could it?)"

Judging by the terror in Noire's expression while looking at her friend, she probably felt the same thing as him. That eerie darkness couldn't emerge from such an innocent and kind-looking person like Plutia, could it?

"A-Anyway... Let's assume there is a CPU memory here. How do we find it?" He asked while turning around to look at Noire after regaining his composure

"Unfortunately, there's no sureway to track them down other than searching the old-fashioned way..." Answered the raven-haired girl while turning to look at him "That is, unless you can literally sense shares"

"Wait, sense shares? You mean there's shares inside the CPU memories?"

"Of course there are! A CPU memory is the core and item that turns a human into a CPU! They're literally solified chunks of shares!"

"Oh...In that case, I know how to find it"

"Seriously, I can't believe you don't know something as basic as..." Siad the raven-haired girl with her eyes closed and arms still folded before opening her eyes again and looking at Kenji with confusion "...Eh?"

"Just give me a second"

Kenji then closed his eyes and focused his mind, within seconds he managed to find two small glittering lights not too far from them. Despite their small size, they constantly emitted large amounts of Shares.

"They're over there" He said while pointing in the direction he had seen the glittering lights after opening his eyes

"Wait, how do YOU know?"

"I can sense shares"

"What!? Why didn't you say anything sooner!?"

"You didn't ask"

Noire didn't answer, she simply looked at him while sweat dropping

"Well...He's technically right..." She muttered to herself with widened eyes

"Come on, the sooner we get that stone the sooner we can go home" Said Kenji while heading towards the CPU memories

"Let's go, Noire-chan!"

"Ah! Wait for me you two!"

Noire chased after the two while Kenji guided them to the CPU memories. Unfortunately though, it seemed as though Arfoire and Warechu had gotten ahead of them.

"Okay, we found two this time-chu" said the mouse as he picked up both stones

"I'm really getting tired ohis stupid job..." Said the witch after sighing "I joined the seven sages to KILL CPUs, not to go on rock-searching trips!"

"Stop complainin, that's a sign of old age-chu"

"Keep talking about my age and I'll kill you!"

"A hag's a hag, even if I don't say it you'll still be old-chu!"

"Why you little-!"

"Hey, how much longer do we have to go?"

Arfoire was about to strangle the mouse until she heard a female voice echoing from one of the hallways and saw a trio walking towards them.

"Not much, I think it should be right around..." Said the young man while looking around and finally noticing the witch and the mouse "...Here?"

"Hm? What's wrong, Ken-chan?"

Both Plutia and Noire stepped forward a bit to stand next to Kenji before noticing theing the duo.

"Ahhhh, it's a mouse!" Said Planeptune's CPU while beaming at it

"And it's holding a CPU memory!" Added Noire with widened eyes

"Oh boy, this ain't good-chu"

"Scram, you brats. These are ours"

"No way I'm leaving without that item! Now hand it over!" Said the raven-haired girl while unsheathing her sword and pointing it at Arfoire "Or I'll just take it by force!"

While Plutia looked at Noire and worried about how villain-like that sounded, Kenji looked at the witch with a stern expression after sensing something similar about the dark power flowing from within her.

"(This feeling...it's seems slightly different, but I have no doubt about it. This is the deity of sin's power)"

"If you really think you can take them, then go ahead and try!" Said Arfoire after scoffing at her threat "You'll be facing off against the witch of the seven sages, Arfoire!"

As she announced herself, a dark purple text saying Arfoire's name decorated with thorny roses appeared in front of her.

"Idiot, don't go revealing your secret identity so easy! Is old age getting to you already!?"

"Huh!? It doesn't matter wherever they know or not since I'm killing them, and I told you already not to talk about my age!" Snarled the witch before looking again at the trio "Whatever, I'll just deal with the rat later. Right now, I'll deal with YOU!"

In response to Arfoire's threat, Kenji transformed without hesitation. Then summoned his sword and pointed it at her.

"Let's see you try that..."

"Wha-What!?"

"HDD!? Then, this guy is the male CPU-chu!?"

"(This should be statistically impossible! The chance of a woman becoming a CPU is one in one million, for men it should be hardly a tenth of that!)" Tought the witch with a shocked expression before regaining her composure "I see...That may have been unexepcted, but you're not the only on capable fo transforming!"

The witch then released a dark aura, which quickly intensified and began whirling around her like a tornado. Arfoire transformed into her buny goddess form and dispersed the darkness by spreading her evil wings.

"Behold, my true power!"

"(So it was her after all...)" Thought the young man after seeing Arfoire's transformation

"Erm...I think I'll pass this one-chu" Said Warechu with slight fear after seeing the dangerous look on Kenji's eyes

Even with the visor covering them, the mouse could tell the young man's eyes had no mercy dwelling within them.

"Hmph! What else to expect from a rat?" Said the bunny goddess after scoffing at him "Fine, go ahead and run with your tail between your legs. I can handle this by myself"

"Say whatever you want, I'm not staying here to die!"

Warechu then proceeded to turn tail and run away.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going with that!?" Yelled Noire while trying to chase after him along with Plutia

"Do you think I'll let you go!?"

Arfoire flew right towards the raven-haired girl and Plutia, but Kenji dashed towards her.

"And you think I'll let YOU do that!?" Snarled the young man while struggling after their weapons clashed

"Mister mouse, waaaaait!"

"Eh?" Said Noire after hearing Plutia's voice and seeing she was still running after Warechu "Ah! Plutia, wait!"

"You go after her, I'll deal with rabbit-head over here"

"Wait a second! You can't handle something like this alone!"

"Shouldn't you be getting that CPU memory?" Asked the young man calmly

"But...but..." Noire struggled for a moment while trying to figure out how to argue against his logic, but couldn't find a proper answer "Ahhh fine, I get it! Just don't die before I come back!"

Kenji looked at the raven-haired girl running after Plutia over his shoulder for a moment until she got out of sight.

"(Okay, no need to hold back now!)" He thought before pushing Arfoire away and raising his flaming sword "Crescent Sapphirus!"

While the battle between Kenji and the witch raged on, Warechu ran away as fast as he could until finally feeling he had gotten far away enough to avoid getting caught up in the battle. Even if he could still hear the explosions in the distance, he was sure it was a safe distance

"This should be enough to get away-chu" Said the mouse while stopping "No way I'm getting involved against that crazy guy-chu"

"Mister mooouse!"

"Chu?"

Warechu turned around and saw Plutia running towards him.

"Mister mouse, I finally found you!"

"Wha-How did you catch up to me-chu!?"

Planeptune's CPU didn't answer, she simply let out a little laugh while beaming at Warechu

"This broad ain't too bright, ain't she-Chu?" Muttered the mouse to himself

"Eh? Mister mouse, I can't find your costume's zipper"

"Zipper!? This is no costume you broad! I'm a real one hundred percent mouse"

"Then...Mister mouse is a real mouse?" She said before making a grossed out expression "Mister mouse, I don't like you anymore...You're icky"

"What did you say!? I'm way cleaner than my rodent brethen!"

"Plutia! Hold that mouse down!"

After hearing Noire's voice, Warechu turned his head and saw her running towards him.

"Eh? Noire-chan, I don't wanna...Mister mouse is icky"

"Whoa-chu!"

Before the mouse could run away, Noire had already jumped over him.

"Give me that CPU memory now!"

"Let go off me, let go off me you broad! This ain't yours!"

The two struggled to get a hold of the items until a wall exploded, causing both of them to be pushed away by the shockwave and the CPU memories to fly off into the air. From all the rising dust flew off Kenji and Arfoire, who were still clashing weapons until a moment ago. The young man landed on the floor and slidded off of it with one hand trying to stop his movement along with his feet and the other tightly grasping his blazing sword. The rabbit goddess, on the other hand, flew out of the cloud and into the air, where she looked down at him.

"Is that all you've got!?"

"Not even half!"

Kenji slided off a few more feet before finally stopping and dashing forward again to clash weapons.

Among all the loud explosions and dust, Noire wasn't able to tell what was happening around her. But less than a feet away, there was a bright purple object shining in front of her.

"(It couldn't be...)" She thought before extending her hand and taking a hold of the object and seeing what it was with a smile "The CPU memory!"

The raven-haired girl's remark caught the attention of Arfoire, who turned her head to look among the dust that was clearing out nad saw Noire kneeled on the floor holding the CPU memory.

"That damn mouse!" She said before flying towards her

Noire raised her head just in time to see Kenji getting in front of her to block the attack.

"Ke-Kenji!?"

"Hurry up and eat that damn stone already!" Said the young man while struggling against the rabbit goddess

"Yeah, go ahead and do it...but if you fail to meet up the needed criteria, and you will, you'll lose your humanity and become a hideous monster!"

Noire didn't snarl or answer back, she simply lowered her head and looked at the CPU memory. It wasn't like she didn't know about that detail, but she never thought about until now. What if she wasn't good enough to become a CPU? What if she ended up as a hideous monster, just like Arfoire said?

"Noire..." Said Kenji calmly, catching the raven-haired girl by surprise as she was stuck within her own train of thought until now "Didn't you say you wanted to become a CPU?"

"O-Of course I do! I do..."

The young man took a moment to look at Noire over his shoulder and see her expression. There was indeed doubt lingering within those red eyes of hers.

"I still don't know much about the you from here. But the Noire I met in the other dimension was the most determined and hardworking person I ever met, so much that I actually think she's pretty amazing...That's why..." He said before pushing Arfoire away "Stop hesitating and become the amazing person you are already!"

When hearing his words, the raven-haired girl blushed slightly. Kenji didn't make much sense to her, but he was the first person to ever call her amazing. Not even Plutia called her amazing before.

She then looked at him for a moment before looking at the CPU memory in her hand and feeling the determination burning within her again before swallowing it whole. At first she didn't feel a thing, but soon Noire felt the sudden surge of shares flowing within her as a pillar of light enveloped her and soon revealed her in her HDD form.

"Wha-What!? It can't be!"

"Eh? What happened? Did it work?" Asked the CPU while looking at Kenji

Her hair and outfit changed into those of her CPU, and although the hair was still worn in pigtails and the processors were grey instead of black, but it was indeed her HDD form. The ultradimension's Black Heart had been born.

"No doubt about it, that's a CPU outfit" Answered the young man while smiling

"Then...I did it? I became a CPU?" She asked while looking at her own hands and smiling "Ahahaha, I did it! I'm a CPU!"

Black Heart laughed cheerfully for a bit more before looking at Arfoire.

"This should be impossible!"

"Now then, where were we at? Oh, right. We were about to beat you to a pulp!" Said Black Heart with confidence while looking at the rabbit goddess

"Just because you could transfrom doesn't change a thing! Be it one or two CPUs, I can still destroy you with ease!"

Arfoire flew twoards the two CPUs with the intent to kill, but neither of them were even fazed by this.

"So, ready to do this?" Asked the young man while looking at her

"Depends, can you keep up with me?" Asked Black Heart with a smirk while summoning her massive sword

"Die!"

Both CPUs then flew forward and slashed at the rabbit goddess with thier swords enveloped in flames

"ARGHHHH!"

The flame slash attacks merged together, forming a flaming x for a moment before ending up in a powerful explosion.

"Well, that should do it" He said while turning his head to look over his shoulder at the cloud of dust and resting his sword on the other one

"She wasn't all that strong after all" Added Black Heart with a smirk while looking over her shoulder as well

"Now then, where's Plutia?" Asked the young man while looking around him.

After taking down the witch, both CPUs reverted back to human and searched for Plutia before the three of them left the ruins and headed back to Planeptune. On the way there, Noire kept looking at Kenji for a moment before speaking.

"Kenji...san..."

"Hm?" Said the young man while turning his head to look at Noire

"Say...what do you think I should call my HDD form?"

"Your HDD form?"

"Do-Don't get the wrong Idea though! It's not like I'm interested to know your opinion or anything!"

"I-I see..." He said while sweat dropping "How about "Black Heart"?"

"Black Heart?"

"Yeah. Lastation's CPU, Black Heart"

Noire lowered her head and thought about the names that were just given to her.

"Black Heart, CPU of Lastation..." She muttered to her herself before nodding with a smile and a slight blush on her cheeks "Yeah, I like how that sounds!"

While walking back to Planeptune, Plutia looked down at the CPU memory in her hand.

"(Hm...Noire-chan is already a CPU, so what do I do with this?)" She wondered before raising her head to look at Kenji and Noire

Despite her doubts regardng the stone, Plutia didn't really care about it right now. She was only glad that both CPUs were starting to get along with each other.

*Scene*

The days went by in Planeptune while Kenji kept searching for Neptune without rest. The young man would constantly go out to search for her. But despite his best efforts, there was still no sign of her anywhere. This process lasted for at least a month before he received a call from a rather unexpected individual.

"Kenji-san, are you okay?" Asked the Hyperdimension's Histoire through the holographic projection

"Histoire? I mean...my dimension's Histoire?"

During the last weeks, the Ultradimension's Histoire attempted to contact the Hyperdimension. After much trial and failure, she finally managed to get in contact with the Histoire from the Hyperdimension.

"Ehhh...so that's your Histoire? She looks a lot bigger than my Histoire" Said Plutia

"What happened? Where are you right now?"

"Well..."

The young man proceeded to explain what happened from the start to the current moment.

"I see...So Neptune and you got sent off to another dimension...Normally I wouldn't believe such a thing, but ignoring the proof lying in front of me would be impossible"

"I'm surprised you didn't notice after a month since we left"

"A month?" Asked the tome with a confused expression "Kenji-san, It's hardly been a couple of hours since you left"

"Hours!?"

Both of them seemed confused by this.

"Hm...there's a chance time in both dimensions flows differently" Explained the Ultradimension's Histoire

"That seems to be the case..." replied the other Histoire before looking at the young man "Kenji-san, for now just try to search for Neptune on your end. I'll ask the others to do the same over here while I read the manual and find a way to bring you back"

"Wait...there's a manual for this kind of stuff?"

"Yes, and I believe there was a section related to dimensional travel."

Kenji looked at Histoire and sweat dropped.

"I...I see...How long will take you?"

"3 days"

"Should've seen that one coming..." Muttered the young man to himself

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing...Nothing at all..."

One of the most odd traits Kenji noticed about Histoire over the time was her obsession with taking time periods of three to do anything. Be it three minutes, three hours, three days, three weeks, three months, it would always be three of something. It wasn't really something he minded, but it always seemed odd.

"Either way, I should start my research. Please do your best to find Neptune"

"I'm on it..."

The Hyperdimension's Histoire then disconnected from the conversation, making her holographic projection dissapear as well.

"I'm on it, huh?" Muttered the young man to himself before turning around and scratching the back of his head "That's what I said, but just how am I going to find her?"

Even after a month of constant search, Kenji had yet to find any traces or clues of her whereabouts. This made the young man start to think Croire maybe didn't even send Neptune to the same dimension as his.

"Ken-chan..."

"Kenji-san, please don't lose hope yet. There has to be a way to find her"

"There is..."

The three turned around and saw Noire standing on the doorway.

"Eh?"

Plutia, just like Kenji and Histoire, was surprised to see her. Right after becoming a CPU, the raven-haired girl left Planeptune to found her nation just as she dreamed of for so long.

"What do you mean by that?"

"While searching for a proper place to build my nation, I heard a few rumors about a fairy-like being floating around in a tome like Histoire that fits your description"

"Tome...Croire!" Said Kenji with shock

"It seems some people saw her around an island to the west of Planeptune's territory"

"West? You mean the "Hello continent"?"

"Hello continent?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at the tome

"Hello continent is a small independent territory to the west of Planeptune where powerful monsters reside. It is said that a long time ago it was a nation founded by a CPU, but her demise at the hands of said monsters caused the people to run away from the island. Now there's only a few settlements remaining"

"I see, how do I get there?"

"Don't you mean we?"

Kenji turned his head to look at Noire, who had her arms folded and an eyebrow raised

"You're going with me?"

"Don't get the wrong idea, I'm just helping you because I owe you a favor for helping me become a CPU!"

"I want to help Ken-chan too" Added Plutia

"Well then, we should get going if we want to make it before nightfall"

"Good luck you three, have a safe trip"

Finally with something that could lead to finding Neptune, Kenji headed to Hello continent with Plutia and Noire. Despite it being an island, it was easy to get there thanks to their ability to fly. Although they had to carry Plutia over the ocean. The CPU suggested to transform but Noire strongly refused and so did Kenji. Even after a month, he could still feel that eerie darkness within his bones. Whatever came out when Plutia went into HDD mode, the young man was not wishing to know anytime soon.

After reaching the island, the trio proceeded to ask around for information and where eventually led to an underground dungeon called "Keraga Dimension".

"So this is where Croire is hiding..."

Even from outside, the young man could already sense some powerful beasts lurking within the depts of this dungeon. Nonetheless, he ventured within without any hesitation. While the trio ventured forth, Croire floated around the innermost depths.

"Now...where to drop off this broad?" She muttered to herself while looking around

The tome tried thinking how to use Neptune in a way that could create an interesting situation, but she didn't come up with anything better than what was taking place on the Hyperdimension right now. And keeping the CPU locked within the rift for too long not only kept her from checking out the show, but it was also a tiring thing to do. In the end, Croire figured she could just drop off Neptune around some strong dungeon and have fun watching her be chased around by the overpowering beasts lurking around.

"Guess here's a good place as any"

Croire then proceeded to open a portal to the dark rift between dimensions and dropped Neptune on the ground before flying away to a good hiding spot where she could get a good view. The unconscious Neptune soon woke up after being released from her dark prison.

"Hm...Hm?" Mumbled the CPU while slowly opening her eyes, standing up and yawning "Oh...man, what a weird nap"

After getting more aware of her surroundings, Neptune noticed she was in an unknown location.

"Eh? What's this place?" She said while looking around "Weird...One moment I was on the virtua forest, and the other I fell asleep...wait, when did I doze off?"

While trying to understand what happened and how she ended up there. It eventually led her to blame the one thing she always blamed. Work.

"Oh, see!? This is why you don't make a Nep work! I worked so hard I ended up dozing off and woke up in a werid dungeon!"

After her complain, Neptune waited for a moment to see if someone would retort or even comment about it but received only silence.

"Oh boy...this much silence is awful...so this is how it feels to be Noire?" She muttered to herself while sweat dropping "Oh well, better get out and go back home. everyone's probably going crazy about where this Nep went to"

The CPU's regained cheerfulness was soon cut short by the sound of a roar in the vicinity, making her eyes widen up

"Whoa! That didn't sound friendly..."Said Neptune before smiling "Oh!? Is that probably an event monster!?"

Almost as if she had predicted it, a sealed calamity emerged from the darkness and walked towards her.

"That looks strong, but nothing my HDD can't handle!" She said with a confident smirk "All right monster! Get ready to get Nepped up!"

Plaenptune's CPU attempted to transform, but she couldn't activate HDD.

"Eh?"

Despite trying multiple times, the result was the same. It was now that she was starting to see the gravity of her predicament.

"...I think the writer's going a bit too hardcore with the difficulty level here..."

As she took a step back, the dragon lounged towards her with a roar.

"Nepu!"

While Neptune ran away from the dragon, the trio kept searching around for some time until going deeper into the dungeon. They had to face off against quite a few monsters already, but most of them were easy to handle thanks to their combined efforts.

"There doesn't seem to be any signs of that tome around here" Said Black Heart

"Guess this was another fluke..."

"Nepu!"

"Eh? Did you hear that?" Said Plutia, who was the first to notice the echoing noise

"Yeah, it sounded like a girl saying "Nepu"..."

"Nepu? That's odd...the only person I know who says that is..." Said the young man before suddenly realizing it "Neptune!"

Without hesitation, Kenji dashed forward to follow the noise.

"Ah! Wait a second!" Said Lastation's CPU as she and Plutia ran after him

It was indeed Neptune, it had to be Neptune. No other person would use that word, not even by accident. After running to the end of a walkway and turning over a corner, Kenji and the two girls saw Planeptune's CPU running right towards them.

"Who's that girl?"

"That's Neptune!" He said with a smile before noticing the large sealed calamity chasing after her "And a giant dragon!?"

"Awawawawa! Why didn't they add warp points in this fanfiction!?" Said Neptune while running away before tripping and falling to the floor "Nepu!"

With its prey lying on the ground, the sealed calamity moved in for the kill and attempted to capture the defenseless girl in its jaws.

"Oh no you don't!" Said Kenji as he raised his sword and charged it with share energy "Crescent Sapphirus!"

The wave of energy released from the slash attack flew right towards the dragon and hit it directly, causing the creature to be pushed back at least ten feet away before falling to the floor.

With a few moments to act before the dragon could get up again, Kenji headed towards Neptune and helped her get off of the floor

"Neptune! Are you okay!?"

"Ah, It's Kenny! No wonder that event monster was so though!"

"(Yeah, she's okay)" Thought the young man with relief

That relief was cut short though, since the sealed calamity got back up faster than the young man had expected and proceeded to launch a fireball from its mouth right at them.

"Look out!"

"Ken-chan!"

Both Plutia and Black Heart ran towards the two, but the blast of the fireball caught all four of them. While Kenji and Black Heart flew off in one direction, Plutia and Neptune flew in the opposite one. Fortunately both pairs fell on sepparate platforms and the dragon took more interest in Kenji after being attacked by him. This was fortunate since him and Black Heart were in a better condition to fight.

"I guess he was thougher than I expected" Said the young man while getting up on his feet

"You guess?" retorted Lastation's CPU while getting back up again

Suddenly, the sealed calamity landed in front of them and roared with all of its might.

"Doesn't look like he'll let us go without a fight" Added Black Heart before looking at Kenji "So, got a plan or something?"

"Just one..." He said while taking an assault stance "Hit it until it dies!"

"I can get behind that idea" she replied with a smirk while taking an assault stance as well

While both CPUs went all out against the dragon, Neptune and Plutia landed on a sepparate platform.

"Owieee...that hurt..." Said the drowsy CPU while sitting up on the floor

"That's it! That dumb lizard's going to get nepped up!"

An angry Neptune got up and headed right towards the edge of the platform to search for the two CPUs fighting the dragon.

"Ah! There they are!"

"Hey...are you Ken-chan's friend?"

"Eh?"

Planeptune's CPU turned around and saw Plutia standing in front of her.

"Ken-chan? You mean Kenny?" Asked Neptune before looking at her with a smile "Thats' right, I'm Neptune!"

"Neptunu? That's hard to say..."

"Yeah, I get that a lot"

"Then, I'll call you Nep-chan"

"I like that! What's your name?"

"Me? I'm Plutia"

"Plut-Pluta? That sounds hard to say. I'll just call you Plutie!"

"Plutie? That sounds cute" Said Plutia while beaming at her "Hey, Nep-chan. Are you a CPU like Ken-chan?"

"You bet'cha! I'm Planeptune's CPU!"

"Ehhhh? That's a real coincidence...I'm also Planeptune's CPU"

"Oh!? I didn't know Planeptune had more than one CPU"

"Me neither"

Both girls seemed to be having a rather cheerful conversation and ended up forgetting about the raging battle taking place not too far from them until the sound the dragon's roar snapped Neptune out of it.

"Ah! That's right, the dragon!"

"Dragon?"

Plutia and Neptune looked around them until finding the platform where Kenji and Black Heart were still fighting against the sealed calamity. And the battle didn't seem to be going well for the two CPUs.

Seeing her help was needed badly, Planeptune's CPU attempted to transform again. Nonetheless, it was the same result as before.

"Darn it! I can't transform!"

"Eh? Nep-chan, you can't transform?"

"No, I can't do it!" She answered while getting frustrated about not being able to do anything "This is totally unfair! I call cheat!"

Plutia looked at Neptune for a moment or two before coming up with an idea.

"Hey, Nep-chan..." Said the Drowsy CPU before looking for something in her pocket "If you need to transform, how about using this?"

"Eh? What's that, what's that!? It looks really cool!"

Neptune looked with strong interest at the CPU memory held by Plutia, as it was the first time she had seen such an item.

"If you can't transform, maybe this can help"

"Really!? then gimme, gimme, gimme!" Said Planeptune's CPU while quickly taking the stone from Plutia's hands and looking at it "By the way, how do I even use this?"

"I think you need to eat it"

"Okay, down the gutter it goes!"

Despite the odd and hardly reasonable explanation she was given, Neptune agreed with it and swallowed down. It took merely a moment between that and her transformation to a CPU.

"Hm...It looks slightly different, but this is without a doubt my HDD form" She said while looking down at her own body

"Whoaaa, Nep-chan transformed. And she looks really cool too"

Purple Heart turned around to look at Plutia with a smile

"Thank you, Plutie. Please try to remain hidden until the dragon is taken care of"

Planeptune's CPU then turned around and flew towards the raging battle in hopes of lending Kenji and Noire some aid.

"Ehhh? But I want to help too!" Complained the drowsy CPU, but her words went to deaf ears

"Cross combination!" Yelled Purple Heart as she flew right towards the dragon and attacked it in the back of the head

"What? She transformed too?"

"Well, yeah. She's a CPU in the dimension I came from"

"Sorry for the wait, my powers seemed unwilling to activate for some reason until consuming that item" Explained the CPU as she landed next to Kenji

"(Item? She means a CPU memory?)" Thought the young man while looking at her

Just with a quick look, it was easy to tell Purple Heart's processors did look different from usual. What Kenji wondered about was how did she get her hands on a CPU memory so easily. But it wasn't exactly the best time to stop and think.

"No fair...I always get left out..." Said Plutia with a pouty face while looking at the three CPUs fighting against the dragon

"Maybe they just don't like ya?"

"Eh?"

The drowsy CPU turned around and saw Croire floating in front of her.

"Yo!"

"Uwaaah! You scared me!" She said with a surprised expression before calming down and noticing the tome reminded her a lot to her oracle "Who are you? You look a lot like Histoire-chan"

"Don't compare me to that boring broad! The name's Croire"

"Croire? Can I call you Cro-chan?"

"No!"

"Meanie..."

"Like I give a crap if I'm mean. I'm just here to watch those CPUs die"

"Die?"

"Yeah. That monster might look like it's loosing right now, but once they hurt it bad enough..." Explained Croire before the roars from the dragon suddenly intensified

Plutia turned around to look at the battle and saw the sealed calamity releasing a dark aura as its eyes glowed a bright red.

"...It goes berserk"

The battle which was once being controlled by the CPUs had now turned around as the dragon's speed and strength multiplied. With it's enhanced strength and speed it quickly moved towards the CPUs and began it's counter attack. First it tossed Black Heart into the air by hitting her with its head like a deer would, then blasted Purple Heart away with a quick fireball and finally knocked Kenji sideways with a sweeping tail attack.

"Noire-chan, Ken-chan, Nep-chan!"

"Oh man, this got really interesting now!" Said Croire with a smirk

"No way...Are they going to die?"

"Maybe"

"But I don't want that! Noire-chan and Ken-chan are my friends, and Nep-chan became my friend too..."

"Though luck, try finding stronger friends next time"

At first Plutia was on the verge of crying at the idea of her friends dying, but soon that sadness changed into something darker.

"I think..I'm getting really angry now..." Said the drowsy CPU with an expression that became rather scary "...It's okay if I do it now, right?"

Although she promised to Noire never to transform again, there was no way Plutia would sit down and watch them die while she did nothing about it. Once she had made up her mind about it, a pilar of light enveloped her.

"Whoa! This one's a CPU too!?" Said Croire with surprise after being suddenly caught off-guard by the sudden pilar of light

While Plutia's transformation took place, Kenji kept blocking and parrying the sealed calamity's barrage of claw attacks. Seeing it wasn't working, the dragon used a swiping tail attack, and although the young man managed to block it, the sheer force still pushed him sideways. When regaining his footing and looking at the dragon again, he noticed it was about to throw a fireball at him. Kenji quickly put a sigil in front of him to use as a shield. But before the sealed calamity could use its attack, a ray of lightning hit the beast and electrocuted it, causing the beast to get stunned for a moment.

"My, my, what an unpleasant creature this is..." Said a voice above"

Kenji raised his head and saw a woman hovering above them, looking down at the dragon.

She had a voluptuous body that could compete even with Vert's, dark pink eyes and waist-length Lilac blue hair worn down. Her outfit was a processor unit indeed, but unlike all the processors the young man had seen so far, this one was rather peculiar. It was black leather-like material with pink accessories that consisted of a top similar to a corset conected to the bikini-like bottom by very thin straps along with over the knee high heel boots and long gloves. She also wore a collar or choker conected to the top by thin straps and earrings. Her weapon seemed to be a black Galient sword with a pink blade edge. The closest thing Kenji could think of when looking at her were the women appearing on an very dubious magazine he stole from his gym teacher during his junior year of highschool. But even with her appearance aside, the one thing that made the young man most wary about her were the intense chills running down his spine.

"(Who the heck is that!? And what's with that aura!?)"

Truth to be told, even the dragon seemed hardly scary or threathening to him right now.

"Wh-Wh-why did you transform, Plutia!?" Yelled Black Heart with a mixture of shock and fear after getting up and seeing her friend in the form she never wanted to see again

"Plutia...?" Said the young man before his mind took a moment to process that information "That's Plutia!?"

The revelation was nothing short of shocking. The idea that the kind and innocent Plutia could become a woman capable of emiting such a terrifying aura was something nearly impossible to believe.

"Not Plutia..." Said Planeptune's CPU while descending to ground level and landing in front of Kenji "It's Iris Heart"

"Iris Heart?"

"Yeah, isn't it a good name?"

"I guess it suits you well"

Kenji wasn't very sure why Iris and not Pink, since pink was a more prominent color on her HDD form. Either way, he was not going to argue against her for something like that.

"That's Plutie?" Said Purple Heart while sweat dropping "I know my transformation is a shocking one to see for the first time, but this is a whole new level of extreme personality change..."

While looking at Iris Heart, Kenji noticed the sealed calamity behind her gettins slowly back up and then roaring with intense rage.

"Hm? He's still alive?" Said the sadistic CPU while looking at the monster over her shoulder

"That thing won't fall down easily" Added Kenji while taking an assault stance

"Noire-chan, Nep-chan, would you be so kind to stop fooling around and get over here?"

"Ye-yes!" Said Noire while heading towards her as fast as she could

"(As unpleasant as it might feel. Listening to her orders is definitely the best course of action I can take right now)" Thought Purple Heart before heading towards Iris Heart.

Seeing the four CPUs ready to fight, the dragon roared one more time before lounging towards them.

"I guess it's true what they say. An insect won't die unless you stomp it hard enough..." said Iris Heart while watching the sealed calamity approach before smirking "Good thing I'm skilled at stomping"

For a moment, Black Heart, Purple Heart and Kenji felt a bit worried about what she said and hoped the stomping would be limited to the dragon only.

The battle between the CPUs and the monster resumed, but it was rather short-lived this time as while the three other CPUs would fight normally, Iris Heart went all out on using her magic skills in the most brutal and merciless way she could think of. The dragon was constantly striken with lighting and stunned for the CPU to mercilessly attack him in a way that would induce more pain than damage. It was more of a torture than a battle. Even after the dragon fell down and died, she kept attacking it and electrocuting it until the body dispersed.

After the battle was over, Iris Heart let out a relieved sigh.

"It could have been better, but at least it was satisfying enough" She said before reverting back to human "Come on everyone, let's go home"

After seeing Plutia get some distance from them, Kenji turned his head and looked at Noire

"...So that's why you didn't want her to transform?" Asked the young man

"It didn't seem so bad now, but usually she uses US as playthings when there's no monsters around or she doesn't feel satisfied enough" Explained Black Heart to him

Lastation's CPU then reverted back to human and looked at the young man one more time.

"If you understand, please never do something to make her transform" She said before looking forward again and going after Plutia

"Kenny...would you mind explaining what's going on here?" Asked Planeptune's CPU, who was utterly confused about everything that just happened

The young man looked at Purple Heart, and then looked forward before speaking again.

"...I'll explain it on the way back..." He said before recalling he had something that belonged to her "Oh, and by the way. Here you go..."

Kenji took out Neptune's Hairclip and gave it back to her.

"My hairclip?" She said before placing her hand o her hair and noticing she was missing one of her hairclips "I didn't even noticed that I lost it. Thank you Kenny"

"Yeah, yeah...let's just go home already..."

Right now, the only thing the young man wanted was to go back to Planeptune and sleep. After witnessing the true horror behind the kind-hearted Plutia, trying to sleep it off and have some proper time to process everything that happened was the best medicine he could think of right now.


	16. A babysitter's quest for pork

With Neptune now found and safely recovered, the only thing that remained was to wait and receive the call from the Hyperdimension's Histoire. Kenji expected it to probably take a bit longer than three days to receive her call due to the way time flowed differently between both dimension. What the young man, nor Neptune probably, didn't expect was for the wait to be three years long.

"Kenji, I see you managed to find Neptune safe and sound"

"Hey Histy! What's with the ultra long wait!" Said Neptune, who seemed irritated by the insane amount of time the tome made both of them wait "I know you have low processing power, but this is just crazy slow! Kinda like like that old e no one uses anymore!"

"I know she's not talking about me, but I can't help but feel insulted (-_-;) " Said the Ultradimension's Histoire while sweat dropping with her eyes closed before opening them again and looking at her "Neptune, did you forget what I told you already about time in this dimension?"

"Of course I do! Nothing slips past this millionep quiz master's skill!"

"(She completely forgot about it...)" Thought the young man while closing his eyes and sweat dropping for a moment before opening them and looking at Neptune again "Mind explaining it to me then?"

"Easy!"

"...Well?"

"Time goes fast!"

Kenji didn't say a thing, he just looked at Neptune for a moment. Thinking back on it, he wasn't sure if the CPU even bothered paying attention to a single word the tome said back at that time. But then again, remembering details wasn't Neptune's strong suit.

"Erm...Kenji, Neptune. Could you please let me report my findings?" Asked the Hyperdimension's Histoire

"Sorry, sorry. Go ahead Histy" She said with a smile while Kenji turned his head to look at the tome as well

"Very well then...As I said on our last conversation, I dedicated the last three days to investigate the section of the manual regarding different dimensions and I found a way to bring you back"

"How?" Asked the young man

"It won't be easy. First of all, we'll need to gather hefty amounts of shares from both sides to open a portal capable of staying open long enough to take both of you through safely"

"In other words, we just need to pile up shares until we get enough"

"As tedious as it might sound, that seems to be the only choice available to us at the moment. Nepgear is already on the task of gathering shares with the help of the other Goddesses. All we need is for you two to do the same on your side"

"All right! Just leave it to us!" Said Neptune with confidence while placing her hands on both hips

"Nep-chaaan"

Both the CPU and the young man turned around to see Plutia, who had entered into the room with a cheerful smile.

"What is it Pururun?"

"Look, look. I got a new game. Let's play it together"

"A game!?" Replied Neptune with excitement while turning around "All right! Let's game on!"

"Eh? Neptune!?"

Despite both Histoires calling out to her, Neptune ignored anything around her and quickly ran off with Plutia to play the new game. After a moment of silence, both tomes lowered their heads and sighed.

"Seriously, why can't Neptune take things more seriously?"

"I know your pain. Making Plutia work requires inmense amounts of effort on my part (ó_ò)"

"Kenji. I'm certain Neptune will begin gathering shares at some point, but I must ask you to employ utmost haste. As the situation over here isn't getting any better"

"Why? What's going on?"

"I suppose you remember that group of civil rights activists? It seems their popularity has raised greatly on the last few days due to their leader's sudden change in course of action"

At first Kenji had a bit of difficulty remembering something that took place over three years ago, but soon he recalled the day when he was sent to the ultradimension.

"You mean Rei Ryghts?"

The tome nodded before speaking

"It seems her more agressive and relentless methods have managed to gain her an army of followers"

"(More agressive methods? Now that she mentions it...she did seem more violent back then)"

Although it was just a short encounter, anyone could have easily noticed the difference between the Rei he met at first and the one that sent him off to this dimension. The first one looked like a gutless coward that would run away when faced with the slightest sign of danger while the second time she spoke in an irrational way and had a mixtue of maddness and anger in her eyes. It was worth wondering if this was actually just her real personality hidden by using some very good acting skills or if Croire was to blame for the civil activist's sudden change of heart.

"Don't worry, we'll get to it"

"Please hurry"

After the communication ended, both Histoire and the young man went to the other room and found both Neptune and Plutia already sitting on the floor playing as if that conversation had never happened.

"Hey, get up. We need to get shares"

"Nah, let's do that game another day"

"Neptune, don't you understand the situation taking place on your dimension now? And you too, Plutia. Work keeps piling up, but you have yet to fill a single page (ò_ó)"

"It's okay. The others can handle it like I handle my buttons!"

"Working is tiring, I'd rather play games with Nep-chan or nap"

"You two...!" Said the tome slowly while closing her eyes and clenching her hand into a fist before finally exploding "Stop fooling around already!"

"Uwahhh! Hisy got really angry!"

"It's the return of Pisty!"

"Despite being Goddesses, all you two ever do is lay down and do nothing all day long! Why can't you be more like Noire!?"

"Ehhh!? But Noire ain't that good!"

"She's doing way better than both of you combined! Her nation is already prospering beyond anything Planeptune could ever achieve in the last three years!"

Right after helping Kenji find Neptune, Noire left to resume her journey of founding her own nation, which she named Lastation. In just a year, she managed to build. And in the other two years it managed to prosper and even stand toe to toe against Lowee, all thanks to the raven-haired girl's restless efforts. Plutia and Neptune, on the other hand, hardly bothered doing any sort of work-related effort and made sure to use their time solely for games, food and sleep. This, without a dout, was the reason behind Histoire's explosive wrath.

"That's it! You two will be going out there and do some work! And don't you dare return until you learn how to properly behave like a Goddess!"

Despite her small body and harmless appearance, Histoire was emanating enough rage to actually scare both Neptune and Plutia to the point of making them run away. The young man stood in silence and watched both CPUs run for their lives before turning his head to look at the tome lowering her head and sighing.

"Erm...I think I'll go gather some shares too..." He said while pointing at the exit

"Yes, I'd be glad if you did"

Kenji then walked out of the room and eventually the basilicom, where he found Neptune and Plutia. Both of them seemingly still upset about being kicked out.

"Oh man, I finally had a nice place to nap in and Histy had to go all Pisty on us! And I didn't even get to save!"

"Histy got really angry...!" Said Plutia with a sad expression before "What do we do now, Nep-chan?"

Neptune thought about what do in this situation, and quickly recalled Histoire mentioning Noire and her nation.

"I got it! We'll go to Lastation!"

"Eh? To Noire's nation?"

"That's right!" Cheerfully replied the perky CPU "If Pisty ain't letting us nap here, we just need to go to Noire's place. There we can nap it up all we want!"

"You do realize she won't let you stay if you tell her that, do you?" Asked the young man while looking at her with a raised eyebrow

"That's why! We'll tell her we're doing Goddess training!"

"Goddess training?" Asked both Plutia and Kenji at the same time

"As her fellow juniors, it's a given we'd go and learn from-" Explained Neptune with confidence until she noticed Kenji turning around and walking away "Hey, where are you going!?"

"To gather some shares"

"Hold the horses!" She said while running towards the young man and getting in front of him "If you start that quest, we'll end up going back sooner!"

"Well, that's the whole point of it. I want to go back."

"I don't wanna go back! Histy will make me work again if I do!"

"Not like you'd actually comply"

"True. But if we go back now, this arc's whole plot will be ruined! And I still have a lot of games I want to play!"

"That's your problem. Besides...there's a reason I must go back at all cost..."

The young man then moved a bit to the left and walked past Neptune with a stern expression.

"Ah, Kenny! Wait!"

Planeptune's CPU knew Kenji wouldn't rest until gathering enough shares for the portal to be made, and she didn't want that. She wanted to enjoy this world where she wasn't being constantly pestered by her oracle to work and could spend time with her new friend to last longer. In one last desperate attempt to attain his attention, Neptune mentioned the one thing she knew Kenji would never ignore.

"There's pork bowls in Lastation!"

The young man stopped where he stood before turning around and looking at the CPU

"What did you say?"

"(Reeled in!)" Thought Neptune with a sense of victory

Putting Croire, Rei and the current situation of the Hyperdimension aside. Kenji had one reason and one reason alone for which he had to return no matter what. And that reason was a pork bowl. Ever since his arrival on the Ultradimension three years ago, Kenji hasn't eaten a single pork bowl. Even after thoroughly searching every inch of Planeptune, the young man couldn't find a single ramen shop that served this meal. Somehow he managed to keep the urge at bay with other delicious foods such as pudding or vented out the frustration on monsters whenever he couldn't stand it any longer, but even with that he was starting to feel like that wouldn't be enough.

"Yeah, Lastation's that and Planeptune's this, so there's lots and lots of new stuff there! I bet 'cha my entire stash of pudding there's at least one old man selling pork bowls there!"

Part of Kenji could tell this was merely an attempt from Neptune to delay their return to the Hyperdimension, but it was indeed possible for Lastation to have that which Planeptune lacked. That chance alone was enough to convince him.

"I guess gathering shares can wait for a bit..."

"Sweet! I knew you'd get it Kenny!"

"(This better be worth the trip...)"

Even if he was still doubtful about the idea, Kenji agreed to accompany them to Lastation. It was a rather short trip, considering they only had to go through a small valley. It had a few monsters, but nothing the trio couldn't handle. Once arriving on Lastation, they noticed how different it was from the Hyperdimension's version.

Instead of the large satellite dishes and endless pipe connections, it now had large solar panel-like decorations arranged in a similar fashion to a crown or a tiara on the roof of the basilicom. Another detail was the more technological appearance. The lesser amounts of industrial focus and the way the industries were spread out around the nation's territory kept contamination from turning into a severe issue and helped the city have a clean air.

"That trip was easy!"

"Yeah...easy for YOU..." Replied kenji to Neptune while walking behind her with Plutia on his back

Half-way through the valley, the drowsy CPU got sleepy and refused to keep moving any longer before protesting for someone to give her a piggy-back ride. After some arguing and a quick game of rock-paper-scissors, the duty ended up falling on Kenji.

"Don't blame the Nep, blame the game!" Said the CPU with a smile

"(I knew I should've gone for paper...)" Thought the young man while regretting his decision before looking over his shoulder at the sleepying Plutia "Hey, Wake up. We're here"

"Hmmm...just five more days..."

"(Just what kind of messed up sleep patterns does this girl has?)" He wondered while sweat dropping "Hey, Plutia. Wake up. I'm not your giant yellow bird to ride forever. Come on, get off already"

With certain reluctance, the drowsy CPU slowly got off of Kenji's back and stood still until her consciousness fully returned and she became aware of her surroundings.

"Hm?" She said while looking around her "EHHHHHH!?"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Ken-chan, Nep-chan! This is a problem! I woke up in a town I've never seen before!"

"Plutia, I carried you here..."

"Oh...then that's okay"

While looking at the drowsy CPU let out a silly laugh, Kenji wondered what was going on inside her head. Then again, he had wondered the same thing about Neptune at one point and eventually learned that it was better to just let it go and move on.

"Okay then, good luck you two"

"Eh? Ken-chan's not going with us?"

"I'm not here to see Noire. I'm here to find a place to eat pork bowl"

"Good luck Kenny!" Said Neptune while waving at him

"Thanks" Replied the young man while waving his hand before turning his head to look at her over his shoulder "Oh, and by the way. If I don't find any pork bowls here in Lastation, I'll eat your entire pudding stash like we bet"

"Nepu!?"

Kenji then left the two CPUs to their own devices and began his quest for his ambrosial meal.

"(Now then...where to start...)" He wondered while looking around him

Due to the difference in appearance and design when compared to Planeptune and even the other Lastation, Kenji had to focus more on learning how to move around before finally getting used to the place. Although he did get lost a few times in the process. By the time night arrived, he decided to head to the basilicom to see if Noire would give him a place to stay in.

"Hey, Noire. Long time no-" Said the young man while entering the CPUs room before noticing her grumpy expression "...See?"

Lastation's CPU looked at him for a moment before speaking calmly.

"What?"

"Erm...did something happen?"

"No...Nothing happened"

"(Something definitely happened)" He thought while sweat dropping

Even if she tried to seem calm, Noire's expression and way of talking showed she was definitely annoyed by something.

"So? What do you want?"

"Oh...I was just wondering if you'd let me stay here for a day or two"

"No..."

The immediate rejection wasn't really that surprising considering her bad mood. Kenji had chosen a very bad time to ask a favor out of her.

"Okay...But can you at least tell me one thing?"

"What?"

"...Do they have pork bowls in Lastation?"

When faced with the sudden and rather random question, even the grumpyness seemed to wash off of Noire's face for a moment and be replaced by confusion. At least until both of them heard the door opening and saw Neptune and Plutia bursting into the room.

"Heeey, Noire! We're back!"

The CPU simply scoffed at the perky CPU after her expression returned to its earlier state.

"Eh? Could it be...you're angry at us?"

"Nooooo, why would I be angry?"

"She's still angry..."

"What did you do?"

"We didn't do anything!" quickly replied Neptune while turning her head to look at the young man

"Noire? Are you angry?" Asked Plutia with sad eyes

"I said I'm not angry!"

"Oh, don't be like that Noire. We're sorry"

"Sorry..."

"I don't care about your apologies, now get out of here! I have a lot of work to do and no time to waste on you two!"

"Uhh...Uhhh"

"Eh?" Said Lastation's CPU as she noticed Plutia's sobs, which eventually turned into crying "EHHHHH!?"

"Looks like she's crying" Mentioned Kenji while looking at her

"I can tell that already!"

"Look at that, you made her cry. Teacher! Noire made someone cry!"

"I said I can tell already, and there's not even a teacher here!" Snarled Noire at Neptune before looking at Plutia "Hey, Plutia. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean it like that"

The drowsy CPU took a moment to wipe the tears welling up on her eyes with her long sleeves before looking at her friend

"Then...you're not angry?"

"Of course I'm not. I'd never get angry at you"

"Thanks goodness...I was really worried..." Replied Plutia while beaming at Noire

"Those two sure get along well" Said the young man with a smile while looking at the two CPUs beaming at each other

"Why can't this Noire be like that with me? She doesn't like me?"

"I don't like you at all. In fact, I think I hate you" Quickly said Noire while turning her head to look at Neptune with disdain

"Rude!"

"What about me?"

Lastation's CPU then looked at the young man for a moment before lowering her head and closing her eyes.

"Well...I guess you're okay"

"Does that mean I can stay?"

"No..." She answered quickly after opening her eyes and looking at him

"Noire...please"

Noire looked at Plutia for a moment before sighing and agreeing with Kenji's request.

"Fine, but you better not laze around or try anything funny. Also, you're sleeping on the couch"

"I can work with that"

"And you two, you better get ready!" Said the raven-haired girl with a smirk "From tomorrow onwards I'll be working you to the bone!"

"Eh?"

During the following days, Noire made good on her word by making the pair work constantly while Kenji would continue his personal quest. Even if the two found it to be annoying and tiring at first, Neptune and Plutia began to actually work. And to everyone's surprise, they were being rather dilligent at it.

"Noiiiire, I'm done" Said Plutia while handling a bunch of documents to Noire

"Okay, let me see them"

"I didn't get what some of them said, so I drew a happy face on them"

"That's fine I can check them later" Replied the raven-haired girl while checking out the documents

At first, Plutia would draw large happy faces all over the documents. She soon realized this made it difficult for Noire to figure out what they were about, so she learned to make them smaller and draw them on the white corners.

"Noire, Pururun! I'm back!" Said Neptune while walking into the room

"Neptune, already done with that quest?"

"You bet!"

Lastation's CPU looked at Plutia and Neptune with a newborn sense of pride after realizing how dilligent they became after just a few days.

"I'm surprised, you two. I didn't think you could be good at this"

"Just 'cause we don't like to work doesn't mean we ain't good at it!"

"Right, right" Added Plutia while nodding

"Well, I guess I could tell Histoire you've been doing a good job"

"Yaaaay, thank you Noire!"

The nice moment didn't last long though, as a guard quickly ran into the room with a panicked face.

"Lady Black Heart, Lady Black Heart! There's an emergency!"

"Oh!? We're finally getting the battle event!?" Said Neptune with excitement

"Calm down. You need to calm yourself down first"

"Ah, yes...You're right..." Said the guard before lowering his head and sighing "Man, why did this have to happen during my shift? I could be home drinking right now..."

"Now that's too calm!"

"So-sorry!"

"Seriously, if you keep fooling around I'll fire you"

The guard then lowered his head even lower, this time seeming depressed after Noire's scolding.

"Now, now. Don't get so sad mister" Said Plutia while patting his head.

"Ohhh! This kindness, is this what a true goddess is like!?"

"Hey, don't go converting my citizens!" Snarled the raven-haired girl before looking at the guard again "So? What was that emergency about?"

"Ah, that's right! One of our disc factories outside the nation is being attacked!"

"What!? Why didn't you say that sooner!?"

"Well...I was trying to..."

"Nevermind that! Who are the attackers!? Did they say anything!?"

"About that...besides from the fact they're a giant robot and a mouse, we don't know anything else..."

Noire lowered her head and sighed.

"I guess we'll have to work with that for now..." She said before turning her head to look at Neptune and Plutia "You two, let's go take care of that!"

"Aye-aye sir!"

The trio then left for the factory to stop the threat that wished to destroy Lastation. There, they found the two sages, Copypaste and Warechu.

"HAHAHAHA, take this and this and this! If I can't make a copy of it, then it doesn't deserve to exist!"

"Chuuu...I get it that you like destroying stuff, but do you really need to keep yelling like that-chu?"

"Huh!? Of course I do! Screaming is the proof of my power!"

"No point in asking, I see...I might have to take a pill for the headache later-chu"

"You two! Stop it right there!"

"Chu?" Said the mouse before turning around and seeing the CPUs run towards him "It's those broads again-chu!"

"Ahhhh, It's mister mouse!"

"Plutia, stay away from the rat! It's got rabies and stuff!"

"Why do you keep insulting my hygiene!? And I'm a mouse-chu!"

Not only once, but twice had the mouse been insulted about his hygiene by the CPUs.

"CPUs!"

"Whoa!" Said a surprised Noire after the robot's sudden yelling

"I see you made it here! Prepare yourselves to feel the power of the seven sage's strongest member, Copypaste!"

Just like with Arfoire and Abnes, a flying text of Copypaste's name decorated with gear cogs popped in front of him.

"Why do you idiots keep telling your secret identities so easily-chu!?"

"Eh!? What about it!?"

"It's no good...these idiots just don't get it-chu..." Muttered the mouse to himself before realizing something "(Wait! If I use this chance to announce myself, then these broads won't be able to forget my name-chu!)"

With this new idea in mind, warechu quickly turned around to point at them.

"CPUs! Prepare yourselves to face off against me, the lovely mascot of the seven sages and third most popular mouse, Warechu!"

"Aaargh, what's with that robot! I can't hear a thing now!"

"Uwaaaaah...that was so loud..."

"Nepu! My ears keep making an EEEEEEEP sound like a broken TV!"

Despite the mouse's best attempt to make the CPUs remember his name, they were all covering their ears with their hands, probably still half-deaf from Copypaste's yelling. After a moment, the trio's hearing returned to normal and they took their hands off their ears.

"Hey, you! What's with all that screaming!?" Said Noire while pointing at Copypaste

"Eh? Mister mouse looks depressed..."

"Forget it...it doesn't really matter at this point-chu..."

"Huh!? It's normal for someone strong like me to scream! It only shows how strong I am!"

"Hey, tin can...the script, the script-chu!"

"Script!? Oh, right!" Said the robot after recalling their mission and pulling out a sheet of paper to read it slowly "Let's see...HAHAHAHA, foolish CPUs! Today your Nation is done for! And once you're gone, Lowee's shares will rise to the top again! All according to our stra...strega..."

Copypaste struggled for a moment with the last word while trying to understand Rei's hand writting before relying on Warechu.

"Hey, mouse! What's with this word at the end!?"

"Stratagem, it says stratagem-chu!"

"Ah, okay..." He said before looking at the CPUs again "All according to our stratagem!"

"Then this attack was schemed by Lowee's CPU!?"

"I can't believe we managed to fool them-chu..." Muttered the mouse while sweat dropping

"Hey, Noire. I don't think that's true. I know Blanc, and she's not that kind of gal"

"Maybe the one from your dimension, but you don't know anything about the one here..." Said Noire before transforming into Black Heart "Either way, we can deal with that after I turn this thing into scrap metal!"

"You...Do you really think you can defeat me!?"

"I'm not alone on this one. You two, hurry up and transform!"

"Eh? I can transform too?"

"Yeah, don't hesitate to go all out" Said Black Heart with a smirk

"Yaaay" Said the drowsy CPU transformed into the sadistic form that induced fear into foes and allies alike.

"Noire really loses her ability to fear after transforming..." Muttered the perky CPU while sweat dropping "...I better transform fast"

Not wanting to remain in a form that could induce any impulsive desire on Iris Heart, Neptune qucikly transformed into Purple Heart.

"There, at least in this form I feel somewhat safer..."

"Hm...I'm not really into killing things that can't feel pain. But if it's a request from Noire-chan, I can't really refuse"

"You want to fight me!? Then come and fight me! I'll just crush you all!"

Warechu looked at Iris Heart for a moment before looking at Copypaste.

"You know, I think I'll be skipping this one too...I get a really bad feeling from that broad-chu"

"You want to run away!? Fine by me! You go ahead of me and prepare my favorite salad to celebrate victory!"

"Now I know you ain't making it back-chu..." Said the mouse while sweat dropping before running away

"I'm not holding back! I'll blow you to pieces for wrecking my Nation!"

The CPUs then dashed towards Copypaste, who threw a powerful punch at them. Despite his powerful and heavy attacks, the robot didn't lack speed in the least either. Nonetheless, the CPus were faster and managed to avoid the large metalic fists multiple times.

"Do you really think you can defeat me with those toothpicks!?"

The fight was evenly matched at the beggining due to Copypaste's heavy body absorbing most of the damage, and he felt this would assure him victory. But just like any armor, the robot's body began grow weaker the more they attacked him. After nearly a minute of the combined barrage of merciless attacks from the three CPUs, his body was already all broken, punctured and even crumbling on some parts. Nonetheless, he was still attacking with everything he had. Unfortunately for the large robot, everything had it's limits. And his body had just reached it.

"Urgh...Do you think...This is enough to defeat me!?" Said Copypaste while lounging towards the three of them in a last attempt to crush them

In response to this, the trio dashed forward and attacked in unison with their weapons, cutting right through the robot's damaged body and causing him to fall appart.

"Arghhhh!"

After releasing dozens of sparks from his broken joints and other damaged areas in his body, Copypaste exploded into pieces.

"There, that should do it for now..." Said Black Heart after sighing

"He could take the punches nicely, but It really isn't fun if they can't scream the way I like it..."

"What matters is that we attained victory"

The CPus then proceeded to return back to normal and head out.

"Hey, hey...where's Ken-chan?" Asked Plutia while alternating between looking at Noire and Plutia

"Now that you mention it, I didn't see him at all today"

"Weird, Kenny usually pops out mid-battle and pulls off a one-hit kill combo"

While wondering about Kenji's whereabouts, Neptune suddenly received an incoming call from her phone. After answering it, the trio saw the image of the young man in the screen.

"Hey there"

"Ah, it's Kenny!" Said Neptune with a smile "Where you at? You missed an event bossfight!"

"I'm on Planeptune"

"Why?"

"To tell Histoire you and Plutia have been doing a good job learning, and for a personal matter"

"Personal matter?" Asked Noire with a raised eyebrow

This at first confused the three CPUs, until Plutia noticed he seemed to be eating something.

"Hey Ken-chan. What are you eating?"

"Pudding from Neptune's stash..."

"Eh?" Said the perky CPU for a moment before she understood the words that were just said to her "EHHHHHH!?"

"Yeah. Remember you said you bet your entire stash of pudding if there weren't pork bowls in Lastation? Well, I didn't find me any pork..."

"No-Nooooooooooooo! My puddiiiiiing!"

Neptune quickly ran back to Planeptune. But to her dismay, all the pudding had already been eaten.

After that, a few peaceful weeks went by since they returned to their nation. At first Histoire thought the dilligence they learned from working with Noire would extend to their own duties in their nation. But unfortunately for the oracle, things couldn't have gone more differently. While Neptune mourned the loss of her precious pudding stash at the hands and mouth of Kenji, Plutia returned to her routine of gaming and napping. Or at least she would have tried to, if Noire didn't come every three to four days to complain about all the bad things happening in Lastation because of the seven sages.

"Urgh...I can't believe this! It's the fourth time already!" Complained Noire to the three CPUs listening to her

"Having a bad week?"

"Bad is hardly enough to describe it!" Snarled Noire while looking at Kenji "Those Seven sages are the worst! Everyday I get piles of extra work because of all the things they do to mess up Lastation! And they're not even clever stuff, just random attacks and dumb jokes!"

"Noire...why are you complaining so much?"

"What do you mean by that?" Asked the raven-haired girl while looking at Plutia

"You've been complaining to much, I don't really like it..."

"Well. Wherever you like it or not, it's your duty as my friend to listen to me"

To this reasoning, Plutia simply frowned. She didn't feel happy at all about Noire's current attitude.

"You two! If you also call yourself my friends, then you should be considerate enough to listen as well!"

"Yeah, yeah..."

Neptune couldn't feel very happy about the idea of listening to Lastation's CPU's whining, and the fact Kenji ate all of her reserve pudding only served to lower her mood even more.

"Guess friendship has it's bad sides too" Said the young man while sweat dropping

"What was that!?"

"Nothing...please go ahead..."

Unfortunately, the only way out of this one was to shut up and listen since the CPU would only come back tomorrow to keep complaining, and if you complained about her complaining, things would only get worse.

"Very well. As I was saying before..." Said Noire before clearing her throat "The things they do are hardly different from common bandalism! From sabotaging machines to breaking discs and even attacking traders! And what that robot said back then about Lowee!"

"Hm..."

"I just know Lowee's CPU is behind this! I just know it!"

"Hm...!"

While listening to Noire, Kenji and Neptune noticed Plutia was begginning to get seriously annoyed by her whining and paled after realizing what would happen if they didn't do anything.

"No-Noire! You really should pipe it down a bit!" Said the perky CPU

"Just because she's been a CPU for far longer than us, she thinks she's better...It's frustrating!"

"Hey, Noire! Seriously, stop it now!" Said the young man while sweating

"And even allying with those bullies! How dare she call herself a CPU!?"

"Noire!" Said Both Kenji and Neptune in unison, which finally caught the raven-haired girl's attention

"What!?"

"Noire...Why are you being so noisy!?"

"Eh?"

Noire then looked at Plutia before noticing what was happening.

"I really like it when you come to play, but all you've been doing since coming here is complain about Lowee...And it's making me really angry!"

"Ah! Plu-Plutia, I'm really sorry! I'll stop complaining, I swear!"

The apologies of Lastation's CPU were falling on deaf ears now, just like the warnings from the young man and the Perky CPU. Noire had officially dug her own grave.

"If you really want to complain so badly..." Said Plutia before transforming "Then maybe I should teach you who to complain to!"

"Eeek!"

"She's here! Sadie has risen up again!"

"(This won't end well...)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping

"Now then, Nep-chan, Ken-chan. I need to have a looong private chat with Noire here, so would you kindly get out of my sight?"

"Eh? You mean we ain't getting the whip?" Said Neptune, feeling happy she wouldn't have to suffer Iris Heart's wrath before quickly getting up "Well, see ya later!"

"Eh!? Wait a minute, Neptune!"

Noire extended her hand towards the perky CPU, but she had already left without a second thought. Knowing she couldn't rely on Neptune, the raven-haired girl quickly turned her head to look at the young man with the hope he wouldn't abandon her to the mercy of Iris Heart. Kenji noticed this and turned his head to look at her for a moment before smiling.

"Kenji..." Said Noire with the hope of receiving his help

"I should be on my way too"

"Eh!? You're leaving me too!?"

"Don't worry, I'll bring you a flower every year"

"That's what you say to a dead person!" Yelled the raven-haired girl while Kenji quickly got up and headed out to safety "Ah! Wait, please!"

Just like Neptune, the young man didn't hesitate to abandon Noire to her own luck.

"Now then, my sweet, cute, dumb, whiny, inmature, weak and pathetic Noire. Since the interruptions are gone, let's have a loooooong little chat, shall we?"

"No-Noooo...Noooo..."

Lastation's CPU tried stepping away from Iris Heart while shivering from fear, but couldn't because of the wall.

"First of all...If you're really so annoyed by someone, then you should go and say it to their faces instead of whining to us...But don't worry, I'll make sure to engrave it right inside that useless little brain of yours!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And that was how the torture began. From outside the room, Noire's screaming could be heard as clearly as if they were right there. Even after Histoire returned from the convenience store two hours later, the screaming was still very constant and loud.

"Hey, Kenny..."

"What?"

"You think Sadie's gonna end up killing Noire?"

"I don't think she'll actually kill her" Said Kenji before hearing the screams growing louder and the basilicom began shaking as if a small earthquake had just hit the place and sweat dropping "(She might get pretty close though...)"

Finally after four hours, the screaming suddenly stopped. The two CPUs and the oracle felt this could mean the end of Iris Heart's wrath, but none of them dared enter the room to find out and risk becoming the next victim.

"It's been a while since the screaming stopped...maybe it's over?"

"Perhaps...I believe someone should go check what is happening in there (O_O;)"

"Good idea, you go Histy"

"What!? Are you out of your mind!? (ô_ô)"

"But you're smaller, so she'll have a harder time seeing you!"

"That's exactly why I don't want to go in there! Blows hurt a lot more because of how small I am! (ó_ò)"

"In that case, you go Kenny!"

"...You can't be serious..." He said while sweat dropping

"Oh, come on!" Said Neptune while turning her head to look at Kenji "You're this fiction's main OC, so you won't die!

"Dying ain't exactly my biggest worry here, you know!"

"But you're even OP!"

"Not enough for that!" Snarled the young man while pointing at the door

Suddenly, the door opened in the middle of their arguing.

"You guys...why are you still out there?"

"Eh?" Said the three while turning their heads and seeing Plutia back in her human form on the doorway

"We're already done here, you can come in if you want"

The trio was a bit unsure at first, but it seemed as though the drowsy CPU wouldn't go on a rage again. Almost as if all the frustration and anger within her had ben used up for the moment. Once they accepted Plutia's invitation and entered, they understood where all of it had gone to.

"Lo-Lowee...I must go to Lowee..."

"Whoa, Noire went full broken!" Said Neptune while sweat dropping with widened eyes

"No-Noire!? Are you okay!?"

"Lowee...I must go...to Lowee"

Lastation's CPU didn't answer to the oracle's question, nor did it seem like she could do so with any question anytime soon. Her brain was probably too broken at the moment.

"Noire says she want's to go to Lowee, I think we should do it" Said Plutia with a kind smile

Kenji simply looked at her in silence and sweat dropped. Among that silence, Everyone in the room except for Noire had probably made a bow to themselves to never, ever anger Plutia.

"Erm...Plutia, I'm afraid we might have to wait until Noire is in fit condition to travel (o_o;)"

"That's no fun...I want to go now..."

"Hey, by the way. What's Lowee like?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at Histoire

From what Kenji had seen so far, the nations in the ultradimension were nothing like the ones he saw in the Hyperdimension. If this had already been proven with Planeptune and Lastation, then the same could apply to Lowee.

"Lowee?" Said the tome while trying to recall what she knew about the old nation "From what I heard, Lowee is a nation with a very peculiar culture. According to their citizens, it's called "eastern" style"

"Eastern...wait,you mean like Japanese style!?" Quickly said the young man while turning around

"Ja-Japanese? Sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by-"

"I mean yukatas, kimonos, chopsticks, cherry blossoms and ramen! Is that what you mean by eastern!?" He said while walking closer and closer to Histoire

"Eh? Ah...erm..." Said the tome with slight fear and surprise after Kenji's sudden reaction "We-Well, some of the things you mentioned are indeed part of Lowee's culture. I suppose it could be called Japanese culture if that's what you wish"

Upon this revelation, Kenji lowered his head with widened eyes while thinking about the possibilities

"(If It has a culture similar to the Japanese, then it has ramen, and if it's got ramen, there's definitely pork bowl there!)" He thought with his eyes closed and a clenched fist

"Kenny went full blaze mode" Said Neptune while sweat dropping after seeing the fiery aura of willforce emanating from the young man

"I just hope things don't get too out of hand... (=_=;)"

"All right you girls! Pack your stuff!" Said the young man with a blazing will and a smirk while turning around and pointing north "We're going to Lowee!"

"Lowee...Must go...to Lowee..." Mumbled Noire on the back while Plutia celebrated their new destination and Neptune sweat dropped along with Histoire

*Scene*

Just like Histoire had described it, Lowee was a nation that greatly resembled eastern culture, but with a more technological twist. It had many tall modern skyscrapers and other modern structures, but it also had many buildings and decorations designed in a similar fashion to those of the edo period. But the most noticeable, and probably largest, structure was a large palace standing tall on the distance. There was large waterway running along the center of the town that could be could be crossed by walking through one the many bridges standing along its course, all decorated with red rails and doorways similar to those seen in shrines. And it seemed to be the start of autum at the moment, as the dried up leaves were constantly falling off of the snow-covered tress placed along the main road and on the parks around the area. Each set of leaves with different hues and tones of orange.

"Whoaaaa, Lowee is really pretty..." Said Plutia while looking with awe at her surroundings

"The ancient town where trainers with golden hearts and silver souls come to in their road to become masters of monster training" Narrated Neptune with her eyes closed

"What are you talking about now?" Asked Lastation's CPU to the perky CPU with a raised eyebrow before brushing it off and regaining focus on the main goal "Welll, nevermind that for now. Is everyone ready?"

"I'm ready!" Said Plutia

"Same here! Right, Kenny!?" Added Neptune while turning her head to look at the young man, only to see he was gone "Eh? Kenny?"

It took a moment for the trio to notice that young man was nowhere to be seen.

"Eh? Where did Ken-chan go?" Said Plutia while looking around her

"He was here just a moment ago...Don't tell me he got lost!"

"Nepu! And he only uses one sword, not three!"

"What do we do now, Noire-chan?"

Both Neptune and Plutia looked at Lastation's CPU, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, forget about him. That guy can take care of himself" Answered Noire before turning her head and looking at the palace with a stern expression "Right now we need to go to the palace and speak with Lowee's CPU. I can't remember why, but I feel this is the most important thing in my life right now..."

"Erm...It'd be better if you don't..."

Noire couldn't help but wonder what Neptune meant by that, but she didn't want to waste any more time and headed to the palace. The trio were so focused on running off to their destination to face off against Lowee's CPU that they didn't notice the blond woman spying on them.

"(Hm...so those are the CPUs of Lastation and Planeptune? Not as I impressive as I expected)" Thought Vert while looking at them "(I was here just to gather information about Lowee, but I wouldn't have ever imagined I'd see all my fellow CPUs gathered in one place)"

Leanbox's CPU kept looking at the trio running down the street for a moment until they got out of sight.

"(It seems like things are going to get rather rowdy at the palace, it'd probably be better if I keep my distance...)" She thought while turning her head and looking at the street through which Kenji left "(For now, I suppose I'll go and see what I can find out about that young man)"

Being able to predict the confrontation that was about to take in the palace, Vert decided not to get involved for the time being and instead follow Kenji around to see what he was planning to do. It took some searching, but the CPU managed to find him quickly enough. At first she hid a distance away using objects such as cars, trees, light poles and even behind the corners of the streets while watching him looking around.

"(Now then, I managed to find him. But what is he trying to do? Is he searching for something or someone?)"

As she kept following him, Leanbox's CPU saw the young man walk around the streets with seemingly no pre-planned course or destination. He simply started by walking around the streets and looking at every building around him, then after half an hour Kenji began asking questions to other people. To bystanding civilians, to shop owners, to security officers, to random old women or housewives, to children and even to a grey dog with red eyes staying on guard at the entrance of a shrine.

"(He's definitely looking for something, but what?)" She wondered while looking at Kenji, who suddenly began running down a street "(Eh!? Why did he suddenly speed up!? Did he figure out I'm following him!?)"

While Vert feared she had been found out, the young man ran towards the one place he had been searching for since his arrival.

"(Finally, after having to ask it to such a ridiculous amount of people! I finally found a place where they sell pork bowls!)"

For the first time since his arrival on the Ultradimension, Kenji felt like his chest was about to burst from joy. That joy didn't last long though, since the first thing he saw upon his arrival was the ramen shop completely closed and with a sign saying "Closed down due to debt" on the front.

The young man stared at the sign after going pale as a paper sheet for a moment before falling down to his knees and standing on four.

"(...Why is this world against the idea of me eating pork bowls?)"

"(He...He seems very depressed...)" Thought Vert while looking at him and sweat dropping "(Is this really the man from the rumors?)"

Judging by the rumors and reports sent in by her spies, Leanbox's CPU expected Kenji to be a remarkable or exceptional individual. But so far the young man didn't show anything exceptional. Vert had assumed the whole rumor about him being a CPU was just a bluff to scare other nations, but the unusual amount of power emanating from within him was far too much for a normal human, and even rather high for a CPU's standards.

Leanbox's CPU kept looking at the young man for a moment before realizing something.

"(Wait...If he's in such a vulnerable state right now, I can present myself to him as a kind goddess and gain his admiration!)"

As every CPU knew, the best moment to attain a person's loyalty and admiration was during their times of despair as they would readily rely on anything as long as it eased their sorrows. Vert felt quite confident in her ability to charm other people, espceially those of the male population.

"Excuse me, are you okay?" Asked Leanbox's CPU after walking closer to Kenji

"Eh?"

The young man looked at his side and saw someone's legs, then raised his head to see Vert kindly smiling at him.

"Vert?"

"That's right, I saw you lying here on the street and wanted to know if I could...wait, what?"

"You're Vert...why are you in Lowee?" He said while getting up on his feet and looking at her with slight confusion

"(He-He know's who I am!? Did I underestimated the other's nation information gathering skills!?)"

"Erm...excuse me..."

"Eh? Ah, ye-yes?"

"You're Vert, right?"

"Yeah, that's right. May I ask how you know?"

"Well, because you're Leanbox's-"

"Ahhh no, no, no! That's wrong!" Said the panicking CPU while quickly placing her hands over Kenji's mouth and looking around her to make sure no one heard what he said.

Once confirming no one was looking at them, Vert let out a relieved sigh before looking at the young man and realizing her hands were still over his mouth.

"Ah, I'm sorry..." She said while lowering her hands and allowing Kenji to breathe freely again "As I was trying to say earlier. I have no idea what you're talking about"

Kenji looked at Vert with a raised eyebrow for a moment, causing her to become a little anxious.

"(She looks the same as Vert, but she isn't the Vert from the same dimension as Neptune. Also, she acts a little weird...)" Thought Kenji for a moment before realizing something "(Ohhh, wait...Now I get it...She's probably not a CPU yet, so she doesn't know anything about Leanbox)"

"(He's staring at me quite intently...what do I do now?)"

"Sorry about that. I confused you with someone I met before"

"What? I-I mean, it's okay. Things like those can happen to anyone" She said with a smile while sweat dropping

Vert worried for a moment that things would end up in a downtown battle, but Kenji's misunderstanding played to her favor.

"By the way. Since you already know my name, would you mind telling me yours?"

"I'm Kenji"

"(Good...It didn't go as I expected it, but at least I managed to get in contact with him without any major suspicions)" Thought Vert with a smirk before speaking again "So...Kenji...Why were you lying down here? If you don't mind telling me"

"Oh...Nothing really..." He answered while lowering his head "I just thought I'd finally get a pork bowl"

"Pork bowl? Is that some kind of meal?"

"Yeah..."

"(Wait...then all that search was for food?)" Thought Leanbox's CPU while sweat dropping with widened eyes

"Well, I guess I should find the others..." He said while looking around him "But where are they now?"

While trying to figure out the whereabouts of his allies, Kenji and Vert soon noticed the people were all acting different. They were starting to gather up around a random business for some reason while muttering things to each other. Curious to know, the two approached the crow and squeezed through it until finally seeing what the ruckus was all about. Everyone was watching a live broadcast taking place at the palace. With the main focus of the broadcast being Neptune, Noire, Plutia and an unconscious Blanc being dragged away by Lowee's soldiers.

"That's Neptune and the others!"

After the CPUs were off-screen, the camera focused now on Mister Badd.

"Now then. As you have seen, people of Lowee. Lady Blanc has grown weak over the years and is no longer fit to be our leader. But fear not, for I will be taking her place for the time being. Make sure you tune in to view my speech in a few hours"

"Who's that man? I've never seen him before..."

"That's Mister Badd, Lowee's prime minister. Or at least that's what he used to be before trying to snatch up the throne" Explained Vert while looking at the screen with a stern expression

"You mean, this is like a rebellion?"

"Not exactly. I'd say it's more of an usurpation"

Kenji looked at Mister Badd on the monitor for a moment before it dissapeared while Vert tried to think what to do in the current situation.

"(It seems I was right about the situation in the palace turning dire, although I didn't expect it to escalate this far so fast)" Thought Leanbox's CPU while placing her left hand on her chin "(With that said, what should I do? If I go and help those girls, I might earn their trust and even make them owe me a favor, but it would also reveal my identity to them. And that could potentially threaten my plan...)"

"Hey, Vert..."

"Hm? Ah, sorry. I spaced out for a moment there"

"Do you know where the jails are?"

"The jails? You mean the cell where those girls will be locked up in?" She asked after turning around to face him "Since they're CPUs, I doubt that man will avoid taking precautions, so he probably prepared a special cell before-hand and placed it within the palace. Most probably within the palace's underground caves, since it must have been built in secret to prepare for this day"

"Palace, underground caves. Got it!" Said the young man while nodding before turning around and running in the opposite direction

"Hey, wait a minute! Where are you going!?"

"Where else!? To help them!" He said while stopping and turning around to look at her

"No, I mean why are you going over there!?" Said Vert before pointing towards the opposite direction "The castle is over THERE!"

"Oh..."

Kenji looked at her for a moment in awkward silence before running towards the direction she pointed at.

"Thanks Vert! See ya later!"

"Wait, do you at least have a plan!?"

"None!"

"Eh!? Wa-wait a minute!" Said Vert while reaching out to him, but soon noticing he was too far away to hear her anymore

Leanbox's CPU then looked at him for a moment and sweat dropped. While Kenji quickly headed to the palace to help his friends. The CPUs were attempting to escape from their prison deep within the caves under the castle's territory, or at least Neptune was.

"Ngh! Coooome on!" Said the perky CPU as she tried to bend the iron bars "Guard! Guaaard, I want my call!"

"Give it up Neptune, this thing was made to hold down CPUs. It must be easily stronger than steel. And there's no phones here"

"This is all you girls fault...if only you had stayed in your own nations" Said Blanc, who was sitting on a corner, away from the other three

Plutia noticed the sad expression on Lowee's CPU face and tried cheering her up by patting her on the head.

"Now, now. It's okay"

"Don't touch me!" Snarled the angry CPU while slapping the hand away

"Owieeee!"

"Plutia, are you okay?"

"Yeah, i'm okay"

"Hey, don't take it out on us just because your right hand man turned on you!"

"How was I supposed to know he was with the seven sages!?"

"How about trying to check your worker's backstory a little better next time!"

"Hey, hey. Please don't fight"

Both Noire and Blanc turned their heads to look away from each other while Plutia alternated between looking at one and then at the other

"Just leave me alone...I don't want to talk with you"

The drowsy CPU looked at Blanc for a moment with worry before coming up with an idea of how to properly tell her what she wanted to say.

"Hey, hey...Blanc, I have something to tell you"

"I don't want to hear it..."

"I can't really make you listen like this..." Said Plutia before suddenly transforming out of the blue "But I'm sure THIS form might make a better impact!"

"Eeeek!"

Both Neptune and Noire inmediately took as much distance as they could. Being locked up in such a confined space with Iris Heart was the last thing either of them wished for, but right now they could only hope things wouldn't get too out of hand.

"Now then, my cute little Blanc. Let's see if you're a bit more willing now"

"I-I'm not scared of you!"

"Oh, that little brave front of you is so cute! It almost makes me want to bully you even more!"

"St-Stay away from me!"

"It was because of that little front that you got arrogant, and now that reality slapped you in the face. You still try to keep up that act and pretend to be though..." Said Iris Heart while approaching her

"That's..."

"If you ask me, that just makes you the most inmature CPU here"

"What do you know about being a CPU!?" Snarled Blanc, whose eyes slowly got teary "I...I never even wanted all of this!"

"Is that so?"

"I never even wanted to be a CPU, but I ended up as one...so I studied a lot..."

"Yes?"

"I always did my best...but it was never enough...and then you girls came and ruined everything!" Yelled Blanc as the tears gathering on her eyes began falling down her cheeks "Now that man will take over Lowee...and everyone will be unhappy because of it..."

"I see..." Said Iris Heart while her smirk turned into a smile "In that case, we'll help you get it back"

"Wh-What?"

"Like I said, we'll help you get it back..." She said before turning around to look at Neptune and Noire "And they will be helping too"

"Sure! Let's nep up some baddies!"

Neptune, who was already friends with the Hyperdimension's Blanc, had no problem with helping this Blanc out. Noire, on the other hand, didn't feel very inclined to do the same.

"Why should I help her after everything she did to my nation!?"

"Noire, you WILL help me, won't you?"

The raven-haired girl's dislike towards Blanc almost made her forget the fact the one asking, or rather ordering it, was Iris Heart. But the change of tone was enough to make her remember quickly enough.

"Ye-yes! I will!"

"Why would you do it? What do you want?" Asked Lowee's CPU after brushing off the tears with her wrist

"Well, that should be fairly easy to know..." Answered Iris Heart before reverting back to human "Because we're friends now!"

"Friends?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

Looking at Plutia beaming at her, Blanc couldn't help but blush a bit. It was the very first time since she became a CPU that someone ever referred to her as a friend.

"Just so you know, I'm going to help you because Plutia asks me to do it. Not because I'm your friend..." Said Noire while looking at Blanc before turning her head to look at the bars "With that said though, how do you think we'll get out of here?"

"No worries! We triggered the lily rank event already, so he should be here any moment now!"

"He? Who are you talking about?" Asked Blanc, who seemed a bit confused

Suddenly, the sound of explosions echoed far away from the other side of the cave.

"Ah, he's here already..." Said Noire while turning her head to look at the colums of smoke forming in the distance outside

With every passing moment, the explosions grew louder and closer as the guards placed to watch over the cave went up into the skies.

"Who the heck is that!?" Yelled one of the guards on the distance

"Shut up and keep firing!"

"Out of my way!" Yelled Kenji as he attacked the Lowee soldiers standing in his way

The young man's attacks caused all those in his way to be tossed up into the air in all directions as he kept causing explosions with each attack.

"Hey, Kenny! We're over here!"

Blanc then looked at the clouds of smoke arising in the distance before the young man jumped out of them in his HDD form and ran towards them at full throttle. The guard standing in front of the cell quickly pulled out his weapon and attemped to shoot at Kenji, the young man had already managed to reach him and punched him right in the face, throwing the guard against the bars and causing him to fall down unconscious.

"Hey, sorry for the wait"

"Good job finding us, now hurry up and open the gate" Said Noire, who then approached the door and looked at him "That guy should have the key in his belt or pockets"

Following her advice, Kenji then proceeded to search the guard for the key.

"Who's that guy?"

"That's Kenji, he's our friend" Said Plutia calmly

"Kenji?" Repeated Blanc while looking at him "That appearance...It kind of looks like HDD..."

"That's because it is"

"Eh!? But he's a guy!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot..." Said Kenji without looking at her while searching through the guard's pockets until finally finding the key "Okay, Here it is..."

He then approached the gate and unlocked unlocked it, allowing the CPUs got out one after the other.

"Freedoooom!" Said Plutia cheerfully after getting out

"Okay, now let's go beat that man" Added Noire

Everyone then ran out of the cave and into the palace. While running down the long hallways, the group planned how to help Blanc recover the nation and came up to the conclusion that beating up Mister Badd during his speech would be the best way to regain control of Lowee. With this plan in mind, the CPUs headed to the meeting hall on the upper levels of the palace, where Mister Badd was already preparing for his speech while Warechu was ready to record.

"Hmmm...Hey, mouse. Is my comb looking good like this?"

"Who cares about your stupid comb? Just hurry up and let's get on with it. This thing is heavy-chu"

"Stupid comb!? This is my first speech as the new leader of the nation! I need to look my best!"

"Well, that's too bad. You're not getting to give it!"

The middle-aged man turned around and saw the CPUs entering the hall.

"What!? How did you get out of that cell!?"

"Too bad! You triggered an event by throwing us in there!"

Mister Badd then placed his hand on his chin and raised an eyebrow.

"If you look at it with that videogame logic, then It makes a lot of sense"

"You're going to pay for setting me up like that..."

"Oh, are you now?" Said Mister Badd with a smirk "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

"Ain't it obvious!?" Snarled the angry Blanc before attempting to transform "Eh?"

Lowee's CPU tried transforming multiple times, but it bore no effect.

"What's wrong? Aren't you going to transform and give me a lesson?"

"You bastard! You did something, didn't you!?"

"Oh, I didn't do anything. It's your people who have no faith in you anymore!"

The CPUs seemed confused for a moment until Noire realized what Mister Badd meant

"That's right...After that broadcast, it's just a given people would lose faith in her. And with her shares so low, she won't be able to transform"

"Well now. What are you planning to do, Lady Blanc?"

"Damn it, don't call me that!" Snarled the angry CPU

"So? What do we do now Plutia?" Asked Noire while turning her head

"It's okay, Blanc still has shares"

"Didn't you hear what he said? No one in Lowee believes in me anymore"

"That's why I'm saying..." Said Plutia before transforming again "I'll put my faith on you, and so will they"

"I agree with Pururun. Even if it's just the four of us, it should be enough" Added Neptune after transforming into Purple Heart

"Fine, I guess I can put a bit of faith in her. But just this one time!"

"No need to ask me, I'm already doing it" Said Kenji with a smirk

"You guys..."

Blanc had a hard time believing it. The CPUs that she thought were her enemies were now not only helping her, but even putting their faith in her. For the first time since becoming a CPU, Blanc felt that she could truly believe in someone else. But the warm feeling rising within her chest was more than these newfound feeling of trust, it was the shares formed by the trust given to her by the other CPUs.

"Yeah, I can feel the shares already. This will be enough..." Said the now confident CPU of Lowee before transforming into White Heart

"How could this be!? Being able to transform with such a minuscule shares!?"

"Now you're gonna get it baldie!"

"Who are you calling bald!? I still have plenty of hair on my head!" Snarled the angry middle-aged man before smirking again "And if you really think being able to transform gives you victory, then you can already start kissing my ten thousand-credit suit. I still have an ace up my sleeve"

Mister Badd then pulled out a remote control similar to those used for bombs and pushed the button with his thumb, causing the room to shake until a large robot broke through the floor. It had the appearance of a fat man with a moustache and had a seat on the chest

"Behold, the might of my power suit!"

"(That's...the stupidest looking power suit I have ever seen)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping "(And I'm not even sure If that's even a power suit...)"

In all truth, Kenji felt a bit dissapointed. After feeling the whole room shaking like that, he expected to face a strong enemy. But the power suit's appearance wasn't exactly terrifying or strong-looking.

"Power suit or whatever, I'm beating you to a pulp!"

While both sides dashed forward and clashed, Warechu saw how things were going to end up and preferred to run away now.

"Guess it's time for this mouse to leave-chu"

"Not so fast, little one" Said Iris Heart before quickly grabbing the mouse by the tail and lifting it up

"U-Uwahhh! Let me go! Let me go-chu!"

"Now, now. I'm not going to hurt you"

"You...you won't-chu?" Asked the mouse while turning his head to look at her

"Of course I won't. As long as you do me a tiny little favor"

"Sure! Anything you wan't-chu!"

"See that camera?" She asked while pointing at the camera lying down on the floor "I want you to take it and record everything that's about to happen"

"Roger-chu!"

Seeing the mouse would cooperate, Iris Heart let it down and made sure he kept his side of the bargain by watching him pick up the camera, turn it on and aim it at the fight taking place to record everything before turning around and entering the battle along with the others.

Mister Badd's power suit proved to be far stronger than it looked, as not only it attacked fast but it also blocked efficiently and had quite a strong punch. Also, the middle-aged man didn't seem to lack reflexes or skill at using the power suit. This probably meant he was already expecting a fight like this one to happen for a long time. But despite all of this, the fight was too un-evenly matched. After all, it was five HDD-users against one man in a power suit. And one was going without the slightest shred of mercy and a demonic anger while the other enjoyed being even more merciless.

"Urgh...CPUs...do you think...this is the end!?" Said Mister Badd while breathing heavily

His power suit was beaten, cut and concave on some parts from all the attacks it received from all sides. But nonetheless, it still kept standing up.

"Okay, this will be the last one!" Said Black Heart before dashing forward

She and Iris Heart went straight for the arms while Kenji and Purple Heart attacked the legs, making the suit unable to move and leaving it wide open for White Heart to deliver the final attack.

"Go to hell!" She said while dashing forward and spinning at the same time "Tanzerin Trombe!"

The large axe hit the robot straight on the side, nearly crushing it before it got flew off and crashed against the wall. With his main weapon no longer functioning, Mister Badd took off the straps holding him to the seat and fell down to the floor before slowly crawling away from the wreckage and the smoke.

"My...My power suit...how could this happen?"

"Hey, baldie!"

Mister Badd raised his head after hearing Lowee's CPU's voice and saw both her and Iris Heart standing in front of him. One with a sadistic smirk and the other with a terrifying rage and her eyes already glowing red.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Eh?"

"We still have pleeeenty of time to enjoy"

"Eh!?"

The middle-aged man began sweating rivers as the two CPUs got closer and closer to him, both with their own ideas of how to deal with him. And it was easy to tell neither had the word "compassion" running through their minds right now.

"Now then, how should we punnish this little piggy?"

"I-I'm sorryyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

The following hour and half consisted of both CPUs torturing Mister Badd on a live broadcast that what probably being watched by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of viewers from all of Lowee. All this meant with the purpose of making the citizens regain their faith in Blanc, or at least to know what would happen to them if they refused to do so. While the remaining three CPUs weren't too sure if threatening your own citizens was really a way to regain faith, it was soon proven to be a suprisingly effective method since Lowee's CPU recovered nearly all of her shares in less than half an hour after the broadcast ended.

"Well...that should solve the issue..." Said Blanc, who was now back on her human form

"That was fun" Added Plutia with a satisfied smile

"Honestly, I'm still not sure if broadcasting that on public TV was a good idea..."

After defeating Mister Badd and exiling him from Lowee, Blanc regained control of her nation. And she, along with the other CPUs, gathered in the meeting hall sitting around a small table to clear out a few matters that still remained. Although it was more of a small celebration rather than a serious discussion.

"What are you planning to do now, Blanc?"

"Now that the fattass is gone, work will be piling up. I'll have to start by trying to sort things out around here, so I might be busy for a while..." Explained Lowee's CPU before looking at Plutia with a smile and blushing slightly "But...you're always welcome if you want to visit..."

"I'd rather not"

"I wasn't talking to you. In fact, I'd rather never have you come here again"

"Fi-Fine by me! I wasn't planning to anyway!" Snarled the angry raven-haired girl

"It sure is nice seeing everyone getting along, right Kenny?" Said Neptune happily before turning her head to look at Kenji and notice his expression "Eh?"

Unlike the other CPUs, the young man didn't seem very happy or even interested about what was happening around him. Instead, he seemed to be absent-minded.

"Hey, Kenny...Heeeeey, you in there?" She asked while poking the young man's cheek

"Hm?" Said the young man after snapping out of his train of thought and turning his head to look at Neptune "What do you want?"

"Are you okay? You started acting like a shounen main character for a moment there"

"Hey, what's wrong you two?" Asked Noire, who noticed the two acting odd

"Kenny was acting weird"

After hearing Noire, Plutia and Blanc looked at the young man and Neptune as well.

"Eh? Ken-chan was?"

"Ah, I know! He's probably bummed out cause he didn't get to look cool this chapter!"

"I'm not bummed out by that..." Replied the young man while looking at her "I just really thought I'd finally get a pork bowl since Lowee had all that eastern culture style going for it"

"Pork bowl? What is that?" Asked Blanc

"It's technically a bowl of rice topped with pork simmered in a mildly sweet sauce and a sprinkling of green peas" Explained Kenji while turning his head to look at her

"Oh...wait here for a moment..."

Lowee's CPU then got up and left the room.

"Where did she go to?"

"You know, sometimes I wonder how I made if for so long without one..."

"Ah, he's getting lost in thought again..."

The next few minutes Kenji spent them remembering his favorite meal. He wasn't really sure why did he like pork bowls so much, but it was probably related to it being one of the first few things he earned purely through his own effort and work. That meal had turned into an usual part of his daily habits. When travelling to the other nations, he didn't reallly mind the lack of it that much since he knew he'd get the chance to eat again after returning. This situation was a bit different though. It had already been three years, and seeing Neptune's lack of desire to return, it would probably end up taking a few more years before they managed to gather enough shares.

While the young man kept dwelling deeper into his own mind, Blanc came back into the room. And she was holding something.

"Is this a pork bowl?"

Kenji, who was still distracted, turned his head to look at Lowee's CPU and then at the bowl she was holding and showing to him

"Yeah, it is"

"In that case, you can have it..."

"Oh, thanks" Said the young man while taking the bowl from her hands and holding it before sighing and looking down at it "...Man, I really miss pork bowls..."

A moment of silence ensued while Kenji looked at the bowl before raising his head to look foward and blink twice before quickly looking down at the bowl with eyes wide as plates and realizing what it was.

"A pork bowl!?"

"Whoa...it took him some time to notice..." Said Noire while sweat dropping

"I Guess Kenny's a bit slow when thinking deeply about something"

"But how? That place where they sold them was closed..."

"The name pork bowl didn't really ring a bell but that description reminded me to something I had eaten before, so I went to the kitchen and asked the chefs working there. It just so happens your pork bowl does exist on Lowee, and is a popular dish too, but here in Lowee people call it butadon"

"Hey, Blanc..."

"Yes?"

"Can I have one more?" Asked Kenji while extending the empty bowl to her

"Already done!?"

The CPUs looked at the young man with widened eyes. While Blanc explained how she figured out the two meals were the same but with different names, Kenji devoured everything in the bowl faster than Neptune when eating pudding. Which was a rather scary thought if pictured inside the mind.

"Whoaaa, Ken-chan eats so fast!" Said Plutia, who felt amazed

"Well, it's been three years since he ate one" Added Neptune while sweat dropping with a smile

"You know what, make that three bowls. Wait, no...better five..."

"I have a better idea. Come with me"

After hearing Blanc's request, Kenji got up and followed her to the doorway. There, Lowee's CPU called for one of the maids.

"Take this man to another room and give him all the Butadon he wants. Say it's my order"

"Wait...Did you just say "all the Butadon I want"? For free?" Asked the young man after looking at her with widened eyes

"You did help me recover Lowee. And we would still be in that cell if you hadn't helped us. This is the least I can-"

Before Blanc could even finish her sentence, Kenji inmediately enveloped her with his arms and lifted her off the ground in what probably was the strongest hug the CPU had ever received in all of her life.

"Blanny you're the best!"

"Bla-Blanny!? Whoa! Hey, let me down!" Said Blanc with widened eyes and a strong blush

"Oh!? Finally, a lilly rank event!" Added Neptune with excitement while looking at Kenji hugging Blanc

"Hey, hey...Isn't Blanc's face turning a little blue?" Said Plutia while looking at the two hugging

"Eh?"

It took a moment before the other two CPUs noticed how Blanc's skin color began changing from blush to blue and to purple.

"Ca-can't breathe..."

"He-Hey! Kenji, you're crushing her!"

"Kenny! Lower the love! Lower the love!"

Both Neptune and Noire had to pull on the young man a bit, but they managed to make him let go of her before she almost died of asphyxiation. After the maid escorted Kenji to another room where he would be able to eat pork to his heart's content, the CPUs began to discuss the issue of how their nations would handle relationships with each other. Or rather, it was Blanc and Noire discussing things while the latter would writte down the results and agreements for Histoire to read them latter.

"Okay, let's see if we're clear about this. All three nations will handle their own independent development like usual, and we'll still be competting for shares. But none of us is allowed to attack the other nations or each other to get them...agreed?"

"Agreed..." Said Blanc while nodding

"What about you Plutia?" Asked the raven-haired girl while turning her head to look at her

"I'm okay with it if we can all get along"

"Okay then. In that case, that's how we'll handle things between each other from now on"

With their agreement complete and the relationships between nations established, the CPUs decided to go get Kenji so they could head home and call it a day. Blanc guided them to the room where the maid said to have accomodated him in. At first Lowee's CPU assumed Kenji was probably taking a nap or something after eating his fill, but they couldn't have been more wrong. After opening the door, the eyes of the CPUs widened like plates by what they saw. Not only was the young man still sitting cross-legged in the center of the room while eating, but there were also countless towers of empty bowls filling up the room around him. Not one of them seemed less than two feet tall.

"Wha...What the..." Said Noire in shock

"Whoaaaa, that's a lot of bowls!"

"I didn't even knew we had that many..." Said Blanc while sweat dropping, still with widened eyes

"Oh, Lady Blanc. Is the meeting over?"

The CPUs turned their heads and saw the maid from before. She was already carrying a new, freshly served bowl for the guest to eat.

"Hey...how many bowls did that man eat?"

"Erm...that's a bit of a difficult question...I lost count after sixty or so"

"Si-sixty!?"

"Well, we also did refill most of the bowls there a few times. So I assume you might need to multiply the number you see there a few times"

The CPUs then turned their heads again to look at the young man with amazement while he ate. It wouldn't be exagerated to say he might as well have eaten a whole herd's worth.

"Man, that was some good pork" Said Kenji after sighing with a satisfied expression and placing down his current bowl on the table after finishing it.

"Kenji..."

"Hm? Ah, you guys...Are we going home already?"

The young man then got up and walked towards them.

"Whoa Kenny. You sure went all ouit with the "all you can eat" pork buffet" Said Neptune while looking at him

"Well, it's been a while since I had one. So maybe I went a bit overboard"

"A bit?" Asked Noire while sweat dropping

"Erm, mister guest. Here's the bowl you asked for"

"Oh, thanks. It'll make for a good snack on the way back" Said Kenji while taking the bowl from the maid and looking at it before turning and walking away "Don't worry, I'll bring it back tomorrow"

"Tomorrow!?"

Unfortunately for Blanc. Now that Kenji knew where to get pork bowl, he'd spend a lot of time around Lowee.

"We-Well...maybe we should leave as well..." Said the raven-haired girl

"Byeee Blanc, see you later" Added Plutia with a smile

The three CPUs then turned around and followed Kenji. All while Blanc silently worried about how the food bills would skyrocket in the following days.

*Scene*

After the events of Lowee, the days and months went by calmly. The seven sages were still considered a threat, but they hardly did any serious damage or cause another incident ever since Mister Badd was exile and the attack of Lastation's disk factories stopped. The CPUs, who had made an agreement to solve their differences and problems with each other peacefully from now on, returned to their everyday lives and focused on leading their nations. Plutia and Neptune still spent their days together and Kenji would make a routine of going to Lowe everyday to eat his favorite food, which made the CPU fear her nation would go broke after a month. Fortunately for her, the young man drastically reduced the amount of pork he'd eat to two or three bowls per day. And not only that but he would actually offer to pay for them or even do quests in exchage, which assisted the nation in quite a possitive way. Nonetheless, Lowee's CPU found it slightly annoying to have him around every single day, which was why she decided to assist a local ramen store that used to be popular due to it's butadon recipe to re-open. Ever since then, Kenji went there instead of going to the palace. Which made it feel like he was back in the Hyperdimension.

"So? What are you doing here?" Asked Noire while looking with an irritated expression at Blanc "Don't you have a nation to lead or something?"

"I could be asking you the same...Besides, I don't need a reason to see my friend" Replied Lowee's CPU

"She's MY friend too!"

Despite all of their work, Blanc and Noire would always make some free time on their scheludes to visit Plutia. Sometimes it would be one or the other going alone, but this time their free days seemed to overlap since they were both going together this time. Unfortunately, both CPUs found this quite unpleasing due to the fact they still had to learn how to get along with each other.

"Now, you gals. We're all friends here!" Said Neptune while trying to calm down the fight

"(It looks like these two won't be getting along for some time)" Thought the young man while looking at them

The perky CPU attempted to make Noire and Blanc stop fighting while Kenji walked alongside her and looked at them without too much concern about their arguing. No matter how much it seemed like those two were about to kill each other, they would stop once reaching Planeptune. The reasong being that Plutia would get very angry if she saw them fighting, and intentionally provoking her wrath was something only the foolish would dare to do. Just like he had predicted it, the two stopped arguing after reaching the bassilicom and entering.

"Heeey, Pururun! We're back!"

"Welcome home!"

When received by Plutia, the CPUs saw her sitting on the floor with her usual smile on her face. One odd thing they noticed was that around Planeptune's CPU, there were two small humans and an extra one cuddled on her arms. Each one dressed in a pajama of a different color.

"Hello Plutia. I'm here to visit you" Said Noire while looking at Plutia

"Me too"

"Then everyone is here?" Said the drowsy CPU with a smile

"Yup, all the party's here! And we're gonna have fun all day!" Added Netpune cheerfully before sweat dropping "Or at least that was the idea..."

Suddenly, one of the babies had the idea of punching the other and causing it to cry.

"Ah! That's no good, Peashy. You shouldn't hit others!"

"Hey...Are those by any chance...?" Said Noire slowly

"...Those are humans. And babies, by the look of it..."

It took a moment of akward silence before all of them finally showed a proper reaction.

"EHHHHHHHH!?"

"Uwaaahhh! Please don't yell like that! The babies will get scared..."

"Plu-Plutia! Just when-rather, how did it even happen!?" Asekd Noire with widened eyes

"If we had known you were going to deliver, we would have brought you a proper gift"

"Eh?"

"Hey, you gals are missing the point here! What the fans reading at home want to know here is...Who's the big daddy!?"

Noire, Blanc and Neptune got into the task of trying to figure out who was the one responsible for the creation of the three small humans surrounding Plutia. Normally it would be difficult to guess such a thing, but it was easy to reduce the number drastically if you considered the usually lax schelude Planeptune's CPU had. She spent all of her time on the basilicom and all of the workers there learned to rely on Histoire regardless of their gender, which reduced the number of possible partners even further. In the end, there was only one possible male that had enough contact with Plutia and the time to indulge with her in the act required to make babies.

"Hey...Kenji..."

The young man, who was focused on looking at the little creatures around Plutia, snapped out of his focus and turned his head to look at the CPUs. The three of them were staring quite strongly at him, right to the point where they might as well be trying to drill holes through him.

"...Why are you three looking at me like that?"

"I never thought Plutia and you were that close..." Said Blanc while sweat dropping

"Why did she choose a guy like you?"

"Just what the hell are you-" Said Kenji before realizing what they were insinuating "...You...You can't seriously be thinking that..."

"That's right! I bet you and Pururun have been grinding the Lily ranks and then *censored* and *censored* all night long!" Said Neptune while pointing at him

"Hey, I have nothing to do with this"

"Then how do you explain that!?" Asked Noire while pointing at the babies

"Hell if I know! It's the first time I see those things too!"

"Things!? They're your kids!" Snarled Lastation's CPU while grabbing him by the vest.

"What an irresponsible father..."

"They don't even look like me!"

"One of them does!"

Although Kenji had a valid argument, Noire noticed one of the children had hair slightly similar in color to his and decided to point it out.

"Hold on, everyone! They're not my children!" Said the drowsy CPU to try and clear out the confusion

"Eh? Really?"

"Of course they aren't. I never even held hands with a boy before" Said Plutia while blushing with a shy smile

"Then, whose kids are those?"

"Plutia, how are the kids doing? (OvO)"

While the CPUs were trying to understand what was going on here, Histoire entered the room to check on her and the kids until she noticed the presence of the other CPUs.

"Oh, welcome back everyone (^v^)"

"Histoire, do you know whose kids are those?" Asked Blanc, who honestly just wanted to get the answer

"Ah, that's right. The proposition was just approved this morning, so it's no wonder none of you know about it yet" Said the tome before explaining the situation "You see. Lately there have been reports of children kidnappings, so we've decided to use the basilicom as a temporary caretaker"

"Then, Kenny didn't *Censored* with Pururun?"

"For the last time, I didn't do anything...And stop saying *Censored* already..." Said the young man while sweat dropping

"Hey, hey...since you're all here. Can you help me take care of them?"

"Erm...I'd rather not..." Quickly answered Lastation's CPU

"Me neither..." Said Blanc, who took a step back

"Don't count me either...I don't like kids..." Added Kenji as well

"Please, help me here! Taking care of these three is really hard..." Pleaded Plutia before her expression darkened "And they're being very noisy all the time...so much that it makes me really angry!"

"Ah! Plu-Plutia, wait a moment! You can't use that on children!" Said Noire while panicking

"It'd be a life-long trauma if she did..."

Seeing Planeptune's CPU was on the verge of exploding, Noire, Blanc, Neptune and Kenji decided to accept her request.

"Well. If we're playing house, we might as well know their names" Said Neptune with a smile

"Let's see..." Said Plutia while looking around her and pointing at each one as she remembered their names "That one's Peashy, and that's Compa, and this one's IF"

"I see, I see...IF and Compa, IF and Compa..." Replied the perky CPU with a smile before she took a moment to realize it "Eh? EHHHHHHHH!?"

Her sudden yelling caused the little Compa, who was distracted until a moment ago, to burst into tears again.

"Ahhh! I told you not to yell..."

"Ah, I'm sorry. I just can't believe those are Compa and Iffy"

"(Now that she mentions it, they look kind of similar...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

"Oh! I just had an idea!" Said Neptune before turning around to look at Kenji "Hey, Kenny! how about we take them back with us? I bet it'd be really funny if we put the four of them together!"

"You can't do that, Neptune (e_e)" Quickly said Histoire

"Ehhhh? that's no fun..."

Although her idea was shot down rather fast, Neptune decided to pay it no mind and instead enjoy spending time with their two best friends while they were still small and cute.

Taking care of the kids was not an easy task though. In fact, it was rather difficult to handle at first since they had no experience at all in such a tasks needed to do were mostly four main steps. To feed them, change them when they soil themselves, play with them and keep them from getting hurt. Everything else was mostly a mixture of the four steps, but it still was difficult to handle for someone that never took care of children before. By the end of the day, everyone ended up extremely exhausted and both Noire and Blanc ended up leaving without even spending some time with Plutia. Unfortunately for the young man and Neptune, this meant the task of aiding Plutia fell over them completely. This was especially difficult for Kenji, as he had a distinctive dislike towards children because of their loud and sometimes smelly traits. And the fact two of them were people he had already met on another dimension didn't make it any easier either, rather, it made things awkward. Neptune, on the other hand, seemed to get along with the babies just fine and even enjoyed the fact they were her friends from the Hyperdimension because of how funny it was to her. Fortunately, Noire and Blanc would return every few days or so and help them. And with time and effort, they were starting to get a hold of this of taking care of them.

"Up and up you go!" Said the perky CPU while playing around with Compa, who seemed to be having the time of her life

"There, say ahhh"

While Neptune played with Compa and Plutia fed IF, the task of looking after Peashy fell under Either Noire, Blanc or Kenji. Although the young man didn't seem very interested in it. In fact, he was just laying down on the couch attempting to take a nap. Unfortunately for him, little Peashy wanted his attention and crawled towards him before trying to pull on his arm.

"Hm?" Said Kenji before turning his head and seeing her "What?"

Peashy kept pulling on his arm a few more times while blabbering sounds the young man couldn't even understand.

"I think she wants you to play with her" Said Noire while looking at him

It seemed Lastation's CPU was correct, as the little girl beamed at him right after she said it. Almost as if trying to say she was right. Although the little girl had taken a liking to Neptune and spent most of the time with her

"Oh..." He said before looking at Peashy again for a moment before turning his head to look away "Sorry kid, maybe later"

"You're just not made for this, are you?" Said Noire while looking at him before smiling at Peashy "Come here, Peashy. I'll play with you instead"

The baby turned around to look at the raven-haired girl smiling at her for a moment before turning around again and focusing on Kenji again.

"Eh? Did she just reject me?"

"It seems so..." answered Blanc while approaching her

"I can't get it. Why does she want HIS attention so much?" Said Noire, who seemed slightly jealous about the lack of attention she received from Peashy

"It's probably due to facial recognition"

"Facial recognition?"

"I once read in a book that the first thing babies learn to do is recognize faces. Starting by outer features such as head shapes, chins or hair, and then focus on inner features such as the eyes, mouth and nose after reaching the age of two..." Explained Blanc before turning her head to look at Kenji again "The reason why Peashy is so inclined towards Kenji is probably because he holds some slight resemblance to one of her parents"

The two CPUs then looked at Peashy for a moment while she kept trying to get the young man's attention before getting annoyed by this and crawled towards Plutia to get her feeding bottle before returning to him and doing the loudest sound she could.

"What!?" Said Kenji, who grew irritated by Peashy's whining and turned his head to look at her

What the young man didn't expect was for the little girl to have a bottle filled to the brim and was ready to squeeze it with all of her strength. This caused the milk stored within the bottle to violently shoot out and hit Kenji right in the face.

"Eh? What happened?"

Both Plutia and Neptune turned around just in time to see the flow of milk dropping and showing a milk-soaked Kenji, with his hair all wet with milk covering the upper part of his face.

"Ah! Peashy, that's no good! You shouldn't waste milk like that"

"BW-BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Kenny got all milky! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

While Plutia reacted by scolding Peashy, Neptune began laughing like crazy after seeing the state Kenji ended up in. In fact, even Noire struggled to avoid laughing outloud and Blanc was showing a little smile. Among the laughter and the cheerful mood, Kenji sat up on the couch still with his eyes closed and wiped the remaining liquid on his face with his hand before opening them. It was easy to notice he was not amused at all by that little joke.

The young man then lowered his head to look at Peashy laughing for a moment before sighing and getting up.

"Eh? What's wrong, Ken-chan?"

"I'll go take a walk..."

If he stayed there any longer, he wouldn't be able to sleep calmly all day long. Which was why he decided to go out and take a walk, and maybe get a good nap at a park if he got lucky.

"Ah! Kenny, wait!"

Without even bothering to listen, Kenji walked out of the room and left.

"And there he goes..." Said Blanc while looking at the doorway

"Seriously, what's his problem?" Wondered Noire, who didn't like at all the way he kept treating Peashy and the other kids as if they were carrying the pest

"Hey, Histy. Why doesn't Ken-chan like the babies?"

"Don't let it bother you, Plutia. I'm certain he only has a hard time dealing with them (ó_ò)"

"The hardcore baddass. Kicking baddies, breaking buildings, never looking at explosions and flying off into the horizon. That's what the writter wanted when making him" Said Neptune with a smirk

"Eh? Baddass?" Asked Plutia, who seemed confused

" Kenny doesn't hate the babies, it just ain't his character design"

"Design? Just what are you saying now?"

"Like I'm telling you! Kenny ain't being friendly with the little trio cause he's not used to babies!" Replied Neptune, who was getting irritated by everyone's lack of ability to understand her genius explanation "You see, he's the kind of character that could beat up a boss in a minute. But takes an hour to change a diaper"

"I think what Neptune is trying to say is that Kenji isn't avoiding the babies out of animosity, but rather because he's unsure of how to act around them. I'm certain he just needs a bit more time to adapt"

"Different individuals need different time intervals to produce results...not very productive, but it does work" Said Blanc with her eyes closed and recalling what she read from a self-help book a long time ago

"I hope that happens soon..." Added Plutia while beaming at Histoire

"All right! Now that that's solved, let's play, P-ko! " Said Neptune cheerfully while turning around to look at Peashy before noticing she was nowhere to be seen "Eh? Where's P-ko?"

The CPUs just now noticed one of the three babies was gone.

"She was here just a moment ago..." Said Noire while looking around before a certain thought ran down her mind "Hey...you girs don't think she's where I think she is..."

*Meanwhile, somewhere around Planeptune...*

While the girls got on the task of looking for Peashy, Kenji walked around the streets in search of a place where he could go and take it easy.

"I can't believe that kid..." Muttered an irritated Kenji to himself while grabbing one of his bangs and rubbing it around his fingers for a bit before smelling it "And I still smell like milk!"

Ever since the babies arrived on the basilicom, everything went downhill. At first he could go out and do anything he wanted at any time of the day, but now he had to stay in the basilicom with Neptune and Plutia most of the day to help care after the babies. Not only that, but taking care of them was far more exhausting that fighting any monster. Monster were simple. Just attack them, dodge whatever they throw at you, heal when you need to and keep hitting them until they die. Babies were a whole different subject. Over half the time he couldn't figure out what they wanted, the smell whenever he had to change their diapers was enough to make him feel sick and they would never be quiet unless you played with them. Kenji was already starting to get fed up with this.

After walking around aimlessly for nearly half an hour, Kenji stopped in the middle of the street and sighed. He didn't really hate the babies or anything of the sort, but dealing with them was just something he found difficult to do. Even if he had managed to deal with Lowee's twins and even reached something similar to friendship with them, babies were a whole different deal. And living in such a restraining way was not something he could just get used to so easily. But then again, it wasn't their fault.

"(Maybe I should start by trying to be a little nicer to them)" Thought the young man while placing his hand on his chin and thinking about how to do it with his eyes closed

He then opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder at the tower standing tall at the center of town. Although his mind was initially focused on the kids, something else soon took his attention. Something that had been bothering for quite a bit since he went out.

"(...Why is everybody looking at me like that?)"

For some reason, the people walking around would stare or look at him at least once. It wasn't the first time he had attracted a lot of attention, but somehow this felt like it wasn't specifically because of him. And on close inspection, the young man noticed they weren't looking at his face but rather at a lower point. This made Kenji feel confused until he heard a very recognizable blabbering sound and slowly looked down.

"Eh?" Said the young man as he looked down at his legs and saw little Peashy clinging to one of them while beaming at him "EHHHH!?"

Right after seeing her, Kenji quickly raised his knee so high he lost balance and nearly fell to the floor for a moment. Now he understood why everyone kept staring at him like that.

"How did you-rather-When did you even cling to me!?"

While trying to understand what was happening, the young man assumed he was probably so focused on leaving the basilicom and getting away from it that he didn't even notice Peashy's small body clinging to his leg.

"I really need to stop getting lost in thought so often..." He muttered to himself while sweat dropping before attempting to remove her from his leg "Hey, get off my leg...come on, get off...!"

Kenji tried pulling her away, but it didn't work. He then attemped to shake his leg around to force her to let go, but she still was holding tightly to it. It was a rather impressive grappling strength for a two-year old.

"Damn it, get off already!"

He shook his leg even harder, but little Peashy was still holding thightly. In fact, it seemed like she was having the fun of her life right now.

"(So you think I'm playing?)" Thought the young man with his eyes closed and a vein mark popping on his head "I said...GET OFF OF ME!"

In an angered attempt, Kenji made a kick with his leg using all of his strength. His leg reached so high up that his foot was up to face level. After lowering his leg and sighing, the young man looked down at his leg and noticed she wasn't there anymore.

"Wait...where did she go?" He said while looking around him "...I think I went a bit overboard..."

Kenji kept looking around him for a moment or two before hearing Peashy's blabbering again, but this time they sounded further away. The one thing that froze him was the sound didn't come from his surroundings, but rather above him. He then looked up and saw her all the way up into the sky, slowly spinning around as she slowly stopped gaining altitude.

"Oh, there she is..." Said the young man calmly before realizing the gravity of the situation "There she is!"

As the little girl stopped gaining altitude and began falling down, the young man quickly raised his arms and caught her just in time to avoid her from breaking her head against the floor.

"That was close..." He said while sweat dropping and looking at Peashy laughing as if she had just gotten off of a rollercoaster "Man, this kid doesn't know the meaning of fear..."

Suddenly, Kenji felt a vibration coming from his pocket and recognized it as his device receiving a call. He then held Peashy with one arm while picking up the device with the other and answering it.

"Kenji, are you there? (ó_ò)" Asked Histoire after appearing on the screen with a rather worried expression

"Yeah...anything happened?"

"I was just wondering if you have seen Peashy. We can't seem to find her anywhere"

To answer that, the young man calmly moved the device slightly to let the little girl appear on the screen.

"You mean this one?"

"Oh, so that's where she was..." Said the tome after sighing with relief "Kenji. If you were going to take her with you, the least you could have done was-"

"I didn't take her. She grabbed onto my leg while I wasn't looking"

That quick answer created a good ten seconds of silence. Right now there were many questions rising up within Histoire's mind, but no way to even answer what she just heard.

"Erm...I see..."

"Hey, hey, Histy. Did Ken-chan tell you anything?" Asked Plutia while approaching the tome

"Ah, Plutia" Answered the tome while turning around to look at the drowsy CPU "Yes, It seems she's with Kenji right now"

"Really!? Thank goodness!"

"Hm? What, what?" Said Neptune, who caught wind of the conversation and decided to see what was happening

"Peasy is with Ken-chan"

"Really!? Lemme see!"

"Ho-Hold on, you two! Don't push!"

Both CPUs then struggled to get a good look at the screen while Histoire was barely able to stay on Kenji's view.

"There she is! Heeeey, Peashy!"

The young man sweat dropped while watching the trio struggle to stay on-screen for a moment before finally speaking.

"Anyway...I Guess I'll go back and drop her by"

"Wait, Ken-chan. How about taking Peashy with you instead?" Said Plutia

"...What?"

"Oh!? Good idea, Purun! That'll make for perfect original story material!"

"Hey, Histoire...You can't be agreeing with them, can you?"

"To be honest. I think that's not a bad idea" Said the tome while Pushing Neptune away to get some breathing room "Lately I noticed you've been having trouble dealing with the babies. So maybe trying to spend some alone time with one of them could help"

"Okay then, it's decided!"

"See you later, Peashy, Ken-chan!"

"What!? Hey, wait a-" Said Kenji before Neptune suddenly cut off the comunication

A moment of silence ensued before the young man spoke again while staring at the screen

"They didn't even listen to me..." He said while sweat dropping before turning his head to look at Peashy, who was also looking at him

After sighing, Kenji stored his device back in his pocket and turned around to keep walking down the street. This time with a new and unexpected little sidekick to make him company.


	17. Staying a little longer

Taking care of a baby wasn't easy. And everyone knew that. Even if they only had the same basic needs as all other living beings, these little creatures required constant vigilance and attention. Some people found this to be an exhausting and restraining burden to bear, although their cuteness and the parental love felt towards them made the effort worth it for most cases. Unfortunately for Kenji, he didn't share this love for the little humans nor did he think of them as cute. In fact, he found them rather unpleasant and annoying. And this situation was very hard to bear for him.

Just consider it for a moment. If you never had to deal with a baby before and disliked loud individuals who never knew how to shut up, and then had to suddenly take care of three babies all of sudden and was even forced to look after one without even getting a saying in it, wouldn't you feel irritated too?

"How did things end up like this?" Muttered Kenji to himself with his eyes closed and an exhausted expression while walking down the street with Peashy on his arms, who wouldn't stop blabbering until he opened his eyes and looked at her with irritation "Oh, shut up already!"

Little Peashy, who really wanted to play instead of just moving around in a boring way, looked away with a pouty face.

"(Damn it, I hate this brat! It's like looking after a baby version of Neptune!)" He thought with a vein mark popping on his forehead before realizing something "(Wait...that could work...)"

Although it was a thought born from the spur of the moment, Kenji realized Peashy was indeed like a smaller version of Neptune. Except that she couldn't talk, needed help going to the bathroom and didn't gulp down puddings like he gulped down pork bowls. With this idea in mind, he tried his best to imagine the baby on her arms as a chibi version of the perky CPU. It wasn't really hard to do since she already was kind of child-like in appearance. Instead of little Peashy, Kenji was now imagining a baby Neptune wearing a pink pajama and a pair of oversized white gamepad hairclips.

"(Well, that just made it worse...)" Thought the young man while turning his head around to look away from Peashy while sweat dropping

While the young man attempted to erase that image out of his head, the little girl kept her pouty face until noticing something that caught her attention. With her new object of desire in view, she quickly turned around and began pulling on Kenji's vest until finally getting his attention back

"What now?"

After looking at Peashy, he noticed she was trying to point at something to the left with a large smile. Curious to know what got her so hyped up, Kenji turned his head to look at the direction she was pointing at and saw a small toy store with many stuffed toys lying on display in the front glass. It wasn't hard to tell what attracted the little girl's attention.

"Hey now, I'm not made out of credits. I've only got pocket change with me right now"

In response to Kenji's answer, Peashy simply tilted her head and made a confused expression. This didn't surprise the young man, who imagined talking to her about money would be a dumb thing to do since she didn't even know how to talk yet.

"Fine, I get it..." He said after lowering his head and sighing before looking at her again "but I'm not buying you anything"

Peashy lifted up both arms up and laughed cheerfully after hearing Kenji would comply with her request while he walked to the store. Once inside, he looked around the place for a bit. It was a medium-sized store with lots of different types of toys, ranging from simple stuffed toys and dolls to even random games such as table games and even remote controlled cars.

"Hello, welcome to my shop" Said an old man from behind the counter after turning around to look at the two of them "What can I help you with?"

The young man then turned around to face the old man. He was a jolly-looking man with quite an amount of fat on his bones and grey hair along with a big beard. The image of Santa Claus came to mind almost immediately after looking at him, although the hair on his head was already starting to fall.

"Ah, yeah..." Answered Kenji before lowering his head and looking at Peashy "I'm not sure. She saw something she liked"

"Oh, really now?" Said the Santa-looking old man before bending down slightly and looking at the little girl with a smile "Would you be so kind to tell this old man?"

Peashy happily complied with his request and pointed at the stuffed toys lying in the front behind the window. The old man then looked over his shoulder at them before turning around and heading towards the window, where he hovered his hand over the different animals and watched Peashy's reaction to figure out which one she meant. It took some trial and error, but he finally managed to find the right one. It was a small stuffed tiger with big paws and large black dot eyes that gave it the cute touch sitting in the middle between a bear and a bunny.

"Is this the one you want?" He asked while turning around and approaching it to Peashy, who didn't heasitate to lean forward and attempt to grab the stuffed toy "Very well, here you go dear"

"Ah, wait. I wasn't planing to-" Said Kenji in an attempt to stop him from giving her the stuffed toy, but the little girl had already took a hold of it before he could even finish his sentence

The two of them looked at Peashy hugging the tiger for a moment before looking at each other.

"It seems she likes it a lot"

"Yeah, so it seems..." He answered while looking at the old man smiling "But the thing is...I wasn't really going to..."

For a moment, Kenji was about to say he wouldn't buy the stuffed toy. But after looking down at Peashy again and seeing how happy she was right now, the idea of taking it away from her felt a bit cruel. Either way, he had already gone beyond the point of refusing to buy the doll the moment he entered the store.

"So...how much for it?"

"45 credits"

After hearing the price, Kenji held Peashy with one arm and began the quest of searching for enough credits within his pant's pockets. The first few tries failed, but one good thing about combats was that they weren't only both practical for battle and comfortable, but that they also had multiple pockets. And fortunately, luck was on his side today, as he managed to find 63 credits after searching through every single pocket.

"Here you go"

The old man accepted the credits and stored them on the register before looking at Kenji again.

"Thank you, young man" He said before looking at Peashy again "And thanks to you, missy. It's a good thing you have such a nice dad, right?"

"Actually, I'm not her dad..."

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that a lot of people tend to have kids at younger ages these days" Replied the old man while laughing from his own mistake before looking at Kenji again "But I suppose that doesn't really matter. As long as a child has someone to care for them, they will be okay"

The young man then looked at him for a moment or two before leaving the store and return to walk the streets again. This time, he walked in silence while little Peashy enjoyed playing with her new fluffy friend. The aimless walk took the two of them around the city for quite some time until Kenji noticed a park nearby and decided to take a stop there after finding an empty bench to sit on. He then placed Peashy next to him and rested his back against bench while placing both arms over it and looked up at the sky for a moment or two before looking again at her.

"You sure are having fun with that doll, aren't you?" He said while looking at her lifting up her fluffy friend as high as she could and move him from one side to the other

Kenji couldn't help but wonder what was so amusing about a stuffed doll. It was just a bunch of cotton stuffed inside a stiched piece of fabric and fur made to look like a tiger. And it hardly served for anything else than to be dragged around and hugged. But maybe that was what Peashy liked about it. Something that only needed affection to fulfill its purpose of giving the same thing back. While that concept slipped past the young man's mindset, it was probably perfectly reasonable for the little girl.

Either way, the young man at least wouldn't have to worry about her annoying him for a while.

"But those two...Always doing whatever she wants..." Muttered the young man to himself while a popped vein mark appeared on his head

While his irritation towards Peashy subsided slightly, he still felt angry with the CPUs. Because of Plutia's dangerous HDD form, people had no other choice but to do whatever she wanted and Neptune knew how to take advantage of that to make thing play out the way she wanted.

"I swear...One of these days..." He muttered to himself while imagining Neptune's face laughing like an idiot in front of him before he raised his head and threw a jab towards that imaginary vision, making it fade away "...Right in the mouth!"

The young man kept his arm extended for a moment before lowering his head and sighing.

"Yeah, like i'd ever do that..."

Although Kenji could mention more than a dozen times when Neptune did something to anger him to the point where he wanted to rip her head off, the young man's aggression would always fade away after looking at the perky CPU. There was just something about that dumb and carefree smile that made him feel oddly peaceful. The young man kept thinking about his inability to punch Neptune for a moment longer until hearing a claping sound. When opening his head and looking over his arm, he saw Peashy clapping while looking at him with a glitter in her eyes. At first he was confused as to what got her so happy all of a sudden, but soon had an idea of what could have gotten her so happy after noticing her eyes were focused on his fist. He then curved his arm and looked at his fist for a moment before looking at Peashy again and throwing another jab like the one from before. Just like he had assumed, she began clapping again.

"You like this?" He said while looking at her

Little Peashy couldn't articulate understandable words, but her happy babbling sure made it easy to realize she was saying "I loved it!"

This gave him an idea.

"Hm...in that case..."

Kenji got up from the bench and stood facing to the right before taking a boxing stance and getting ready to throw a few more jabs, which Peashy seemed to enjoy a lot.

"This is called a jab, it's a basic fighting move"

The young man then threw two jabs while saying the word "jab" for each one to make sure she would understand that was its name.

"And then there's hooks, uppercuts and even kicks." He said before taking a short pause "...And this is how you use them all together"

Kenji showed Peashy a few more fighting moves he learned before going for a full demonstration of all of them combined while saying the name of each move as he did it.

"Jab, jab, jab, left hook! Jab, jab, jab, left hook, right hook! left hook, right hook, left hook, right hook aaand upper cut!"

He kept showing her multiple combinations of those three attacks he learned to use over the course of the years and even added some kick moves too, such as the straight kick, the back kick and his favorite one, the spinning kick. More commonly known by western people as the taekwondo kick or the roundhouse kick.

The idea of why would a baby enjoy such a thing so much was beyond him, but she seemed thrilled with every new move he showed her.

After nearly two hours, he finally stopped and sat down to take a short break next to the little girl, who pulled on his vest while wondering why he stopped.

"Give me a sec, okay? I need a breather"

Even if his body was already used to combat situations, constantly attacking like crazy for two hours without rest would tire anyone out. And Kenji's human form didn't have the same level of stamina as his HDD form. Nonetheless, he had managed to entertain Peashy and even vented out the left-over frustration with a light training session. In other words, two birds with one stone.

He relaxed his head on the back of the bench and rested his arms over it. Ussually he would lay down, but that was not an option since the spot next to him was being used by the little Peashy. After closing his eyes, the exhaustion he alredy felt from earlier combined with the energy he spent after that little combo demonstration caused Kenji to fall asleep within a few minutes. He fell deep into his slumber until a beeping sound suddenly woke him up.

"Wha-What?" He said while quickly lifting his head and looking around him

The young man was still half-asleep, which was why it took him a while to notice the beeping sound was coming from his portable device. After realizing it, he slowly took it out of his pocket and answered the call after fully regaining consciousness.

"Hello? Kenji?" Said Histoire, who appeared on the screen along with Plutia

"What's wrong? Something happened?"

"Not really, we were just wondering where you were"

"Why?"

"Well, It's been a few hours since you two left the basilicom already despite saying it'd be just a walk"

"Oh...that's what that's about?"

Looking up at the sky, the young man noticed the hour advanced a a few hours at most.

"Hey, hey. Ken-chan...How is peashy doing? Are you taking good care of her?"

"Of course I am"

"Where is she?" Asked the tome this time while looking at the corners of the screen to try and get a glimpse at the little girl

"Peashy? Peashy is right..." Answered the young man while turning his head to look at the spot where Peashy was before he closed his eyes, only to notice she wasn't there anymore "...Eh?"

Kenji looked at the empty spot for a moment or two before quickly turning his head to look all around the park to see if he could find her, but there was no sign of her.

"(Di-Did I just...lose her while sleeping?)"

"Kenji, what's wrong?" Asked Histoire, who grew uneasy with the young man's silence

"Erm...about that..." He said for a moment while quickly thinking about something to come up with before looking at the device again "There's something I've been wanting to ask you two"

"Sure...go ahead...(ô_ó;)"

"Well...This is just one of those "what if" scenarios, so don't worry about a thing..." Said the young man calmly before taking a pause to look more closely at the two girls "Now then... What if maybe, maybe, maybe but just MAYBE...I had lost the baby?"

"WHAT!? (!O_O!)"

"EHHHHHH!? Ken-chan, you lost peashy!?"

"No, no, no! It's just a what if! I didn't lose her for real!" He said whle quickly putting his hand in front of him and waving it slightly "I'm just asking what if that would happen"

"Ohhh...I got scared for a moment there" Said Plutia with relief and a little laugh

"(Thank goodness she's so gullible...)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping

"Hmmmmm...If you had really lost Peashy..." Replied the drowsy CPU with a finger on her chin while imagining the scenario in her mind before looking again at Kenji with a shadow over her eyes and and a stare that could only be described as demonic "...I'd be very, very, VERY angry with you..."

At that moment, the young man and the tome both paled like a corpse and felt a chill running down their spines so hard that they feared the bones would explode out of their backs for a moment.

"But since it didn't really happen, it's all okay" She said while quickly returning to her usual inocent smile, but still with a glimpse of that earlier darkness "Right, Ken-chan?"

"Ri-Right! It didn't happen, it didn't happen at all! In fact, she's right here with me, but I don't really want to bother her while she's sleeping so peacefully"

"Ohhhh, so that's why. In that case, it's okay"

"Plu-Plutia, how about you go play some games with Neptune? I still have something to talk about with Kenji"

"Okaaaay"

The drowsy CPU then walked away and left the room, but the tome waited a moment to make sure she was really gone before turning her head and looking at Kenji again.

"Kenji...did you really loose Peashy? (ó_ò)"

"Erm...well..."

"...For your own sake, just make sure you come back before nightfall with her, or leave the continent before Plutia finds out..."

"She's going to kill me, isn't she?"

"We're talking about Plutia here. I think dying will be the least of your worries once she catches you (=_=;)" Answered the tome while sweat dropping

After the call ended, Kenji kept looking at the black screen for a few moments before turning around and running like a bullet aroundt the park while sweating buckets from the panic running through him right now.

"(I have to find that baby, I have to find that baby, I have to find that baby!)"

Kenji then began the desperate quest to find Peashy before nightfall, otherwise he would have to face Iris Heart's full wrath. And that was something no living being in any universe should ever face. The young man thoroughly searched every part of the park he could think of while calling her name with the belief that she still had to be within the area, since someone that didn't even know how to walk by herself yet wouldn't be able to get too far. Unfortunately, he didn't even find a trace of her in the entire place and because she was an average human being, the shares within her body would be nearly impossible to distinguish from the rest of the people within the city. This made using his sensory powers an invalid option. With just a few hours left before nightfall, the young man was in a race against time with his life on the line. Not being able to find her by himself, the young man began asking around to the people that were still in the park. As small as she were, somebody had to have seen something. But every person he asked said the same thing. That they hadn't seen her. The situation seemed to turn more and more hopeless by the moment.

"Just where did she go?" He asked to himself after stopping for a second in an area within some trees

After moving forward again among the bushes, Kenji stepped on something soft. It felt oddly different from the earth and sticks he had been stepping on so far. He then looked down while sweat dropping and hoping it wasn't mud before kneeling down and pushing the bushes aside to see. What he found made his eyes widen like plates.

"Peashy's doll!?"

It was a bit dirty and wet for some reason too, but it was indeed the doll Kenji bought for her. There was no mistaking it. Although that gave room to another doubt.

"Just how did this get here?"

While wondering how the doll ended up in such a place, he noticed the bushes in front of him shivering as if something was moving within them. Thinking it might be Peashy, he slowly approached them. But before his hand could reach within the bush, something jumped out of it and right towards him, snatching the doll away from Kenji's hand while he shieled himself by instinct from the misterious attacker.

"Whoa! What the hell!?" He said before moving his arm away and noticing the creature that jumped out of the bushes was a dog, and probably a stray one by the looks of it

The real problem wasn't that the dog had an owner or not. Rather, it was that, right now, the dog had the stuffed doll in its possesion.

"Hey, that's mine!" Yelled Kenji while getting up on his feet and chasing after the dog, which qucikly ran away with it

Shortly after the young man chased after the canine all the way out of the small forest, some leaves fell off of the trees before a person fell of into the bushes.

"Ouch!" Said Rei Ryghts after hitting the ground and before slowly sitting up and being fearful of her surroundings "I-Is the dog gone?"

The civil rights activist looked around her multiple times to confirm that the dog was indeed gone, all while being prepared to run back up the tree if it was needed. Once confirming she was in no danger of getting bitten any longer, Rei sighed with relief.

"Thank goodness, I think it is..." She said before caressing the top of her head "Owww, but why did this happen to me?"

Even if she was the leader of the seven sages, Rei's identity was still a secret to everyone except the other sages. As such, she could freely move around the nations and do things such as gathering intel or scouting out the enemy territory without attracting attention due to her average and harmless appearance. Common things such as buying groceries or just taking a walk were also part of her usual routine. Unfortunately for the civil rights activist, her infamous bad luck made sure to follow her around. Getting lost, mugged, caught by rain or nearly run over by a car were just a few of the misfortunes she had to face on a daily basis within towns. This time it was animal attack. And in a desperate attempt to escape, she climbed up to the top of a tree where she strongly held to the branches in wait for the dog to lose interest and leave.

"All I did was go on a walk. Why did that dog suddenly had to chase me?"

While getting back up on her feet, Rei suddenly heard a sound coming from the bushes behind her and quickly turned her head in time to see there was indeed something moving within them.

"Eeek! Wha-What now!?"

As she got ready, or rather frightened, about whatever would jump out of the bushes this time, Kenji was still on the task of chasing down a certain furry thief.

"Get back here with that doll, you ball of fur!"

Unfortunately for him, the dog wouldn't give up his new treasure so easily. He forced the young man to chase him all the way out of the park and around the streets. At first it would be through the streets, where Kenji had to constantly avoid the bystanders and then cut paths through alleys, forcing him to jump over bags of trash left laying around the small space. This chase lasted for a few blocks without either of them giving up until the dog ran out of an alley and right into the street, where there was noticeably more traffic than at the other streets so far. The chase had now turned into a frog game, where avoiding the cars was the main focus. As a someone that lived on the streets all of its life, the canine had the advantage in having more experience at how to avoid cars. Although Kenji didn't allow this to discourage him as he ran into the street and avoided the incoming cars, some by inches. It took some dodging skills, but the young man managed to dodge successfully while nearly getting hit a few times.

"Now I've got you!"

Kenji then extended his arm to catch the dog by the leg, but the canine turned to the left right in time to avoid the hand. This caused the young man to trip and fall right on a pile of trash bags. After his upper body out of the trash, he looked around him and found the dog still running away.

"Oh, so that's how you want it?" He said with a pulsing vein appearing on his head and a twitching eyebrow "FINE BY ME!"

The angry young man got tired and decided to throw caution out the window by transforming and flying towards the dog at full speed, stopping right in front of it and grabbing it by the back of the neck before lifting up the shocked canine up into the air and look at it with vicious eyes. Even if it was an animal, or maybe because it was an animal, the dog could perfectly understand what Kenji wanted. And that refusing would surely have fatal consequences. Without making him wait, the canine let go of the doll.

"Good boy" Said the young man after catching the stuffed doll

Kenji then let go of the frightened canine, which ran away like a bat out of hell. He looked at it running until finally getting out of sight before looking at the stuffed toy again. It had a few puncture marks and some saliva, but nontheless it was still in one piece. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to use it to find Peashy. The idea was to use the doll, which probably had at least a slimmer of Peashy's shares etched into it due to all the affection she had given to it, to try pinpointing her location. Unfortunately, the doll hardly had any shares within it.

Without any idea or clue on how to find her, the young man decided to revert to his human form and head back to the park for the time being. As he sat down in the same bench as before and remained silent. Somewhere within his mind, he began replaying the words the toy store's owner said to him.

"(Someone to care for them, huh?)" He thought while looking down at the stuffed doll he was now holding with both hands

Once she found out, Plutia would surely torture him to the point of breaking his very soul to pieces. But right now, that wasn't the main focus on his mind. He was more concerned about losing Peashy, and being unable to get the image of her laughing and beaming at him out of his mind just made him feel even worse.

Even if he hated babies, he should have been more careful, he should have looked after her better. Now the little girl was lost and alone somewhere in Planeptune, and his mind wouldn't stop imagining the horrible things that could be happening to her right now. Even now, he could still hear her voice trying to get his attention. In fact, the voice was quite persistent to the point of being irritating. Maybe a bit too irritating for a voice inside his mind.

"Erm...excuse me"

Kenji suddenly raised his head after hearing a female voice and saw Rei Ryghts standing in front of him with Peashy in her arms.

"Is this child yours?" Asked the civil rights activist while extending the little girl towards him

"Peashy!" He said as he got up from the bench so fast Rei got scared and nearly jumped away before he could grab Peashy and hold her in his arms "You're okay!"

Rei looked at the young man beaming at Peashy and hugging her.

"(I guess I'd better get going)" She said before turning around and atempting to leave

Even if it was a heartwarming scene, Rei needed to leave. She still had to prepare for the seven sage's next meeting and staying around a man that had faced off against her Hyperdimension counterpart was probably not a good idea, considering the fact she had little to no fighting power right now. Also, Kenji had a rather unpleasant smell right now for some reason.

"Hey, wait a minute"

"Eeeek!"

Afer hearing Kenji call for her, Rei froze up for a moment before slowly turning around to look at him while shivering.

"Ye-Yes?"

The young man looked at her for a moment before smiling.

"Thank you for finding her"

"Oh...It's nothing, really" She said with a weak smile

For a moment, and just for a moment, she feared Kenji may be able to recognize her due to his encounter with the Rei from the Hyperdimension. But it seemed as though he was so focused on Peashy right now that it completely slipped his mind.

"But where did you find her?"

Kenji was honestly curious about this. He had searched nearly every place in the park and the most he could find was the doll. Yet, Rei managed to find her and even find him to give her back.

"I found her over there. She was hidden in the bushes"

Kenji turned his head and saw Rei was pointing at the cluster of trees where he had found the doll.

"(So that's where she was?)" He thought while sweat dropping

If he had taken a few steps forward, he migth have ended up finding her by himself and have avoided all that dog chase

"A-Anyway, I should get going. It's going to get dark soon"

"Oh, Okay..."

Without wasting a second, Rei quickly turned around again and left as fast as she could.

"(...Wait a minute...Didn't I see that woman somewhere before?)" Thought the young man with a raised eyebrow while looking ar her leave, or rather escape, at full throttle

After seeing the civil rights activist's face for a moment, his mind was slowly starting to recall the Rei from the Hyperdimension. Or at least he was doing so, until he felt Peashy pulling on his hair.

"Ouch! Hey, what now!?"

The young man turned his head to look at the little girl and noticed she was trying to reach for the stuffed tiger in his hand.

"Oh, right. This is yours" He said before giving it back to Peashy, who hugged it despite being rather dirty at the moment

Seeing how the little girl kept showering the doll with affection despite it's state placed a smile on Kenji's face. For the first time, he thought of her as cute rather than annoying.

"Well, I guess it's time to go back. You need to sleep and I need a bath"

The young man then turned around and headed back home with Peashy. Fortunately, no one except Histoire knew that Kenji had temporarily lost the little girl and she decided to keep it secret in exchange of him promising to take better care of the babies from now on.

In the end, everything came out fine. Although the young man had to take a few showers afterwards to wash off the smell of those trash bags out of his body.

*Scene*

Sitting on a corner of the room was a stuffed doll made in Kenji's human appearance. There was also a doll of of Neptune and another one of Noire sitting alongside him. They were all very well made, so much to the point where they could be considered to have been created by a professional. But their maker was no other than Plutia herself.

A short time after their arrival on the Ultradimension, the drowsy CPU got into the task of making these dolls. Something which amazed the young man, who couldn't fathom how was she able to make something that required so much dedication and effort when she could hardly keep her eyes open for an entire day. But surprisingly enough, she managed to make both of them within the spawn of a couple of days. Even if the young man paid no mind to them at first, he later learned from Noire that those dolls were actually Plutia's way of showing her affection towards those she saw as friends. This was proved correct after she made yet another doll, this time of her newest friend Blanc.

"(Dolls of friendship, huh?)" Thought the young man, who until now was looking at the dolls in silence

He then extended his hand and picked up the fluffy little version of him made by Plutia to examine it from a closer angle. It was like looking at a miniature version of himself, or at one of those chibis girls were always so hyped about. There was no doubt in his mind that the doll was made with the intention to emannate cuteness.

"ken-chan?"

After hearing Plutia's vocie, Kenji quickly placed the doll back where it was before turning around to see her standing on the doorway.

"What is it?"

"What are you doing?"

"Nothing..." He said before turning around to look at the dolls again "Just taking a look at these"

Plutia looked at him with confusion for a moment before realizing he was referring to her little creations, which made her smile.

"Ah, I see..."

The drowsy CPU then walked closer to the young man in order to stand next to him and look at the dolls for a moment as well before speaking to him again.

"Hey, hey...Ken-chan, do you like them?"

"Sure, they're okay I guess..."

"Really? That makes me happy!"

Kenji turned his head to look at Plutia beaming at him for a moment. Sometimes he had a hard time believing the hardcore sadist Iris Heart and the innocent-looking girl standing next to him were the same person. But he had already seen her transform too many times for him to not believe it.

Even for HDD, it was far too extreme for a personality change, farr more extreme than Neptune, and Neptune's personality change was extreme

"Hey, Ken-chan"

"What?"

"Do you want to go with me?"

"Go where?"

"To the place where I get my sewing stuff" Replied the drowsy CPU "It's a...erm...a place with a very hard name, but they sell lots of things I use to make dolls with"

"Sure, I don't mind. But wha about the babies?"

"Nep-chan said she'd take care of them"

"I see.."

Normally, Kenji would think leaving Neptune in charge of something complex was a bad idea. Nonetheless, the perky CPU had proven to be suprisingly good at taking care of children. Something which he assumed was due to them being on the same level of intellect. But there was also the chance she just liked being with someone that would play with her as much as she wanted.

"Well, let's get going then"

Plutia nodded in agrement with the young man and shortly afterwards, both of them were already on their way to the haberdashery. According to the drowsy CPU, the place wasn't too far away, so there shouldn't be any concerns regarding their absence. On the way there, Kenji noticed Plutia had brought with her a bag that she carried with both hands.

"Hey, Plutia" Asked the young man while both of them walked alongside each other

"What is it?"

"What's that you're carrying?"

"This?" She said while looking down at the bag "This is a bag..."

"No, I mean what's INSIDE the bag..." He replied while sweat dropping

"Oh...so that's what you meant"

After a short giggle, Plutia placed her hand within the bag before pulling out a stuffed tiger doll. It took just a quick look at it for the young man to recognized it as the one he gifted to Peashy a few weeks earlier. Although it was in an awful state right now. The fabric was torn on many places with cotton popping out and a leg even on the edge of completely getting detached.

"Wow...poor guy..."

Seeing the once cute tiger in such an awful state was enough to make even Kenji feel pity towards the little guy.

"Peashy really likes to play with mister tiger a lot, but she's too rough with it..."

"Mister tiger?" He asked with a raised eyebrow

As far as he could remember, the stuffed doll had never received a name. At least from him.

"I want to buy some fabric to fix him up. And while I'm ait it, I'll make him more durable so he doesn't break" She explained before putting "mister tiger" back inside the bag

"I guess you thought this one through..."

Not only was Plutia planing to fix the doll, but also to avoid another incident like this one by making it more resilient to the rough treatment it ussually receives from the small trio. It was a rather thoughful thing of her to do. Then again, for her it wasn't a nice or thoughful thing but instead a common one. This was another detail where she resembled Neptune a lot.

While the two CPUs were, without a doubt, lazy, unwilling to work and a bit slow upstairs, they were nice to other people and even willing to jump in to help those in need without a second though. Just like Neptune had helped him a long time ago by giving him a place to live in until he got a better hold of his bearings on the Hypedimension, Plutia had done the exact same thing to help him find the perky CPU. The one thing Kenji, nor probably anyone else, could get used to was the terrifying person she became whenever going on a rampage in HDD. But that could easily be avoided as long as she didn't get angry.

"By the way, why do you like sewing?" Asked the young man while looking at her

"Why? Hm..." She replied while closing her eyes and thinking about it "...I'm not sure, I just really like it. I can make lots of cute dolls...and even get to stab things..."

"Wait...what?"

"I can even make really durable dolls that, when I get REALLY angry, I can punch and stomp on all I want to feel better"

"I-I see..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

While looking at Plutia smiling as if she were thinking about something wonderful, the young man began to realize where all that sadism was coming from and wondered if it was a trait of her HDD personality slowly flowing into her human form or an innate trait she always had since before becoming a CPU.

"Also, because it's the reason I met Noire"

"Eh?"

"You see...It happened a loooong time ago, long before I became a CPU" Explained Plutia while recalling the events from a past when she was just entering her teenager years "Back then, I wasn't really good at making friends, so I was always lonely... One day, my mom took me to a place full of different clubs so I could try joining one and make friends. I wasn't good at sports or studying, so instead I chose sewing because it sounded fun..."

"And you met Noire there?"

"That's right..." She said while beaming at him "She had been part of the sewing club for a long time, and she was really good at sewing cute clothes. But for some reason, she never made any friends..."

"(Well, that's not really unexpected...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping.

The idea of Lastation's CPU being unable to establish frienships wasn't really hard to imagine. Even if she was polite and generally respectful towards others, Noire had the bad habit of being too hard headed about doing things by herself and wanting only the best for her and others. That, along with her tsundere personality, would commonly make her come off as stuck-up or arrogant.

"Everyone said she was a mean person, but she was really nice to me...And she even taught me how to sew. After a while, I got really good at making dolls thanks to Noire teaching me and made one of her as a thank you gift"

"And that's how you two became friends?"

Plutia nodded happily.

"I was never good at saying things, so I learned to do it by making dolls instead..."

"I see..."

Silence then fell over the two of them and lasted for a moment before finally reaching their destination.

"A Haberdashery?" Said Kenji while looking up at the sign above the entrance

"That's right, that's the name...But it's really hard to say, so I forget it a lot"

"To be honest, I'm not sure if I could remember that either..." He replied while sweat dropping.

For the first time, the young man had the feeling he had found a word harder to say than Neptune's name. He probably wouldn't have been able to say it himself if it weren't for the fact it was written in a large sign. Nonetheless, he put this thought aside and walked into the Haberdashery along with Plutia.

Just as he had imagined when the drowsy CPU referred to it as a "sewing stuff place", the shop was indeed filled with materials used in the craft. Mainly buttons, threads, needles and fabric, all coming in a wide range of colors and sizes. But even with the massive variety, Plutia was able to request her needed materials and pay for them quickly. And without wasting any time, the two of them went out into the streets again and headed back home. As they walked down the streets once again, there was one thing Kenji couldn't get out of his head regarding what Plutia told to him.

"Plutia?"

"What?"

"Earlier, you said something about your mom"

"That's right...I said my mom took me to this big place with lots of clubs, and then that I met Noire there and-"

"Ye-yeah, I know. You don't need to repeat the whole story" Interrupted Kenji "I was more curious about your mom"

Thinking back on it, the CPUs of the Ultradimension were different from those of the Hyperdimension in the fact that they weren't born as goddesess. Rather, they became that by ingesting a CPU memory. Therefore, it wasn't strange for them to have families.

"Hm...Mom looked a lot like me, but she was taller and had tidier hair..."

"Actually, I was wondering where she was"

"Oh...I don't know. She left after I became a CPU"

"Left? Just like that?"

Plutia nodded.

"I didn't really get it at first. But Histy said that when someone becomes a CPU, it's normal for their families to leave us" She explained to him before looking forward again "I hope she's doing okay..."

The young man looked at the drowsy CPU while she thought about her mother. While he was aware of the fact CPUs didn't age, he had no idea it required you to lose your entire family. In the end, all that power did come with a heavy price.

"But I'm not really sad that she left..."

"Why?"

"Because...I always had Noire with me. Then Ken-chan fell from the sky, and I met Nep-chan and Blanc and the babies..." She said while beaming at him "Now I have lots of friends, so I never feel lonely"

After seeing that kind-hearted smile and hearing those words, Kenji couldn't say a thing. He felt an odd mixture of affection and gratitude towards her.

Even if she had that terrifying second persona, the young man wondered if it really was as bad as he though of her to be.

And without even realizing it himself, he raised his hand and placed it on the top of Plutia's head to caress her hair. This surprised the drowsy CPU, who blushed strongly after this sudden show of affection.

"Ke-Ken-chan!?" Said Planeptune's CPU with widened eyes

"Hm?"

Although he was the one doing it, it took a moment for Kenji to actually notice his hand's actions.

"Ah!" He said while quickly moving it away from Plutia's head and taking a step away from her "So-Sorry! My hand just moved on its own!"

The young man was also confused as to why he did what he did, but right now he was more worried about Plutia snapping and transforming. Although innocently caressing someone's hair wouldn't be considered a reason to get angry in most cases, Kenji had no clue whetever this did anger her or not. And that was enough to terrify anyone.

"It's okay"

Fortunately, she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she seemed happy for some reason.

"Eh? Really?" He asked while slowly lowering his hands, which he had placed in front of him as a somewhat hastily made protection

Plutia nodded calmly.

"I mean...isn't it normal for friends to be nice to each other?"

Luckily for the young man, she seemed to see his act of physical contact as a way to show the affection he felt towards her at that moment, but couldn't explain with mere words. And it was very likely that she was right. But Kenji had yet to realize it himself as, unlike the time when he headpated Ram, this time his hand moved purely by something similar to instinct rather than thought, which was why he felt so confused.

"Yeah...I guess so..." Replied the young man while still looking at his hand with a raised eyebrow

"Come on, let's go home..." She said while turning around "...I'm sure peashy will be very happy when mister tiger is all fixed"

"Right..."

He then followed Plutia back home, where he kept wondering the meaning of what he just did.

*Scene*

"Okay, you two. It's finally the day" Said Histoire while looking at Kenji and Neptune "Are you two ready?"

The two of them, along with the other CPUs and the Histoires from both dimensions, were now gathered outside at the balcony standing at the last floor of Planeptune's tower. The reason being that the CPUs from the Hyperdimension had finally gathered enough shares to bring both Kenji and Neptune back to their side and help them with the current situation taking place in Planeptune.

"Sure thing!"

"Yeah..."

Needless to say, this should have been a happy moment for the two considering they would finally be able to go back home. But they couldn't really feel "happy" about this, and neither could the other CPUs. Neptune's unusually calmed behavier in particular showed how she lacked excitement about the idea of going back.

"Nep-chan, Ken-chan, are you really leaving?" Asked a saddened Plutia

Both of them turned around to look at her, but neither could come up with the right words to say they were leaving. At least none that wouldn't make her cry.

"I know you're sad Plutia. But the people from their dimension need their help right now"

Seeing how the drowsy CPU's eyes got teary, Neptune walked closer to her in order to try and cheer her friend up. She hated the idea of seeing her friend so sad.

"Come on, Pururun. Don't cry! We'll still be pals!"

"But I don't want you to leave!"

"Oh! I don't wanna go either! I wanna stay here with all of my new pals too!"

"Nep-chaaaan!"

"Pururuuun!"

The two friends hugged each other while Plutia beggan sobbing.

"Come on, you two. Stop it already!" Said Noire, who was getting teary eyed as well "If you keep crying like that, I'll end up being feeling sorry for both of you!"

"Your tears are showing, you know?" Replied Blanc with her head lowered and eyes closed

The truth was that everyone felt sad about this. Even if some were better at hiding their emotions than others, no one could deny it. The idea of a friend leaving and probably never coming back was a sad, even heartbreaking thought. Unfortunately, if Neptune and Kenji went back to the Hyperdimension, chances were that they might not come back in a very long time, and that was if they ever were capable to come back at all. As interdimensional travel was a complex and yet to be fully understood theory.

Even if the two Histoires managed to make a proper connection with each other, the process required to create a passage between both dimensions was incredibly complex and used up large amounts of shares that they had only managed to gather thanks to the combined efforts of the CPUs and CPU candidates from all four nations of the Hyperdimension, along with the help of Neptune, Kenji and Plutia from their own side.

Not only that, but even if a way to safely travel from one dimesion to the other was discovered, the problems wouldn't stop there. As there was still the matter of them being CPUs, which were more than just mere random individuals. They were the leaders and deities of their nations, and their absence would prove fatal, even if just for a short time. Just looking at the Hyperdimension's Planeptune was enough to understand this fact, as the perky CPU had only been away for three days and yet the nation was already facing a dire crisis that could easily end up destroying it along with all the other nations and probably the entire dimension as well.

Plutia visiting Neptune's nation would be just worse, as time on the Ultradimension moved much faster than in the Hyperdimension. A mere one-week visit would be seven years on the Ultradimension, and if the Planeptune from the Hyperdimension suffered so much from its CPU being away just three days, it wan't very difficult to imagine a seven-year absence would be far more catastrophic.

The young man looked at both of his friends hugging each other as the heartbreaking feeling of knowing this might be the very last time they saw each other brought them deep sorrow. A sorrow that not even Neptune was capable of making fun of this time.

"Hey, Histoire. Can't we wait for just a bit longer?" He asked while turning around to look at the Hyperdimension's Histoire's hologram

Everyone's focus was now placed over Kenji. His sudden request was so unexpected it caused even the two CPUs that until now were hugging each other tightly turned their heads to look at him.

"Kenny?"

Kenji didn't like to see Neptune so sad. In fact, he hated it so much to the point of even being able to request Histoire for some more time before their return. Although part of that request was also out of his own wish to remain in the Ultradimension for a bit longer.

Even if things weren't the same as in the Hyperdimension, even if he had to travel all the way to Lowee everyday just to get a pork bowl and if he had to take care of three babies which he found annoying most of the time, Kenji didn't want to leave, at least not yet. He had already gotten used to the Ultradimension to the point of even liking it. He was already warming up to little Peashy and even managed to get to know Plutia a little better. Not to mention the seven sages were still at large and may somehow be connected to Croire, which in turn may be connected to Ibiem.

But conspiracies and theories aside, Kenji wanted to say because he wanted to become even better friends with Plutia, he wanted to teach Peashy lots of really baddass fighting moves and he also wanted to stop the seven sages from causing more trouble than they already did.

"I'm really sorry, Kenji, Neptune. But this crisis is far too serious to be left alone any longer. I need both of you to return and lend your assistance"

"I see..."

The young man lowered his head with a dissapointed look in his eyes. In the end, he couldn't convince Histoire to give them more time. But he couldn't reallly blame her, as she had the duty to think about Planeptune's well-being before anything else.

"It's okay, Ken-chan, Nep-chan..." Said Plutia while letting go her, causing both the young man and the perky CPU to now focus their attention on her "I might feel lonely, but I'll bear with it..."

Despite her fake smile, there were still some tears on the drowsy CPU's eyes. But she had decided not to be selifsh anymore. Kenji and Neptune had other friends besides her, friends who needed their help right now. Trying to make them stay any longer would only be her forcing what she wanted on others, and Plutia didn't want to do something so awful to her friends.

Seeing Plutia had managed to accept it, both Histoires decided to waste no time and proceeded to open up the portal, which manifested itself as a large pilar of light almost twice the size of the pilars that emerged whenever any of them activated their HDD form.

"Kenji, Neptune, the passage won't be open for too long! Hurry up and go through!"

"I guess this is goodbye" Said Noire before taking a look at each of them one last time

"We didn't know each other for long, but the time we spent together was enjoyable"

"Goodbye, you two. I'll talk to all of my pals a lot about you when I get back"

"Goodbye..." Said the young man, as it was the only thing that he could think of at the moment.

He then turned around to face Plutia, who was also looking at him. At that moment, Kenji wasn't really sure what to say.

He felt a plain "Goodbye" was too dull, and long gratitude speeches weren't his thing either. In the end, he went for the only thing he could think of.

"Thank you for everything" He said calmly while lowering his head

As simple as it might be, that was by far the best phrase he could probably say at that moment. And there were no doubts that it epxressed everything he wanted to say in the most straightforward way possible.

"Bye-bye..."

After giving everyone a proper farewell, Kenji and Neptune both faced the pilar of light and slolwy walked towards it.

"Okay, you two. If my calculations are correct, the process should be-" Explained the Hypedimension's Histoire before being abruptly interrputed by a door being slammed open on her side "Eh?"

"Histore, are Kenji and one-chan not back yet?" Asked Nepgear, who was now standing on the doorway, before noticing the blinding light "Eh? What's that?"

"Ne-Nepgar! This is a very delicate procedure, please wait outside!"

"But I heard One-chan's voice..."

The CPU candidate, who had grown anxious and impatient about seeing her elder sister again, had intruded into the room without a second thought. She wasn't planning to do anything other than take a peek, but after getting the feeling she had heard her sister's voice, Nepgear couldn't control herself.

"Nepgear!?"

"Eh!? Was that One-chan's voice!?"

With Neptune's voice echoing through the room, Nepgear's brain had a chemical explosion similar to that of a dog after seeing their owner about to give them a snack. She searched and searched through the entire room, but the only things she could see were Planeptune's oracle and the blinding light in the center of the room. That was when it hit her, Neptune's voice was coming from there!

"One-chan, are you in there!?" She yelled while approaching the light "I really miss you a lot!"

"Nepgear, please get away from that!"

Meanwhile, on the Ultradimension, the group of people were watching everything unfold.

"Hey...Neptune...do you think she'll-" He asked while sweat dropping

"Yup, she totally will!" Replied the perky CPU who, although she wanted to go home, felt really happy about the possible plot event about to take place

"Eh? I can't see her...Maybe if I get a bit closer..."

In an attempt to see her elder sister, Nepgear approached the portal. Something that proved to be a bad idea, as the gravitational pull caused by it didn't hesitate to pull her towards it.

"U-Uwah! What's this!? I-I'm getting sucked in!"

"Nepgear!"

The tome's eyes widened as she saw the CPU candidate getting sucked into the light. Within seconds, the portal began to flicker and eventually dissapeared without a trace on both sides.

"Nepgear? Nepgear!"

Histoire yelled her name a few times, but it was no use. Nepgear was no longer in the Hyperdimension.

"Hey, Histy! What happened!?"

"Nepgear went through the portal!"

"Eh? But I don't see her anywhere..." Said Plutia while looking around the balcony

The others soon followed suit and began searching their surroundings for a hint or sign of the CPU candidate, but their efforts bore no results. After a moment of grim silence, a signal of Nepgear was finally found in the form of her voice coming from very far away.

"Uwahhhhhh!"

"Oh!? that sounds like !"

Neptune was glad to hear her little sister's voice as it showed she was alive and fine. Now the problem was knowing WHERE she was.

It took a moment before the thought hit the young man, but he had an idea of where the CPU candidate could be.

If that passageway was as unstable as it looked, then it was very likely Nepgear ended up entering the Ultradimension in a very similar fashion to Kenji's. In other words, the answer was not to look around, but to look up. This theory was proven correct after he raised his head to look above and saw a black dot on the sky, growing bigger by the second.

"Ohhhh, so that's where she is..."

Neptune quickly caught wind of Kenji's stare being focused up and did the same thing, only to see her little sister falling down on them like a bomb ejected from a plane.

Almost by instinct, everyone slowly walked away from Noire. But Lastation's CPU wasn't dumb. She could notice this pack behavior, although understanding it was another deal.

"Eh? Why is everyone walking away from me like that?"

The reason had yet to be specified, but they could feel a very strong sense of danger on the area around her. And that was backed up by more than mere gut feeling.

"Uwahhhhh! Move it, move it, move iiiiiiit!"

Hearing Nepgear's yelling was all Noire needed to understand what was happening. She quickly raised her head in fear of what she thought might happen, and those fears were confirmed after seeing the CPU candidate falling right towards her.

"No-Not agaaaaain!"

In a split second, a loud boom sound echoed through the balcony, and probably a few blocks around the tower, as a cloud of dust expanded due to the impact. It stuck around for a moment before finally clearing away and revealing Nepgear sitting over Noire, who was lying facedown on the floor.

"Ouch...that hurt..." Said the CPU candidate while caressing her head

Even if this wan't the first fall she had to cushion, it didn't change the fact that having someone fall on you from so high above was something that would leave the body aching afterwards. And being the one falling didn't secure there wouldn't be injuries either.

"Well, at least now we know where she is"

When hearing the young man's voice, Nepgear raised her head. She knew for a fact that, if Kenji was there, Neptune had to be somewhere nearby. And surely enough she was.

"One-chan!?"

"Hey, Nepgear. How's it going?"

The CPU candidate looked at her with a wide smile and teary eyes.

"One-chan, it's really you! I've missed you so much!"

"I know, I know. My bad" Said Neptune while approaching her and patting her head "There, there"

While looking at the two sisters sharing a somewhat heartwarming and slightly odd reunion, Plutia stood next to Kenji and looked at him instead.

"Ken-chan, is that Nep-chan's sister?"

"Yeah. Her name's Nepgear"

Plutia turned her head again to look at Nepgear and smiled with a slight blush.

"Ahhh, she's really cute!"

After receiving some sisterly love from Neptune, Nepgear managed to calm down her urge for attention and become more aware of her surroundings, or specifically, more aware of the people around her such as Kenji and Plutia.

"Kenji?"

"Hey there" He said while looking at her after finally being noticed

"Who's that person?" Asked the CPU candidate while looking at the drowsy CPU

"This is Plutia, she's Planeptune's CPU in this dimension"

"I see. I'm Nepgear, Neptune's younger sister"

"Nice to meet you, Nepgear"

"The same goes for me"

Both Plutia and Nepgear were sharing a pleasant introduction, but everyone seemed to be forgetting about something, or rather, about someone.

"Hey... Just how long are you going to sit on me!?"

"Eh!?"

The surprised CPU candidate nearly jumped off after suddenly hearing Noire's voice and lowering her head to see she was indeed sitting on her.

Tired of laying on the floor like a carpet, Lastation's CPU got off of the floor and back up on her feet, nearly making Nepgear fall to the floor if she hadn't gotten up as well.

"First him and now you!? Seriously, what's with you people falling on me!?"

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do that..."

"Don't worry. It ain't the first time she had to do the emergency cushion role"

"That doesn't make it any better!" Snarled Lastation's CPU while turning her head to look at Neptune

While Nepgear apologized to Noire in order to calm her down, the Hyperdimension's Histoire lowered her head and placed a hand on her face.

"This is a disaster...Now we'll have to start again from scratch..."

"It seems so..." Said the Ultradimension's Histoire as well before sighing

"I Guess that means we'll be staying around for a bit longer"

It was easy to tell Kenji and Neptune were glad that they'd be able to stay around the Ultradimension a bit longer, even if Histoire saw this as a failure.

"I'll go tell the others that we need to gather shares once more, please try your best to do the same..."

Tired and forced to rebuild her inital plan from scratch, the Hyperdimension's Histoire cut off comnuication, making the hologram dissapear as well.

A moment of silence fell among the group before everyone went back inside. There really wasn't much of a point in staying outside either way.

"So? What comes next?"

"We'll need to gather shares all over again, and this time we'll need far more than before since now we have to send three people instead of two"

"In other words, this arc ain't over yet!"

Ignoring Neptune's 4th wall breaking comment, the CPUs sat down to properly talk about the other business they had to attend to.

"Now, regarding an important matter" Said Blanc before taking a pause to make sure everyone, or at least the people that needed to listen, were focused on hearing her "There's information about a nation called Leanbox on an island to the south. Although it made its existence public knowledge just a few days ago, rumors say it's been around for quite some time."

"Oh!? So the writter's finally finishing up the party!?"

"And the most important of it all? We all received an invitation to go there" Said Noire with a stern expression

"Then, we're invited to a party!?" Replied Plutia with a smile and an excited tone

"All right! Time to for my super Nep Nep revolution moves to nep up the party!"

Apparently, the duo was unable to understand the gravity of the situation and thought of it as a harmless invitation to an event.

"Not a party, more like a meeting" Explained Lastation's CPU while sweat dropping

While Noire tried to make both of them understand how serious this was, Kenji recalled meeting Vert back in Lowee. Her clothing was different and her personality seemed a bit off, but Kenji didn't really notice any other major difference in her. At least that was what he thought. Of course, there was always the chance that, just like with this Planeptune, someone other than Vert became the CPU.

"Then, we're not going?" He asked while turning his head to look at Blanc

"Declining the invitation would be the logical move, since there's no doubt this is a trap. But the chance to learn more about an enemy and a potential new threat is worth the risk"

"In other words, it's time for some Leanbox story!"

Even with the risk of it being an ambush, the group decided to go to Leanbox. As it was very likely that four CPUs and one HDD user could take care of themselves if the worst came to happen. There was only one problem to deal with. And suprisingly enough, Plutia was the first one to realize this.

"Wait...If we all go to Leanbox, then who'll look after the babies?"

"Ah, right! Those lil' tykes slipped off of my mind for a moment there!"

"Ba-Babies!?"

Although both Histoire's mantained contact with each other, Neptune didn't tell the others back at the Hyperdimension everything that was happening on this side. The fact they were taking care of three babies, of which two were Compa and IF, had yet to be told to anyone from the Hyperdimension. It was no surprise Nepgear would find the word "babies" shocking

"Come on, I'll show you!"

While Blanc and Noire got ready for the trip to Leanbox, Neptune, Plutia and Kenji guided Nepgar to another room within the basilicom where the babies had been sleeping up until now while explaining about them to her. After entering and seeing them spread out all around, it was obvious they weren't sleeping any longer.

"So these are the babies?"

"Yup" Said Neptune before picking up Compa and IF and showing them to her "And guess who these two are!"

Nepgear couldn't really understand what she meant by that, at least until she took a closer look at the two babies being held up in her elder sister's arms and noticed the incredible similarities they held to their human friends back in the Hyperdimenson.

"Co-Compa!? IF!?"

The CPU candidate couldn't believe her eyes. She knew the Ultradimension had its own version of each individual, but the idea of those versions having such a drastic gap in age was beyond her imagination.

Fortunately for her, the two babies seemed to have taken a liking to her.

"I think they like you" Said Kenji while moving sideways

"You think so?"

"Here, try holding them!"

Without a warning, Neptune took step forward and gave both Compa and IF to her younger sister, who nearly went into a panic while quickly getting a hold of both babies.

"Eh!? Wait a moment!"

Compa leaned on Nepgear without any fear and pulled on her clothes while IF pulled on her hair instead.

"O-Ouch! Please stop that!"

The constant attack from both sides caused her to fall to the floor on her butt. And while she kept struggling to make them let go of her, Peashy, who wanted to join into the fun as well, approached Nephear and joined the fun the best way she could, by punching her right in the gut.

"Ugh...You...you shouldn't hit people in the solar plexus..."

While her intial reaction made Peashy laugh, Nepgear's mention of the solar plexus confused her due to the fact it was a word she had yet to understand. Matter of fact, she hardly knew what "punch" meant, and she punched people all the time.

"Ken-chan's right, the babies like Nepgear a lot"

"They sure have a rough way to show it though..." Replied the young man while sweat dropping

The word "rough love" would fall short to properly describe the little trio's way to show affection.

"Ah, I know! How about Nepgear takes care of the babies while we're gone?"

"Oh!? Good thinking, Pururun!"

"Eh!? EHHHH!?"

While spontaneous and random, it was actually a good idea.

Due to her recent arrival on the Ultradimension, Nepgear probably was unable to access HDD. Therefore, she was little more than an average human right now. Going to Leanbox on her current state would only put her in risk.

"Don't you worry ! We'll be right back, and even bring you a souvenir!"

Of course, this wasn't really what Neptune was thinking about. She simply didn't want to stay in Planeptune and miss out on whatever would happen on Leanbox. Seeing the opportunity to go, Neptune decided to take it, even if it meant using her younger sister as a collateral damage.

"Hey, you lot. We have to go!"

"Ah! Wait for us!" Said the perky CPU while turning around and leaving without a second thought

"Bye-bye, Nepgear!"

"Wa-wait a minute, you two!"

Kenji turned his head to look at the doorway before looking at Nepgear for a moment. He felt it would be a bad idea to leave her alone with those three chaos machines, but he didn't really want to miss out on Leanbox either.

"Careful with the blond one. She's already learning how to punch where it hurts" He said in an attempt to give her one last advice before leaving

"Ple-please don't leave me! One-chan, One-chaaaaan!"

With the babies now under the care of the unfortunate CPU candidate, the group was free to travel to Leanbox. Ussually it would have required to fly therre, but the invitation sent to the CPUs included a note saying that they were also offered a ride to the island, and truly enough, they found an unmaned boat at the coast south of Planeptune. It was comfortable enough to fit all five of them easily and even included an automatic system, already programmed to give them a smooth sailing to Leanbox.

Once there, they were able to have a good look at the nation. It was pretty much the same as the Leanbox Kenji and Neptune already knew, except that maybe the nation's territory was slightly smaller than it's Hyperdimension counterpart. That and the fact everything, absolutely everything, was mega-sized. From structures to decorations to consoles and even food. Everything was twice the size of what it should normally be.

"All right, girls" Said Noire before taking a pause and looking at Kenji "...and guy...Keep in mind, we're not here for a vacation or a joy trip. We're on a serious mission"

"Hey, Pururun, Kenny! Check this out!" Said Neptune while placing both hands against the front window of a fast food restaurant "Those pieces of meat between breads are HUGE!"

"Whoa! They're so is so big!" Said Plutia with widened eyes

"How do you even bite down on that?" Aked the young man with a raised eyebrow

The trio wasn't sure what was more shocking. The sheer size of the hamburger, which was probably about the size of of a soccer ball, or the idea of someone being able to bite on it without dislocating their jaw.

Lastation's CPU looked at the trio, who didn't even seem to be worried or tense, and sweat dropped.

"They're not even bothering, are they...?"

"It's no use...the word tension is lost with those three"

Even if Noire and Blanc considered this a dangerous mission, Neptune couldn't feel any danger due to already being aquaintanced to the Vert from her dimension and Kenji had already met Vert in Lowee, but couldn't really see her as a threat. And Plutia, well, Plutia couldn't really feel tension even if she tried.

"Let's just get going..."

There was really no use trying to make this a serious situation.

After finally getiting the trio's attention away from the mega-sized burgers, the group made their way through town. The steets were considerably more straightfoward than those of the other cities so far, which made it easier to reach the basilicom. But before they could enter, Kenji suddenly heard a sound, or at least he tought he heard one.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Asked Plutia while looking at him

"Didn't you girls hear that? It kind of sounded like a bell"

"A bell? What are you talking about now?"

"I didn't hear anything..."

While the CPUs walked into the basilicom, Kenji looked at the direction from which he thought to have heard the sound for a moment before turning his head to look forward again.

"(Guess my mind is playing tricks on me...)"

He tried convincing himself it was just his imagination, or maybe his mind still was half-asleep. But when hearing the same bell ringing again, Kenji quickly turned his head around and did see something this time. It was just for a split second, but Kenji could've sworn he saw a green whip-like object slipping away behind a tree. He then ran towards the tree and looked behind it, but there was nothing there.

Suddenly, Kenji heard the bell again. And this time, the ringing sound didn't stop. It kept going every few seconds. Almost as if trying to lure him somewhere.

The young man's gut was telling him to follow that sound instead of avoiding it, and his gut feelings were usually spot on. But this time it also told him to be wary.

Almost by instinct, Kenji began seeking out the sound like a sailor chasing after a mermaid. First through a forest, and then through the streets until finally reaching a park. At that moment, the ringing stopped completely. He looked around him before noticing he had gone quite a distance away from the basilicom.

"(Where am I now?)"

The park was a large, open area with some trees around and a hill which probably had a spectacular view of Leanbox at the top from which he heard the final ring of the bell.

Unfortunately, the bell completlely stopping meant he had lost trace of whatever it was he was chasing after and decided to head back to town.

"Hm? So he ain't coming up here-nya?" Wondered the little girl while looking at him "I guess he still lacks hindsight-nya"

If Kenji had gone just a little bit further, if he had gone to the top, he would have seen the lookout, wooden bench, and most importantly, the one source of that sound.

The was a young girl, probably around Neptune's size and youthful appearance, sitting on the bench at the top of the hill looking at Kenji. She was fair-skinned with bright blue eyes and pastel green waist-length hair. with long bangs nearly reaching her eyes and framing her face. But probably the most peculiar detail about her were the cat ears on her head and cat tail appearing from the side.

She was wearing a black sailor-like dress that reached down to her knees. It had dark green lining, buttons that decorated it and a dark green scarf. She was also wearing black shoes similar to those worn by young students along with white tight-high socks, white gloves, a white turtleneck undershirt and a black chocker with a cat's bell on it.

The little cat-girl looked at Kenji walking away for a moment before looking at the sketch on her booklet again with a smirk. Instead of worrying about her target seeing her or gathering information about Leanbox, she'd much rather keep making her sketch of it.

"Oh well. Master Ibiem did say not to get involved yet, and this way I get do my background sketch practice for a bit longer-nya"

While she kept focusing on her own task, the young man walked back to town. Unaware of the danger the individual he just avoided.

Kenji was still confused from what just happened, but right now he needed to find his way back to the basilicom. While searching around the streets, he noticed a large amont of alluring shops that varied greatly from those found in other nations. The one that caught his attention the most was a shop with a robot standing outside. It was white with green lining and didn't have legs or arms, but rather moved with wheels similar to those of tanks and it had a bulky little body. It also had a big red eye it used to scan its surroundings.

But the people seemed to avoid it for some reason.

"Hey, you...yeah, you!"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you!"

Kenji approached the robot with certain curiosity after being called by it.

He didn't think the robot could talk like a human.

"What do you want?"

"What do YOU want!?"

The young man sweat dropped after hearing the robot repeat the exact same thing he said.

"What?"

"What?"

"Hey, don't repeat me, that's weird"

"Hey, DON'T repeat me, that's WEIRD!"

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

Now the young man was getting an idea of why the people were avoiding the tin can.

The machine didn't simply talk, it talked back. And it was repeating everything the young man said in a very irritating and rude manner, which was pretty infuriating.

"Stupid robot..."

"Stupid..."

Kenji knew the heap of junk could do more than just repeat what it was told, and he would prove it.

"...I'm an idiot..." He said in wait to see what the reply would be.

"...Yeah, you're totally an idiot..."

A pulsing vein mark on his forehead was the signal his blood was boiling now. The poor robot couldn't even imagine what was about to hit him as Kenji summoned his weapon, which was blazing in flames.

*A few hours later*

"Tch, that bitch just pisses me off!" Said an angered Blanc while walking with clenched fists "I should'a ripped those udders right off of her body!"

"You do realize she just made that to piss you off, right?"

The CPUs were through with their conversation. And while they found out Vert was indded this Leanbox's CPU, things had ended up just as Neptune imagined, or probably even worse.

Vert had declared war to all other nations and said she would overpower them by introducing her own console into the market. And while at it, she boasted about having a larger chest than them and said their lack of breasts made them less of a threat. Needless to say, this infuriated Blanc, who barely managed to leave without going on a rampage.

After leaving the basilicom, the CPUs headed back to the boat.

"Hey, hey...where's Ken-chan? Shouldn't we look for him?"

"Don't worry, Pururun! He's probably waiting for us in the boat!"

"Knowing that guy, she's probably right" Said Noire while sweat dropping

Surely enough, just like Neptune predicted, the young man was waiting for them on the boat. Mainly due to the fact he had gotten lost while searching for the basilicom and opted out to go back to the boat instead. Noire felt like commenting about this at first, but she was too tired to even bother at this point. She already had a lot of job left to do when returning to her nation, and so did the other CPUs.

After a quick sailing through the sea and some proper explaining for the young man that didn't attend the meeting, the CPUs went back to their own nations to prepare for the incoming invasion of Leanbox's gaming consoles wich, according to Vert, would end up taking over the entire market. Neptune, Plutia and Kenji didn't really feel too worried about this and returned to the basilicom, where they expected a warm welcome. Unfortunately, this was the last thing they'd get.

"Everyone, something terrible has happened!" Yelled the tome while quickly flying towards them with a panicked voice

"What's wrong!? The seven sages!?" Asked Kenji with a stern expression.

Even if tired from the tip, the trio was ready to jump back out into the street and kick some baddies in the face if it was needed.

"It's even worse than that! Much, much worse!" Said the tome in a panic "It's Nepgear!"

"What happened!?" Asked Neptune this time

"Follow me..."

Neptune, Plutia and Kenji followed the tome throught the hallway. Each of them with their own worries regarding the CPU candidate.

Could it be she had fought the seven sages and got badly wounded? Or maybe had an accident while taking care of the babies? Or fell sick all of a sudden?

All sorts off scenarios ran through the worried minds of the trio until finally entering the room where Nepgear was in.

"Nepgear!"

"They don't care...they'll never care...I guess I'm just that usseless, aren't I?"

The trio's eyes widened and they sweat dropped due to the scene in front of them. Nepgear was sitting on the floor in fetal position with teary eyes and a sense of despair and hopelesness within them. Along with an aura of depression emanating from her body.

"Ne-Nepgear?"

"Uwahhhh...what happened to her?"

"After you left, she suddenly became heavily depressed and...well...ended up like this"

While Histoire explained to them what caused Nepgear to end in that terrible state, the babies surrounded the CPU candidate and poked her a few times to see if she'd react. But it was to no avail. Nepgear was submerged far too deep into an ocean of depression snap out of it from something as simple as being poked.

"Nepegear?"

"What is it, One-chan that doesn't love me?"

Neptune attempted to snap her out of it by calling her name, but it just seemed to make things even worse. Nepgear was so depressed right now that she couldn't even be fully respectful towards Neptune.

"Whoa...she's really depressed..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"She's even worse than Kenny at the start of the story..."

"Hey, Neptune. I think you should apologize to her"

"Ah! Right, right! I forgot about that!" Said the Perky CPU while nodding to Plutia's suggestion a few times before looking at her younger sister again with worry "Hey...Nepgear. I'm sorry for walking out on you like that, but some really serious plot stuff was plaiyng out over there and they needed my help, you know?"

Nearly half of what she said was a lie, but Kenji wouldn't point that out. Right now, Nepgear needed to be cheered up, even if it was through a few lies.

"And my gift?"

"Eh?"

"You said you'd bring me a gift from Leanbox when you came back, so where is it?"

"Ah...A-about that...you see..."

Right now, Neptune was struggling to find an answer. That gift would definitely have made Nepgear feel better, but as usual from Neptune, she completely and utterly forgot about it.

"See? I knew you didn't care about me..."

While watching the situation go downhill like it did, Kenji tried to think how to make the situation any better. Fortunately, he had just happened to bring something with him that may be the needed answer.

"Actually, Nepgear. Neptune did bring you a gift"

"Eh? She...She did?"

"I did?-I mean- Yeah! I totally did!" Said Neptune with confusion before quickly prentending confidence and placing both hands on her hips while laughing with confidence

Whatever Kenji had up his sleeve sure was better than notihng, or at least that was what the perky CPU hoped for the sake of her sisterly bond with Nepgear.

The young man didn't waste a second and summoned his sword, which had the head of a certain robot he met earlier stuck on the tip of the blade. Some of the parts were burnt and surely the stabbing and impaling process didn't help keep the hardware stored within the metal husk in a good state, at least not for the most part.

"Here it is! A little stabbed, and a little burned...But this is your gift. A robot head!"

In just a split second, all the depression Nepgear felt seemed to fade away at the mere sight of the robot, wich she assumed was full of hardware she had never seen before.

"Ahhhh, I've never seen that sort of robot before!"

"That was fast..." Said the tome while sweat dropping

Despite its nearly destroyed state, Nepgear's love for machines was Incredibly strong. So much that the gift was good enough to pull her out of that state of apathy she was in and instead induce her into the storm of curiosity. Wondering what sort of hardware was inside, what sort of wiring it used, the year of manufacturing, the name of said manufacturing company, the power it needed to work, etc.

Although it wasn't meant to be gifted, the robot did serve a pretty good purpose. Surely enough more in pieces than it did as a whole.

"Yup, Neptune here wanted it to be a surprise, so she asked me to keep a hold of it"

"Is that true, One-chan?" Asked the CPU candidate with a surprised expression and a glitter in her eyes

"That's right! I'm just that amazing! Boy, I should totally get a prize for being the number one big sis!"

"You're overdoing it a bit" Said Kenji while looking at her and sweat dropping before looking at Nepgear again and pulling the robot head off of his sword "Well, either way. Here you go. It's all yours now"

"Thank you so much, kenji!"

"Thank your sis, she's the one that got it for you"

"You're right" Said Nepgear while nodding before beaming at Neptune again "Thank you, One-chan!"

"Anything for my lil sister!"

With Nepgear now happy again and amused with her new gift, things calmed down a bit. And while Plutia helped Nepgear look after the babies and Histoire returned to her duties, Kenji and Neptune left the room and walked down the hallway.

"Nice save there, Kenny!" Said the perky CPU while giving him a thumb up

"Don't mention it..."

"By the way, how'd you got your sword on that robot head?"

Truth to be told, Neptune was totally taken by surprise with Kenji's sudden gift for Nepgear. And not being able to know how he pulled if off, especially when she proudly boasted about her title as the main character, got her curiosity tickling. That sort of stunts were her trademark and specialty after all.

"Oh, you know..." Said the young man before taking a pause

For a moment, he imagined Vert sitting on her office in the basilicom. Right about now, she was probably thinking about the little meeting she had with the CPUs and probably wondered why Kenji didn't show up. Surely enough, the last thing Vert would have expected to receive today was a report of a random robot being violently destroyed in the middle of the street. Nonetheless, he could already imagine her reading said report and wondering just how and why.

"...I've got my ways" He finnished saying after a long pause

"Oh, come on! Whisper your secrets to good 'ol little Nep!"

"It was nothing special. I just happened to find it on the street and thought nobody would miss it"

Neptune puffed her cheeks after receiving the vague answer, but Kenji was not lying in the least. Technically, he did find the robot on the street, and he certainly felt like no one would miss it if it ever were to go up in flames, which it certainly did. And it did rather well for something that was made of metal.

"Oh, well..Either way, you did save my bum this time" She said while making a smirk "Therefore, your lily rank with this little Nep totally went up a few levels!"

"(Lily ranks?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

As ridiculous as they were most of the time, Kenji had to admit Neptune's ability to come up with names, references and game mechanics such as those within mere moments, or even seconds, was impressive.

"Hey, Kenny!"

"What?"

The young man turned his head to look at Neptune, who was now beaming at him.

"Thank you!"

Kenji's eyes widened after seeing her smile like that.

"I told you already. Don't mention it..." He said while scratching his left cheek with his index finger and closing his eyes with his head facing forward

For the very first time since they met. Kenji had actually thought Neptune could be kinda cute for a moment when she wanted to, but just kinda, and only for a slight moment.

"All right, time to raid the fridge for some pudding!

Neptune then picked up the pace and dashed towards the kitchen while Kenji quickly snapped out of his thinking process, opened his eyes and chased after her at full speed.

"Hey! Don't you DARE eat my share again!"

"Sorry, Kenny! You snooze, you loose!"

"Neptune!"

The young man chased after the perky CPU in order to protect the pudding tha rightfully belonged to him before she dragged it into the black hole that was her mouth. It wouldn't be the first nor the last time this had or would happen.

Sure, the plan to send both of them back had failed and recreating that portal might require a far longer amount of time than the first one to work better, but even if things weren't going like planned, and even if they had to stick around the ultradimension for a few more years, it wouldn't really do any damage. There wasn't really any need to rush it for now.

Or at least that's what the two of them thought of their current situation at the time


	18. CPU of the beat, Yuube

"So..." Said Kenji while they walked through the large forest "...Why are we here again?"

"To fight that woman" Replied Blanc calmly

Just like she promised on her declaration of war against the CPUs, Vert made sure to ship her consoles to every nation in Gamindustry. From the large corporative branches to the small local vendors, every place in Gamindustry that sold consoles or anything related to it was supplied with a stack of Leanbox's newest product. All thanks to her efforts to spread it around and pull the necessary strings.

Of course, Noire and Blanc made sure to take countermeasures against this threat. Mostly publicity campaigns to boost the popularity of their consoles or focus more effort into the development of more advanced ones to counter the arrival of the new competition. Plutia, on the other hand, didn't seem all too worried about it. She preferred to put her focus on things she found more important, such as sewing, taking care of the babies, playing games or napping regularily. Kenji and Neptune had no real position of power in the political business of Planeptune, so even if they were to worry about the situation, which they didn't, they could hardly do anything other than just see how things played out.

Neptune was very calm about all of this, since she believed everything would work out in the end, and Kenji didn't feel the need to worry about Planeptune either. Be it the Ultradimension or the Hyperdimension, If Planeptune could face countles storms that could have easily colapsed any other nation and was still thriving despite having a CPU that was the ephytome of lazyness as their leader, it would sure as hell survive through this breeze. Although the young man had to admit Planeptune faced horrible situations a bit too often for it to really be considered a "peaceful" or "safe" nation.

It took a couple of weeks, but the CPUs finally received the results of how Leanbox's console did on each nation's market and decided to gather on Planeptune's basilicom to discuss about the issue.

Leanbox's console had been a complete failure. It had a very short lifespan and would easily overheat, besides fromt he fact people didn't like it's bulky size. The CPUs hoped this economical disaster would convince Vert to give it up on taking over all of Gamindustry, or at least to be a bit more reasonable regarding her approach. Unfortunately, She took this failure the wrong way and decided to intrude into the basilicom, where she blamed the four CPUs for her console not selling and challenged them to a duel. Although reluctant, the CPUs had no choice but to accept since Vert wouldn't even listen to them. With their goal set in mind, the group set off for Leanbox after Kenji and Nepgear returned from shopping groceries. The trip was short, as they chose to fly instead of going by boat, though two of them had to carry Nepgear.

"Okay, I get that much, but why is Nepgear here too?"

"Cause we need her to become a CPU"

The CPU candidate wished to tag along in hopes of getting a CPU memory from Vert, who surely had a spare few laying around the place since she had probably been a CPU for quite some time already and the nation wasn't precisely very big.

"If she grows any more, people will have an even harder time telling who's the older sister" Said Neptune while sweat dropping

"I still doubt you're the older one sometimes..." Replied Kenji while turning his head to look at the perky CPU

"Rude!"

"You two, stop fooling around back there. We're almost there"

While guiding the group, Noire could already see an open space at the end of the road. Once there, they saw a wider area with plenty of room for movement. And judging by the sound of water on the distance, there was a chance of a river or lake being somewhere nearby. But the one detail that caught everyone's attention was Vert, who was standing in the center of the path.

"So there you are..." Said the curvy CPU after noticing their presence and turning around to look at them "I've been waiting for you"

Unlike before, Vert seemed much more calm. Nonethless, she also had a confident smirk that proved she was ready to fight it out.

"What other place more fitting to get rid of you than the place where I became a CPU?"

"So no matter what we say, you still want to fight us?" Asked Noire

"I've never been more serious about anything in my whole life..." Said Vert before transforming "If defeating you is what I must do in order to become the true goddess, then so be it!"

"It's six against one. Do you really think you stand a chance?"

"Certainly, this is a complicate situation..."

She could have as much determination and confidence as she wanted, but it didn't change the fact she was severely outnumbered here. Her only choice right now was to even out the odds by gaining some aid, and Green Heart knew exactly who to start with.

"Say, Kenji..." She asked while slowly floating towards him with a friendly, yet slightly seductive smirk "Would you mind hearing me out for a moment?"

"Erm...Sure?" He said slowly and with a raised eyebrow

"I can tell you're quite a capable individual..." Said Leanbox's CPU while leaning her upper body towards Kenji as he leaned his backwards "How about you become part of my nation and help me fight these girls?"

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"Now, don't say that. I'm just trying to make you a friendly offer"

Among the choices she had, Green Heart decided to try recruiting Kenji. She firmly believed that, with him being a man, her charms and natural beauty would make him fall head over heels for her. And with his strength, she would be able to tip the scales on her favor. Probably even make things far easier for her.

"I'm sure we can become close friends..." She said before moving forward a bit closer to him again, making her breasts press against his chest "...Very close friends"

"(Whoa! Too close! too close!)"

Even if Kenji had the feeling this would happen, even if he had already felt Green Heart's bossom pressing against him once, he still was unable to keep his cool. And the fact this time the attack was a frontal one that gave him a full view of both the act taking place and of the two large assests didn't really help either.

"He-Hey! Wait a minute!" Said Kenji while blushing

"(It's already making effect...He'll be mine within minutes!)"

Green Heart knew that no matter who it was. Tall or short, old or young, men were all weak against large breasts. She had managed to persuade many men countless times in such a way, and it had always worked. There was no reason to believe it wouldn't work on Kenji, and his nearly immediate reaction proved she was right for now.

"So? What do you say?"

"I-I...I can't help you with that..."

The CPUs watched as Green Heart kept insiting to make Kenji join her for a moment or two. Despite her persistence, Leanbox's CPU wouldn't get a yes out of Kenji. He kept refusing her offer over and over again. The young man had no intention to join the battle, he just tagged along because he didn't want to be left alone with the babies.

"(He's rather hard to convince...Maybe I should take another approach...)"

"Erm...excuse me?"

"Hm?"

Green Heart turned her head to look at the person trying to call for her attention and saw Nepgear. At first she thought about ignoring the CPU candidate, but soon got interested in her and the fact she was a rather cute girl.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, but I've got something to ask you"

"Go ahead, I'm listening"

"You wouldn't happen to have a spare CPU memory, would you?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, I do...And I have it with me right now" Replied the curvy CPU while letting go of Kenji and looking at Nepgear instead

"Really!?" Asked the CPU candidate with a gleam in her eyes

Ever since she arrived on the Ultradimension and lost her CPU powers, Nepgear felt helpless due to her inability to fight. It was no wonder she felt happy after finally seing an opportunity to regain those powers was right in front of her.

"Would you please give it to me!? I'd be really grateful if you did!"

"(She's rather cute...)" Thought Green Hearrt while analyzing her for a short moment before making a smirk "I guess you'll do..."

"Eh?"

Leanbox's CPU simply smirked at the confused CPU candidate, who couldn't hear the last part which she muttered.

Since Kenji was reluctant to fight, it meant he wouldn't get in her way. Therefore, that was one obstacle Green Heart wouldn't have to worry about. And she had even found someone that would aid her in his place. Not to mention she was quite cute. It was two birds with one stone.

"Of course I can, I even have one right here with me" Said Green Heart with a smile before pulling the item Nepgear wished so dearly and handing it over to her "Here you go"

"Thank you! Thank you so much!"

"(Little do you know how much it'll help me on the long run)"

Green Heart calmly looked at Nepgear as she took the CPU memory and ingested it, transforming into a CPU within less than a minute.

"It's back! my power is back!" Said Purple sister cheerfully.

"Isn't that great, Nepgear?" Replied Green Heart with a smile before it turned into a smirk "Or should I say, little sister?"

"Eh?"

Due to her initial happiness, Nepgear had to process what she just heard for a moment before realizing what she just heard.

"EHHHHH!? Li-Little sister!?"

"That's correct! According to CPU laws, if you receive a CPU memory from another CPU, then you inmediately become that CPU's little sister!"

"Seriously!? I didn't hear anything about that!"

While Purple sister panicked over it, Kenji took some distance away from the two and sighed with relief before getting closer to Blanc and Noire.

"Hey, you two. Is that she said true?"

"I'm not sure. I never heard about such a rule before" Said Noire

"I get the feeling she's just spewing bullshit here..." Added Blanc with her eyes closed

"Hey! You're all forgetting the problem here!"

The trio then turned their heads to look at Neptune, who seemed irritated about this.

"Nepgear can't be Vert's lil' sis! She's MY lil sis!"

"And I wouldn't blame her if she wanted to change that...you're not exactly a very good sister"

"Rude! I'm the best big sis ever!"

"Suuuuure, you're the best there could ever be" replied the young man while rolling his eyes

Although sarcasm wasn't his thing, Kenji couldn't help himself this time.

Neptune was far from being the best sister, and still far from even being a decent one. Making Nepgear do the cooking, chores, errands and jobs for her were just a few of the things Neptune would always do on a daily basis. She would also skip work constantly, forcing the CPU candidate to go all around town to search for her or even make her do it in her stead. But probably the wors about all of this was the incredible lack of interest or remorse Neptune felt in regards to the way she treated Nepgear. So much to the point where it made Kenji wonder how could Nepgear hold so much love towards the perky CPU.

The only times Neptune really acted like a somewhat proper elder sister were when she transformed into Purple Heart, and even then she wouldn't really make that much effort to be a good sister.

"Exactly! You do get it after all!"

While looking at Neptune pointing at the young man with a smirk, the trio sweat dropped. It was as clear as day that the perky CPU had yet to understand what sarcasm was. That or maybe she just didn't get Kenji was using sarcasm.

"(Serves me right for thinking she'd get it)"

"Oh? Looks like they're having a lot of fun over there-nya"

While Green Heart kept pressuring Purple Sister into joining her side and Kenji was struggling to figure out why he even bothered trying to use sarcasm against Neptune. The green-haired catgirl that lured the young man away from the group the other day was now sitting on a branch of a tree, spying on the CPUs and waiting for the battle to start.

"But this looks a bit unfair, doesn't it-nya?"

She then raised her hand slightly and made a gesture that made it look like she was holding a pencil in her hand. Within seconds, a black pen appeared within her grasp in the same fashion as the CPU's weapons when they were summoned. The pen didn't seem very different from an average one except that it had a sharpened emerald as the tip and a crystal at the opposite end, similar in appearance to a CPU memory with the difference being that it was emerald colored and it was much smaller than an average CPU memory, probably around half the size.

"Let's even out the field a little-nya" She muttered to herself with a smirk before the crystal CPU core within the cristal began to glow, making it get a brighter shade along with the emerald on the tip, and approached it to the white page of her booklet

"You people, just how long are you planning to make us wait?"

Neptune, Noire, Blanc and Kenji turned their heads to look at Green Heart. She was now looking at them with a smirk and was standing next to Purple Sister.

"We're ready to fight when you are. Right, my little sister?"

"Yes, big sister!"

"That was fast..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"I knew that was happening...Nepgear is very weak to pressure" Mentioned Neptune while sweat dropping

"Really?"

After hearing about Nepgear's weakness from Neptune, Kenji wondered what would happen if he pressured Nepgear into believing she was a master chef at making pork bowls.

"Gear-chaaaaan..."

"Eh?"

Purple Sister's eyes widened after hearing Plutia's voice. It's tone wasn't different from usual, but the terror could be felt right down to the core of everyone's being. By the time the CPUs turned around to look behind them, the drowsy CPU was already enveloped in a pilar of light. The light soon faded away and revealed Iris Heart.

"You have a lot of nerve, going against me..." Said the sadistic CPU as she floated closer to Purple Sister "It seems I'll need to educate you!"

"Ple-please don't!"

In view of her "supposed" little sister being discouraged and terrified by Iris Heart's intimidation, Green Heart took a step forward.

"Don't worry, Nepgear. Together we can do this!"

"Ye-Yes!"

Iris Heart looked for a moment at Green Heart before speaking

"I'm sorry, but I've got no interest in mature women"

"Is that so? Well, let's see how long you can keep that attitude!"

"So you want to fight ME!?" Said the sadistic CPU with an evil smirk "Very well. I'll show you not to get in my way!"

She then turned around to look at the four standing now behind her.

"And you four. Hurry up and get ready"

Noire and Blanc didn't hesitate to transform, but the young man and Neptune seemed hesitant to comply.

"Sorry, I'm staying out of this one" Said Kenji while taking a step back

"Erm...I'd rather not... is my lil sister and all"

"Hm? Did I just hear you two saying you're not going to help me?" Asked Iris Heart while turning around to look at the duo

"Th-Thats'...well..."

"I see...if you don't want to be my ally..." She said while summoning her sword, which suddenly began releasing electricity "Then I should treat you as the enemy?"

Both Kenji and Neptune went silent for a moment and looked at each other before looking at Iris Heart again.

"Oh well, time to Nep up !"

"No choice, I guess..."

The two remaining ones then proceeded to obey and transformed. It wasn't really in their best interests. But after Iris Heart gave the order, there was no way around it.

"Come on, damn it! This crap's dragged on long enough already!" Yelled an angry White Heart

"They're probably scared of a real fight"

"Noire and Blanc's personalities really change a lot after they transform" Said Purple Heart while sweat dropping

"You're the last person I want to hear that from"

Purple Heart turned her head to look at Kenji for a moment or two before deciding to brush it off and take a step forward. Both sides then faced each other and dashed forward, giving a start to the battle.

Green Heart used her spear to counter Black and White Heart's attacks. Axe and sword clashed against spear dozens of times, but even if it was one against two, Leanbox's CPU managed to keep both of them at bay and even deal a few hits every now and then. Meanwhile, Purple sister would clash weapons against Purple Heart and Iris Heart. The CPU candidate proved she had very good fighting skills that were on par with those of her elder sister. Even against Iris Heart's onslaught, she would keep her footing and give it her all. Although Purple Heart was going all out, the CPU tried her best to avoid attacking her sister without leaving any fatal or serious wounds. Kenji followed the same mindset, but tried his best to remain on the defensive by blocking most of the CPU candidate's attacks.

After dodging Iris Heart's last whip slash by flying high into the sky, Purple Sister aimed her gunblade at the three CPUs she was fighting against and fired a sweeping laser blast. The trio dodged by jumping out of the way. Iris Heart and Kenji jumped away while Purple Heart flew upweards, where she then faced off against the CPU candidate again. While both sisters were clashing weapons again, the sadistic CPU and the young man landed a few feet away from the battle.

"Oh my. Nepgear is quite strong despite her shy attitude" Said Iris Heart with a smirk before turning her head to look at Kenji with a frown "Or maybe someone is being rather lazy"

A moment of silence between the two went by before Kenji sweat dropped and frowned before his expression returned to normal. He then turned his head to look at Planeptune's CPU.

"You can't be serious here..I mean, It's Nepgear!"

Unlike Purple Heart, the young man hardly did anything other than act as a shield and block most attacks. He didn't go on the offensive or tried using his flame attacks like usual. It didn't take long for Iris Heart to notice his facade after witnessing this passive behavior.

"You know Ken-chan. I like the way you can take the hits"

"Eh?"

Without warning, Iris Heart turned to the side in order to face Kenji and slowly moved towards him while her sword extended into a whip.

"It almost makes me want to see how much you can take. Maybe then you'll feel like acting more like a man"

"Wa-Wait a minute..." Said the young man while walking backwards with his hands in front of him, away from the threat slowly approaching him

Iris Heart could tell the young man was still intent on not fighting the CPU candidate, and the way he nonchalantly disregarded her order pissed her off. This made the sadistic CPU realize Kenji had yet to truly submit to her, and whetever it was by breaking his brain, his spirit, every bone in his body or all three, she would make sure to correct this issue.

Kenji slolwy kept walking back while his incoming doom kept approaching him, until a large wooden club with a stone tied to the end suddenly slammed down between them and hit the ground with a booming sound, nearly missing both CPUs by inches. The young man and Iris Heart lowered their heads to look down at the rudimentary weapon and saw a large green and fat hand olding on the handle, or at least what seemed to be the handle. They then followed the hand, which was connected to a large arm. After they finally reached the shoulder, the two saw an uknown creature standing next to them. It was a couple of feet taller than them and had a fat belly, but also a notable amount of muscle, mostly in it's arms and legs where it wasn't mostly hidden by the fat. It also had green goo-like skin, with many dirty spots around it caused from mud, dirt and sweat. Its face was painted with trival marks on with a bald head and the jaw being ahead of the upper mouth like that of an orc with the lower fangs popping out due to their notably larger size.

The only piece of clothing he had was a large brown piece of cloth with a pair of hide boots and one shoulder pad on the left shoulder. Most probably parts of a makeshift and incomplete set of armor.

"Okay...that's new..." Said Kenji

The young man didn't spend too much time around Leanbox's dungeons yet, but he had never imagined such a creature could be hiding around the forests. And this one was quite different to the monsters he had found so far. Most monsters had some human-like features, but that was also complimented with some sort of ridiculous physical trait. This one, on the other hand, had many human-like traits. So many that he almost resembled a human, a very overweight and bulky human, but a human nonetheless.

Without any warning, the orc raised his club high up into the air before slamming it again towards the ground. This time aimed at Kenji.

"Whoa!"

Kenji dodged the club by inches once again before jumping away to avoid a second attack. The orc didn't heistate to run after him and throw a barrage of blunt strikes, which were much faster than expected of something with such a bulky body. Nonetheless, the young man did his best to avoid or block every attack that was thrown at him. It was easy to tell a strike from such a foe would hurt a lot.

Meanwhile, the cat girl looked at the battle with a smirk from her front row seat.

"This nation has a lot of green, so I thought an orc would look very good here-nya"

The barrage seemed endless, or at least it did until the orc's arm got tangled by Iris Heart's whip.

"You interrupt my conversation, ignore me and even try to give a beating to one of MY belongings? You sure have a lot of nerve for such a unsightly creature..." She said while holding the whip thightly and causing the orc to look at her over his shoulder

"(Her belongings?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

Not only did it interrupt her while she was busy dealing with Kenji's lack of obedience, but he also ignored her and tried to damage one of her belongings. This was the epitome of an insult and a total lack of respect towards a goddess.

"But since I have your attention, would you do me a small favor?" Asked the sadistic CPU with a seemingly innocent smile "Would you kindly drop dead?"

In a split second, a shock of electricity powerful enough to fry an ancient dragon coursed through the whip. This caused the orc to be electrocuted and shiver as the electricity coursing through his body made him convulse violently before finally stopping. He stood still in a nearly catatonic state for a moment before falling on the ground like a bag of potatoes.

"Well...I guess that solves it..." Said the young man while looking at the orc whose body was now releasing smoke from the parts of his body that were charred from the intense current

"Now then, where were we at again?"

Kenji quickly raised his head and saw Iris Heart floating towards him yet again.

"(Damn it...I thought I was safe for a moment there...)" He thought while sweat dropping

As the sadistic CPU approached the young man, she suddenly feel something pulling on her leg. Before she could even look down, the orc got up on his feet and raised Iris Heart's leg as high as he could, causing her to hang upside down for a minute before roaring in rage.

"What?"

Out of the CPUs that were still fighting each other, Purple Heart and Purple Sister were the first ones to notice the roar. After them, it was White, Black and Green Heart.

"The heck is that thing?" Asked White Heart

"I don't know. I've never seen one of those before" Replied Green Heart

Despite their confusion, the most confused one here was probably Green Heart. She was the CPU of Leanbox, and she had never seen such a creature within her nation before.

Before Iris Heart could free herself from the orc's grasp, he violently tossed her away. Making her fly right towards Purple Heart, causing her to yell in pain as the two were flying away, right towards Purple Sister

"Eh? EHHHH!?" Said the CPU candidate as she saw the two woman flying right towards her now

Both Purple Heart and Iris Heart crashed against her and all three fell down to the ground.

"Neptune, Nepgea-!" Yelled Kenji before the orc took advantage of his distraction and grabed him by the neck

The young man struggled for a moment in an attempt to get himself free before his captor turned around and ran towards the forest before entering the space between the trees and getting lost among the trees.

"Kenji!"

Black and White Heart both turned around and flew towards the broken trees but were cut off by Green Heart, who nearly hit them with their spear if they hadn't dodged in time.

"Don't you even think I'm letting you run away!"

"So you still want to fight even after seeing that thing?" Asked Black Heart

To the CPUs, the orc was an unknown enemy. They had no idea what it was capable of, but considering the way it got up after receiving Iris Heart's attack as if it were nothing, then tossed her around and took Kenji into the forest despite his struggling, it wasn't exactly hard to think it could pose a notable threat both to CPUs and to their nations if not taken care of.

"I'll make sure to deal with that creature..." Said Green Heart before smirking and taking an assault stance "Right after I'm done with you two"

Danger and threat levels aside, Leanbox's CPU had seen an opportunity in this creature's sudden appearance. While she was concerned about the amount of damage it could do to any towns if it ran into them, she was also able to notice that the orc's current target was Kenji for some reason. And not only that, but it also took care of the two other CPUs for her. Right after she taking care of the two in remaining front of her, Green Heart would go and deal with the orc by herself, and then deal with Kenji. And even if the young man managed to defeat it, then it would work on her favor either way.

"What a pain in the ass..." Said White Heart after clicking her tongue

The three CPUs then resumed her battle.

Meanwhile, deep within the forest, Kenji was still being dragged around. This lasted for at least a dozen more yards before the orc finally let go of the young man by throwing him away. Kenji was sent flying and crashed against a tree and nearly broke it. The orc then walked towards him, ready to smash his head into a bloody pulp, while the young man slowly got back up on his feet before suddenly feeling another source of life and quickly lowering his head just in time to avoid another club that ended tearing the tree appart. He quickly got away from the tree and turned around to see not one, but two more orcs behind it. One had a beard and the other a topknob hairstyle

"(So that's why he dragged me into the forest...)" Thought the young man while walking away from them

For a moment, Kenji nearly forgot about the first orc until he heard him roaring and had to crouch in order to avoid a sweeping attack. The two other then proceeded to run towards him. In a split second, the young man was caught between a barrage of attacks coming from three different sides. He couldn't even retaliate, as it took everything he had to just dodge the huge clubs swinging at him. After a moment or two, he managed to break out by jumping over the topknob orc's club. But this was merely momentary as the first orc swinged his club and hit him in the back. The young man got ejected from the impact and went flying, crashing into a few trees and breaking them. The torn trees then colapsed and fell over him.

"Okay..." He said while pulling a branch away from his face as the blood ran down from his forehead all the way over his face, causing him to keep his right eye closed "No more screwing around!"

With his now flaming sword in hand, Kenji slashed the wood and branches out of his way and got back up. Seeing him still alive and ready to go for more, the three orcs ran towards him. The young man answered to this by dashing towards them as well. He dodged the first blunt strike and jumped over the first before putting his foot against the topknob orc's head and jumping even higher to fall over the bearded orc and attack him with his coldfire edge. It was a direct hit, but the layers of thick muscle and fat took most of the impact and caused the slash to be too shallow to reach his organs. Nontheless, it left a deep bleeding wound. At the very least, it slowed one of them down. And this proved his attacks were capable of doing notable damage, even if they didn't instantly kill. The other two didn't seem to like what Kenji did, as they attacked more brutally and viciously than before. Their attacks became even faster and more dangerous, sometimes even managing to hit him, but this didn't discourage him. After dodging another barrage of club attacks and withstaning a few hits, he dashed towards them and parried the first club before jumping sideways to dodge the second club and jump towards the topknob orc. He did the same process as the last one, but with many more slashes this time. First to the legs in order to try and slow him down, then at the arms as an attempt to disable him from attacking anymore. It didn't work as intended, but it did become slower due to the bleeding form all the scars he had. The young man then decided to take out two with one hit with his strongest attack. He dashed towards a tree and climbed up to the branches, where he quickly turned around and jumped towards the bearded orc. This time, the green creature was ready for it and jumped as high as it could while raising his club and holding it with both hands.

"Let's see you take on this!" Said the young man before grabbing his sword with both hands "Crescent Sapphirus!"

The crescent moon-shaped wave of plasma energy got ejected from the slash attack and hit the bearded orc directly, causing him to be dragged along and to crash with the topknob orc. Both of them were crushed under the pressure of the crescent sapphirus and dragged along it's path of destruction, which torn both ground, rock and tree all alike in its path before finally dispersing and showing the two orcs lying one over the other. The large amounts of blood pouring out of them and the way their bodies laid motionless was enough to convince him they were dead, or at least that they wouldn't get up any time sooner. This left only one enemy.

Kenji turned around to face the first and now last remaining orc standing against him. They both looked at each other for a moment before dashing forward, ready to fight with everything they had. At least they were until a whip slammed down the ground between the two of them, forcing both the young man and the orc to stop righ on the spot.

"Whoa!"

Both of them looked at the whip still stuck on the ground before retracting back into the blade that was Iris Heart's weapon.

"So that's where you were...I was looking for you"

"Don't worry, I've already got him on the..." Said the young man before noticing Iris Heart's expression "...Ropes?"

The sadistic CPU was ussually able to instil primordial fear into the hearts of both foes and friends, but her current expression was far more terrifying than usual. She had a pulsing vein on her forehead and a twitching eyebrow, along with a smirk that didn't even try to hide the intense bloodlust behind it and a stare that seemed like it could rip out a soul.

"You've been very, very, VERY annoying!" Slowly said Iris Heart while floating closer to the orc

It was at this moment that the young man realized he wasn't the one she had been looking for, and he felt extremely lucky about it.

"Erm...Pl-Plutia?"

"Not only did you do so many disrespectful things, but you also dared to touch me with those fat, dirty, sweaty, unsightly and disgusting hands!"

The orc, who was acting very fierce just a moment ago, was now pale as a sheet of paper instead of green and walking back while sweating rivers.

"I hope you're ready for what's coming at you!"

Kenji watched the scene unfold as Iris Heart's weapon released electricity with far more intensity than he ever saw before. He could tell this would be a scene out of a nightmare.

"Uh...Hey...I think I'll go check up on the others...okay?"

His words seemd to be ignored, but the young man paid it no mind and quickly turned around to leave as fast as he could. He was not going to stay and lose sleep over what was about to happen.

Kenji ran for the first few minutes until the sound of Iris Heart's psychopatic laughter was finally too far away to hear. He sighed with relief before reverting back to human and walking the rest of the way more calmly. Once back on the area where the fight began, he found Purple, White and Black Heart all standing in front of Green Heart, who was lying down on the floor.

"There...that should do it..." Said Black Heart while taking deep breaths

"For a single enemy, she certainly was quite strong"

"Th-This can't be...I lost?"

"For that much chest padding, it didn't have any guard at all" Said White Heart with a smirk

"Hey, you done already?"

Purple Heart turned her head after hearing Kenji's voice and saw him walking towards them.

"Ah, Kenny. Are you okay?"

"Damn, you're a bloody mess" Said White Heart after looking at him

"I've been worse"

The young man was bleeding from quite a few other spots other than his forehead, mostly his arms and torso. Nonetheless, he had been beaten far worse than this before. He would recover in a day, maybe two with some proper rest.

"I...I..."

The four then turned their heads again and saw Green Heart slowly getting back up on her knees. At first they thought she would react violently due to her anger in the face of this defeat.

"I refuse to accept this!" Said Vert after reverting back to human and sitting on the floor while crying like a spoiled child "There's no way I can lose!"

"Well, you did lose..." Replied Kenji while looking at her

"No! I didn't! There's no way I can ever, ever, EVER accept this!"

"Seriously, what an inmature attitude" Said Purple Heart after sighing with her eyes closed

Right now, Very acting very like the mature woman Kenji made her out to be. Instead, she was being quite the spoiled brat right now.

"Oh, come on. Just get over it already"

"No! I refuse!"

"Too bad, it happened"

"No, it didn't! You guys cheated! I know you cheated!"

The four had to listen to Vert constantly whine about her console not selling, then about her taking over all of Gamindustry by killing them, and now they had to hear her whining about them cheating after winning her challenge fair and square. This was nothing short of irritating.

"Okay, that's IT!"

Suprisingly, the first one to lose their temper was Kenji. He didn't even hesitate to pinch Vert's cheeks and pull on them.

"Ouch! Wha-What are you-Ow!"

"Why. You. Little. Crybaby!" Said the young man while pulling on Vert's cheeks with every word "We listened to your whining, hauled our asses all the way here twice, played by your rules, and now WE'RE the cheaters!?"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Pwease led go off my cheeks!"

There were many things he could withstand, but this right now was not one of them. Vert had lost fair and square, and she did so when everyone played by her rules. The fact she had the nerve to complain about it was beyond irritating. Far more irritating that when Neptune would eat his share of pudding, or when Neptune would tag along on his visits to Lowee and eat half a dozen pork bowls without paying for a single one, or when Neptune droped her duties of taking care of the babies on him so she could play videogames. Thinking back on it, Neptune was behind the cause, if not the cause, of nearly everything that broke his temper. But that wasn't the point right now.

The young man sighed before letting go of Vert's cheeks, which were now red like apples due to all the pinching, and standing straight again.

"You're so cruel! How could you do this to a goddess!?" Asked Vert while caressing her right cheek

"You weren't acting like that much of a goddess..." Said Blanc calmly

While Kenji had been giving the pinch punishment to vert, the three CPUs returned back to their human forms since the threat of danger was no longer lingering in the air.

"By the way, where's Nepgear?"

"She's over there" Said Noire while pointing with her thumb at their right

Kenji turned his head and saw Nepgear lying on the floor unconsious.

"What happened to her?"

"She fell unconcious after Neptune and Plutia crashed against her" Explained Blanc

"Oh..." Said the young man while sweat dropping

"Hey, let's go home! I wanna eat a pudding!"

"Okay, okay. Let's go...I'm also tired anyway" Said Kenji while scratching the back of his head

"Lady Green Heart! Lady Green Heart!"

The group turned their heads and saw a man dressed as one of Leanbox's basilicom workers running towards them.

"Lady Green Heart! It's an emergency!"

"What? What's wrong?" Asked Leanbox's CPU with a more stern tone

"A group of monsters is attacking Leanbox!"

"What!? Where are they!?"

"In one of the factories on the outskirts of town! We managed to evacuate the workers, but they'll start destroying the town if we don't stop them!"

After hearing the news, Vert slowly got back up on her feet.

"Take me there! Right no-" Said Leanbox's CPU while trying to walk before feeling a puncturing pain on her back and falling back to the floor again "Ouch! Owowow...my back..."

Due to the wounds caused in battle, she was hardly in any condition to move. This would be a very serious situation, if it weren't for the fact Neptune inmediately burst out laughing the hardest she ever did in her whole life.

"Bw-BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Vert hurt her back! She like a granny!"

"You-You're laughing too much! It's not even that funny!"

Leanbox's CPU tried getting back up again, but the aching pain on her back wouldn't let her.

"Hey, hey. Take it easy"

"I can't do that! My people need me right now!" She said before falling on all four again

"You can't even walk right now..."

"I'll drag myself there if I have to!"

The four saw Vert slowly tryng to drag herself in a desperate attempt to reach the fabric, and it was a pitiful thing to watch. Even Blanc couldn't help but feel slight, very slight, empathy for her. Unlike before, this wasn't just a show of stuborness or pride. This time, it was a more honest and selfless desire.

"So no matter what I say, you'll go anyway?" Asked Kenji with a more stern tone

"That's right...As this nation's CPU, I have a duty to protect them...no matter what..."

The young man looked at Vert for a moment or two before taking a deep breath and crouching next to the CPU. He then picked her and lifted her up to carry her with both arms.

"Eeek! Wha-What are you doing now!?"

"You CPUs are so damn stubborn, you know that?" He said while looking at her "If you won't listen, then I'll just have to help you out"

"Help me?"

While Vert looked at him, Kenji turned around to look at Noire, Blanc and Neptune.

"What do you girls say?"

"Fine by me...not like we can go against the plot at this point anymore"

"If that makes her understand we're not the enemy, then I'll help. But It's not because you asked me or anything!"

"All right! Let's Nep up some green men!"

"Okay then. It's decided"

"Wait a minute!" Said Vert to call the young man's attention, making him turn his head to look at her

"What?"

"Why do you want to help me?"

"Why not?"

"Eh?" Said the confused CPU

"I don't need a reason to help you. I'm just doing it cause I want to do it" Said the young man while looking at her in the eye

"I-I see..." Replied Vert while lowering her head

This time, the red on her cheeks wasn't because of Kenji pinching them

"Okay, no more questions? Then let's get going"

After Nepgear woke up and Plutia returned, the group headed off into the factory. There, they found over a dozen of orcs runing around and destroying anything they could find.

"Nepu! the green men are invading!"

"I didn't think there'd be this many of them..." Said Blanc with slight surprise

"Okay, no time to lose. We have to get rid of them"

"Right...but before that..." Said Vert while blushing and looking at the youn man, who in turn lowred his head to look at her "Would you let me down first?"

"Oh, sorry..."

Kenji quickly let Vert down, allowing her to stand on her own again. Thanks to Plutia and Nepgear using their healing magic on her during the trip, she was now in top condition again.

"That's better. Now then..."

Vert turned around to face the orcs before transforming into HDD, which certainly caught their attention.

"You foul creatures brought destruction to my nation. And I'll make sure you pay in spades for that!"

"Oh!? Vert's showing off her cool side!"

"Even though she was crying on the floor like a brat just a moment ago..."

"You know. I would apreciate it if you didn't bring that up right now" Said Green Heart while turning her head to look at them over her shoulder and sweat dropping

Out of the CPUs other than Green Heart, Neptune was the first to transform.

"I doubt they'll give us any more time to idly stand by either way"

Noire, Blanc and Kenji soon noticed how the orcs were getting more rowdy by the minute and decided to transform as well. In a split second, both sides were forced into a battle. CPUs against orcs. Just like their brethren from the forest, these ones proved to be resilient and very strong. Nonetheless, the combined efforts of the CPUs was too much for them to handle.

Purple and Black Heart slashed any orcs getting in their way to pieces while White Heart would rip them appart with her powerful axe slashes. Nepgear would blast them off with her laser weapon and Iris Heart, well, Iris Heart would strike at them with her electrified whip, frying those that got tangled by it or sent flying away.

"Come on, come on! Is that all you've got!?" Said the sadistic CPU while laughing in quite a terrifying way

"(She really hates these things, doesn't she?)" Thought the young man while looking at her over his shoulder, at least until regaining focus on the enemy in front of him

While the others made sure to handle the small fry, Kenji and Green Heart took care of dealing with the boss, or at least the one that seemed to be the boss. Unlike the others, this one had a helmet and a large steel axe. He was also more sklled at fighting than the other ones so far, but thanks to the combined efforts of the young man and Leanbox's CPU, he was slowly falling down.

Kenji focused mostly on parrying and blocking to give Green Heart enough room to land direct hits. It took some repeating, but the boss orc was finally weakened enough for Green Heart to land the final blow. After the young man moved in and parried it's last attack using his coldfire edge to have an extra amount of impact, Leanbox's CPU dashed at full speed and gave her most powerful thrust attack she could currently do. Not only did it break through the orc's already broken armor, but it also pierced through all the muscle and fat, impaling the heart with one hit. After Green Heart removed her spear, the monster's lifeless body fell down to the floor.

"There...Nailed it..." Said Kenji while taking deep breaths

When turning aronund, both of them saw the rest of the orcs had already been dealt with by the other CPUs.

"We're already done over here too"

"Ahhhh...I feel a lot better now" Said Plutia with a satisfied tone and a happy expression after reverting back to human

Everyone else in the group reverted back as well and gathered.

"I gues we're done here"

"But man, that script didn't feel like the one I read before" Said Neptune while placing both hands on her hips "The writer didn't make a lot of sense this time around"

"It's probably part of a deeper plot hole, maybe even a connection to a secret character"

"Ohhh! That's right! I forgot about the original characters!"

"What are those two talking about?" Asked Green Heart as she sweat dropped while looking at Blanc and Neptune talking about secret plots, scripts and original characters.

"Just ignore it, they tend to do that a lot"

While the group got dragged into the topic at hand, they were completely ignorant about the green-haired catgirl looking at them through a window located high up.

"Guess those fatties weren't up to it-nya" She said while looking at the sheet of her booklet, in which the drawing of the first orc Kenji fought against slowly faded in, and smirking "Oh, well. I did get a good show outta this-nya"

Just as she appeared out of nowhere, the catgirl left without giving the group even the slightest chance to notice she had been there, watching over their whole ordeal.

*Scene*

"Well then. Let the seven sages meeting begin" Said Rei while looking at her fellow sages

With their leader giving them the okay, each sage took their seat.

After their failed plans in both Lastation and Lowee, the seven sages lost a great amount of influence and public image. This forced them to hide for a few months before finally being ready to resurface from hiding and begin their plans of erasing the CPUs once again.

"So? What's the plan?" Asked the witch

This made everyone look at Rei again. They had to hide away for quite some time after she ordered it, and this made them feel that it was in preparation for something big.

"About that..." Said the leader of the seven sages with a sheepish smile "...I didn't really make any plans besides the one we had so far"

The entire room became dead silent after that for at least fifteen seconds.

"You can't be serious..."

"Just what you'd expect from a middle-aged woman-chu"

"As useless as always, I see..." Said Mister Badd

"You really can't do anything right, can you?" Asked Abnes

"So-Sorry..."

Rei lowered her head with a saddened expression. She just knew the other sages would react like that the moment she opened her mouth, but it still felt a bit too mean of them to do so.

"Now, now, everyone! I'm sure Rei here did the best she could!" Said Copypaste cheerfully

"You shut up!"

Among the few things that changed over the course of the last few months, the most noticeable one was Copypaste. The huge robot was almost completely destroyed back on Lastation, and the remains that were recovered after the battle were hardly more than scrap metal. This made repairing him quite a task, but Anonydeath didn't falter. Rather, he saw this as a good way to distract himself while waiting for the seven sages to resume their schelude. And without a doubt, the hacker rebuilt Copypaste right down to the last detail and even made him stronger than before. It all seemed fine, except that there was one small problem about this upgrade. The huge robot's personality was remade into a new one, a more cheerful and lighthearted one. Unfortunately for the other sages, especially Arfoire, this was a tremendous pain in the ass rather than a funny upgrade like Anonydeath thought.

"I didn't think it could be possible, but he's even worse than before-chu"

"Seriously, what were you thinking?" Asked Mister Badd while looking at Anonydeath

"Oh, nothing much..." Said the pink hacker "I simply thought Arfy here liked light-hearted men a lot more"

"What does my taste in men have anything to do here!?"

"Now, now. Just think of it as an upgrade"

"What a needless upgrade-chu..."

"It seems this meeting went off-topic" Said the middle-aged man before turning his head to look at Rei "Aren't you going to do anything about it?"

"Eh? Me?"

"That's right, you're our leader. How about you try acting like one?"

"Bu-But I-Erm"

Rei was in quite a troublesome situation at the moment. The meeting was getting off topic, like it always does at some point, and now the others were expecting her, or rather, ordering her, to set things straight. But solving fights was not her strong point, and situations that could easily escalate into violence were always something she tried to avoid out of fear.

"It's no use. She's not cut out for that sort of stuff-chu"

"Hey, aren't you going to say anything!?"

"Please stop pressuring me! I'm doing my best here!"

"Oh? She talked back-chu"

"Well, that was unexpected..."

Rei's sudden response to Arfoire caught everyone by surprise. Although the witch didn't like it one bit.

"Who do you think you're talking to!? Want me to crack your head open!? Huh!?"

"Eeeek!" Said a terrified Rei while quickly hidding most of her body except the upper part of her head under the round table and holding the edge with both hands "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Guess it was a fluke-chu"

"Come on now, Arfy! There's no need to fight among each other! We're all comrades-no-We're all friends here!"

"Please, just shut up...from the depths of my evil and corrupted soul, just shut up already..." Asked the witch with her eyes closed

"Aaargh, how annoying!" Yelled Abness in irritation "Forget it! I have more important things to do!"

After seeing the little girl get up from her seat and heading to the door, Rei quickly got out of her hiding spot and stood up.

"Abnes, please wait! The meeting isn't over yet!"

Abnes didn't even bother listening to her and left without saying another word.

"Let her go, it's better without that annoying brat around"

"But..."

"Well, it can't really be helped. Abnes has been very irritated about all those children kidnappings taking place lately" Said Anonydeath after looking at the little girl leave and turning his head to look at Rei again

It certainly was irritating for the one that claimed herself to be the protector of children all around the world to know of so many children being kidnapped and hardly be able to do anything about it. Even after using all of her connections and searchnig as much as she could by her own means, Abnes didn't have the slightest clue as to where the children were. She even went as far as asking the seven sages for help, but not even that yielded results.

"(Abnes...)" Thought Rei while looking at the door for a moment before looking down

The leader of the seven sages couldn't help but feel bad for Abnes. Even though she needed help, Rei couldn't do anything about it. This made her feel powerless and useless.

"Man, quite the crappy leader you are. Ya know that, right?"

"Sorry..." She said in an apologetic manner

"Don't feel too bad about it. Some people just aren't cut out for the role-nya"

"I know, but still..." Said Rei before realizing something "Eh?"

The leader of the seven sages wasn't able to notice at first due to her focus being mainly on Abnes, but she later managed to realize two things. One was that the two voices she just heard didn't belong to any of the sages, or anyone she knew so far. And the other being that the voices were coming from her sides.

She then turned her head to look left and right and saw two people. One was a green-haired girl with cat ears and the other was a young man with bright red hair tied in a ponytail and grey eyes.

"Eeeek!" Said Rei while nearly jumping off of her seat and getting away from the two, who turned their heads to look at her

"Ah, she finally noticed-nya"

"Damn, this ho's a slow one"

"Who-Who-Who are you two!? How did you get here!?"

"Through the front door-nya"

"Ah, I see..." Replied the leader of the seven sages before panicking again "Wait, that's not the point here!"

While their leader went into a panic, the sages sitting around the table looked at the duo with surprise. With Anonydeath being the one holding most curiosity towards the red haired man in particular.

He had bright red hair tied in a ponytail that reached below his shoulders along with two bangs reaching down to his eyebrows and almost to his eyes on each side with the rest framing his face and grey eyes.

His clothes consisted of a jacket that was completely red on the back and white on the front with red accents, red sleeves and a black play button on the back along with matching pants and boots. He also wore a white and red belt with triangle patterns and a blakc buckle, a pair of black headphones with white and red accents that rested on his neck and a big and puffy white paperboy cap with a red bill.

"(That face...It couldn't be...)"

"Who are you?" Asked Rei one more time after calming down

"If it's about introductions, let me handle it" Said the red haired man with a smirk while turning to face the leader of the seven sages "I'll start by introducing the most important one here. In other words, me"

"Again with that-nya?"

Ignoring her companion's comment, he cleared his throat and placed a hand on his chest.

"I'm the master of the beats, greatest DJ of them all! You may reffer to me as the great and powerful-!"

"His name's Yuube, but eveyone call's him Yuu cause it's easier to remember-nya" Calmly interrupted the cat girl while leaning sideways to appear in Rei's view again

Yuube froze up for a second or two, still with his mouth widely opened as if he had been paused in time, before closing both his mouth and eyes and making a fist while a vein mark popped on his forehead.

"Damn it, Devi! You ruined my intro!" He yelled while turning around to face his companion with an angry expression

"Like I care! Your intros are a total pain-nya!"

"The hell was that!?"

"Hey, you bastards!"

The duo turned their heads to look at Arfoire, who interrupted their arguing by getting up while yelling and slamming the table with her opened hand after getting tired of listening to them instead of getting a proper answer.

"The hell do you think are!? This ain't no damn club house!" Yelled the angry witch "You better spill it out already! Who the hell are you!?"

"We already said that..."

"Is that woman senile or something-nya?"

"Who are you calling senile!?"

"kinda, but it's cause she's already an old hag-chu"

"Hey! Whose side are you on, rat!?" Snarled Arfoire while turning her head to look at Warechu

"How did you find us? This place is supposed to be top secret" Asked Mister Badd this time

"More importantly, how did you manage to pass through my security? I was very proud of it too"

"We asked a friend of hers to let us in" Said Yuube while pointing with his thumb at Rei

The sages then turned their heads to look at Rei, this time with honest shock. None of them imagined such a clumsy and no good person could be able to make a friendship with someone, well, except for the current Copypaste.

"Eh? A friend of mine?"

"A little flying friend of yours" He said with a smirk

"Little flying..." Muttered Rei before realinzing they meant Croire. "EHHHHH!?"

Yuube turned around to face the leader of the seven sages again and walked closer to her before speaking in a quiet voice only she would hear.

"I'm pretty sure she told you about us"

"Th-Then...You're Ibiem's oracles..?"

"Exactly" Said Yuube

Rei was shivering at this point, and she had every reason to do so. Croire told her Ibiem and his servants were very powerful individuals, each of them capable of destroying an entire nation by themselves and nothing short of ruthless. She also told her that they would eventually come to the Ultradimension to proceed with certain plans of theirs and, at that time, they would have to help them if they didn't want to be viewed as enemies.

"You see...Master Ibiem has ordered us to do a certain task for him, so we want you and your little group here to give us a hand. What do you say?"

"I-I..."

The question, of course, wasn't really a question. Yuube knew the leader of the seven sages would do as she was told. The real problem was the other sages.

"Hey! Stop ignoring us!"

The red-haired man turned his head and looked at Arfoire, who seemed far more irritated than before.

"What? Can't you see I'm busy here?"

The witch answered to Yuube's rude answer by transforming into her bunny goddess form and aiming her weapon at him.

"I had enough of this! I'll just kill you right now!"

She then dashed towards him with her spear ready to pierce him through the heart. The sages watching everything unfold were shocked after seeing how what they thought would become a battle ended up as a one-sided beating that hardly took a minute. By the end of it, Arfoire was laying on the ground back on her human form and covered in bleeding wounds while Yuube didn't even break a sweat.

"Wha-What just happened-chu!?"

None of the sages present managed to even see what had happened despite taking place in front of them. As she started her attack, the witch was suddenly pushed back and then tossed around like a ragdoll. It was almost as if she had been punched by invisible explosions happening all around her.

"No wonder those chicks keep kicking your asses. You guys are weak as shit"

"Da-Damn you!" Said Arfoire while slowly lifting her body with her arms "Don't think I'm falling that easy!"

"She's a persistent one-nya"

The witch was about to get on her knees until Yuube put his foot on top of her head and pushed her down again.

"You ain't getting it yet? I'm way stronger than you"

After making sure the remaining sages were paying attention by looking at each of them, the red-haired man smirked again before speaking.

"Aynway. Like I was going to say before, we came here to ask you bros a little favor"

"Bros-chu?" Asked the mouse while sweat dropping

"We're here to take care of something, but we need a place to crash at while we're at it"

"And you want us to lend you our hideout. Is that right?" Asked Anonydeath

"Someone gets it-nya"

"Why should we help you? What's in it for us?"

Yuube turned his head to look at Mister Badd this time.

"If all goes right, you won't have to worry about those broads getting in your way ever again. And because I'm such a nice guy..." He said before turning his wrist slowly and suddenly revealing a CPU memory "I'll also tell you how to use this little thing over here"

"Excuse me, but we already know quite a lot about that subject"

"I meant how to use it right..." Said Yuube before taking a pause and turning his head to look at Anonydeath "You guys are trying to make one, aren't you? A CPU of your own. Isn't that why you've been kidnapping brats and feeding them these?"

The red-haired man's words surprised the sages. None of them thought he could know about the plan they kept secret from even some of their own members.

"How do you know about that? Just who are you people?"

"We're just two pals..." He said before his and Devi's pupils changed into white power buttons "doing a little errand..."

"Those eyes...! CPUs!?"

"Something like that-nya"

"So this is the male CPU?" Asked Anonydeath while looking at Yuube and slowly analyzing him

"No, the male CPU has blue hair...this is a different one"

"So there's more than one-chu?"

This revelation was far beyond astounding. While it wasn't technically impossible for a male to become a CPU, the chances of it happening were so low that the idea of seeing one was nearly impossible. And yet, the sages saw not only one, but two male CPUs already.

"So? What do you say?"

"Go...to hell!"

Yuube lowered his head and saw Arfoire once again struggling to get up.

"There's no way in hell I'd help a damn CPU!"

"No?"

"I'd rather die!"

"Really now?" He said before his smirk turned into a rather grim grin "That's really easy..."

Slowly, the red-haired man began pressing his foot against Arfoire's head with more and more strength. The sheer pressure caused the witch to nearly yell in pain, but she wouldn't give him the pleasure of hearing it. She would hold back the need to make the slightest noise, even if it ended up killing her.

"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy..."

Everyone watched as Yuube kept adding more and more pressure while the witch did her best to withstand it. It was when she finally lost consciousness that the red-haired man felt a huge hand being placed on his shoulder.

"Excuse me...but I'll have to ask you to stop it right now"

Yuube raised his head and saw Copypaste standing in front of him. Although his robotic face couldn't make expressions, he could tell from his tone that the huge robot wasn't happy at all with what he was doing to Arfoire so far.

"And what if I say no?"

A moment of silence fell between the two of them before Rei finally stepped in and stood between the two of them.

"Ple-Please stop it already!" She said as loud as she could to make sure the red-haired man would focus on her "We'll do it! We'll help you! Just stop it!"

It took nearly all of the courage she could muster, but Rei knew from the look in Yuube's eyes that he wouldn't hesitate to kill the witch. He would keep pressing harder and harder until crushing Arfoire's head and squeezing out the insides before taking out the others unless the leader of the seven sages did anything to stop him.

"See? Told you it was easy" Said Yuube before moving his foot away from Arfoire's head

Rei quickly kneeled down to check on the witch's condition before rising her head and looking at the red-haired man turning around and heading towards her seat.

"Anyone else?" He said while taking a seat on Rei's chair and looking at the people in front of him

While Arfoire wasn't the only one against this, they didn't really have any other choices. By the end of the day, Rei had the final saying in what the seven sages would do, and she did it to save one of her own rather than out of her own gain. This was probably the very first time she did something leader-like or that was worthy of respect. And they would decided to follow her, at least this one time. Of course, the idea of gaining something in return was in their minds as well.

Even if working for him was an idea he didn't like in the least, Anonydeath couldn't deny he was curious to see where this would lead. The other sages had a more or less similar mindset, except that they were more focused on the part where Yuube said that they wouldn't have to worry about the CPUs ever again. Wherever he meant that he would kill them, enslave them, or simply take them far away, this would aid their plans greatly.

"Just one question...what is your plan exactly?" Asked Mister Badd

"Simple..." He said before making an evil smirk once again "...We just have to get a grip on that Nepper girl"

*Scene*

The young man walked around the streets of Lowee while on his way to eating his usual pork bowl serving. It was such an usual and everyday routine for him that he almost did it by instinct. The only thing making this trip different from the countless others was that this time he had some company tagging along.

"Hey, hey, Ken-chan. are we there yet?" Asked Plutia while turning her head to look at him

"Just a little longer"

For today's trip, Planeptune's CPUs decided to go with him while Nepgear would stay behind to take care of the babies. The young man didn't mind it, although he did worry about the CPU candidate developing another episode of depression. Fortunately, Vert's presence might be able to avert said situation. Or at least that was what he hoped. Although that did put another worry in his mind.

Ever since the orc incident in Leanbox, Vert seemed to have gotten on better terms with the other CPUs and even joined the agreement. But her will to win over the others was still strong, as after rebuilding the destroyed factory she focused mostly on the development of a new console that she hoped would have far more success than the previous one. Although the CPU would always find some time out of her busy schelude to visit Planeptune, or rather, to visit Nepgear, who she still proclaimed to be her younger sister. Of course, she didn't forget about the young man either. It didn't happen all the time, but Vert would always find the perfect chance to try and use her charms to try and tempt him to join her nation.

"Hey, Pururn. What'cha going to get first?"

"Hmmmmm...I'm not sure. I never ate at a place like that before"

"There's lots of stuff to eat! Like pork bowls and ramen and...and..." Said Neptune while trying to recall what other foods were served before looking at Kenji for help "Hey, Kenny. What's on the menu?"

"Hell if I know. I never checked it" Replied the young man after snapping out of his thoughts and lowering his head to look at her "I always ask for pork bowl right off the bat"

"Eh? Then...You never ate ramen before?"

"Well, yeah. I did eat it before, I just like pork bowl more"

"In that case...I think I'll eat one..."

"All right! Make that three!"

After making an agreement to order the same thing, the two CPUs spoke with each other. While Neptune suddenly suggested about trying to eat a pudding bowl and Plutia replied not to do it as she would end up with a stomache ache, Kenji focused on the road ahead. But he hardly paid attention to any details, and he certainly dind't pay any attention to the people around him. He also didn't even bother looking at the red-haired young man a few feet ahead of them walking right towards him. The two men calmly kept walking towards each other and even walked past without even noticing anything. It was only after they had already went past each other that Kenji, if even for a moment, sensed a source of energy that was different from Neptune or Plutia's. He then turned his head to look behind him, but there was no one there. And the energy he felt had already faded away.

"(The hell was that?)" He thought while still trying to figure out the source of that energy

"Ken-chan?" Said Plutia, making the young man turn his head again to look at her "What's wrong?"

"Erm...Nothing much..."

"Heeey! What's the hold up!? Stop going slow-mo and hurry it up!" Complained Neptune, who was already getting hungry

"Yeah, yeah...we're going..." Replied the young man while resuming the walk "(Probably just my mind playing tricks on me or something)"

After Kenji walked past her, Plutia turned her head to look down at the street in an attempt to see what was so interesting that it would make him stop and turn his head. She kept looking for a moment without being able to see anything out of the ordinary before finally turning around and chasing after the other two.

Once the trio finally reached their destination, they entered and took a seat before a middle-aged woman walked up to the table to take their orders.

"Hey, kids. What'cha hav-" She said before seeing Kenji among the trio "Ah, it's you. I was wondering what took you so long"

"Yeah, I've had some company tagging along today"

"Oh? So ya finally brought some friends?"

"Miss...do you know Ken-chan?"

The woman then looked at the two girls sitting together

"Of course. The boy is a regular around here. But he's always sitting alone on that stool over there" She said while pointing at a lone stool with her thumb

"Whoa...Didn't think Kenny was that Noire-like..." Replied Neptune while sweat dropping

The young man simply reacted to this by raising an eyebrow. As far as he knew, there was nothing about him that could make others think he was similar to Noire in any way. And neither could he understand how coming to the same place by himself nearly everyday proved him wrong. After all, it didn't mean he was lonely or anything like that. He simply liked having his private time.

"So? Same as always?"

"Yeah" He said while turning his head to look at the waitress and pointing at the two girls sitting in the opposite side of the table "And the same for these two"

"Okay. Three butadons, coming right up"

She then turned around and head to the kitchen behind the counter before coming back after some time with the three bowls filled with pork and a pair of chopsticks for each one in a tray.

"Here ya go, kid. Careful, it's hot" She said while placing each bowl in the table

After the waitress left, the trio was free to eat to their heart's desire. Naturally, Neptune didn't waste a second to taker begin gulping down the pork like there was no tomorrow while Kenji calmly grabbed his chopsticks. But before he ate, the young man noticed Plutia had yet to touch her serving. Instead, she looked at it with a seemingly confused expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Hey, Ken-chan. How do I eat without a fork?"

"How? With the chopsticks"

"Chopsticks?"

Kenji extended his hand and took the pair of chopsticks next to Plutia's bowl to show them to her.

"These"

"Ehhhhh!? You can eat with these!?" Asked the drowsy CPU with widened eyes while taking them

"You...You've never seen chopsticks before?"

"Never..." She said before making a worried expression

Although the Hyperdimension's Planeptune had a decent mixture of eastern and modern western culture, this dimension's Planeptune didn't have as much of an eastern culture as it had western. This resulted in Plutia, who was always more accustomed to eating with forks and knives, to not know what chopsticks even were. The young man looked at her trying to hold the chopsticks in different ways until finally putting down his own.

"Hey, Plutia..." He said to call her attention and make her look at him while exenting his hand towards her "Give me your chopsticks for a moment"

"Okay..."

The drowsy CPU willingly extended her hand and gave Kenji the chopsticks, but what she didn't expect was that he inmediately grabbed her hand with his free hand.

"Ke-Ken-chan!?"

"Here, I'll teach you how to hold them" He said calmly while placing one chopstick in her hand "First of all, you hold one with your thumb like this..."

While Kenji explained to Plutia how to properly hold the chopsticks, she was more focused on their hands touching. His grasp was firm, but quite gentle too. He probably tried to be careful due to his hand being bigger than Plutia's. Not only that, but Kenji's hand was also warm to the touch. Warm like her favorite pillow which she happily napped in or her plushie of Neptune that she hugged to fall asleep faster.

It was the very first time she had held hands with a boy in all of her life, and something about the way he held hers so gently made the drowsy CPU blush and smile. Something which Kenji noticed.

"Hm? What's wrong?" He asked with a raised eyebrow

Plutia didn't really answer the question, she simply beamed at him and let out a silly laugh. This only served to confuse him even further.

"(What's with her now?)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping for a moment before brushing it off and letting go of her hand "There we go. Now just hold them like this"

With the touch of Kenji's hand now gone, the drowsy CPU noticed she was holding the chopsticks differently than before. Now, she was holding one with the base of her thumb and the other one like a pencil.

"Okay, now move it with your index and middle finger"

Plutia followed his order and tried moving the upper chopstick. It was difficult at first, but she quickly managed to get the hang of it and was even capable of catching the pork and rice without any issues.

"I did it!" Said the drowsy CPU before looking at Kenji again and beaming at him "Thank you, Ken-chan!"

"It's not that big of a deal, you know?" Replied the young man with smile

For him, something like learning how to use chopsticks wasn't something so impressive. He had to learn how to do it since the old man back in the Hyperdimension also served everything with chopsticks instead of forks. Plutia, on the other hand, looked so happy that you'd think she won the lottery. That ability to feel so happy about something so simple was indeed part of what made Plutia so nice to have around.

Suddenly, they were caught by surprise after Neptune quickly got up from her seat. At first she didn't say anything, which was not only rare for someone as noisy as her, but also worrying to a certain degree.

"Nep-chan?"

"All right! I'm all done!" Said the perky CPU while suddenly smiling as if nothing had happened

"Ehhh!? Already!?"

"You really eat fast..." Replied Kenji while sweat dropping

"You know me! I Gotta go fast!"

"Let me guess...you want another one"

"Nah, I'm good"

"Oh, okay...wait, what?"

"I said I'm not hungry"

Kenji and Plutia looked at her with widened eyes for a moment.

Out of the three main things Neptune did better than anyone, two of them were gaming and sleeping and the other one was eating like a gluton. That she went silent was odd, but hearing her say she wasn't hungry after only one serving? Now things were getting really worrying.

"Well, I'll go say hi to Blanc. See you guys later!"

"Wait, Neptune!"

Kenji called for her, but the perky CPU dashed out of the place before giving either of them a chance to even get up.

"Nep-chan..."

After leaving the ramen shop, Neptune quickly ran down the street. She kept going further and further away until she began walking and eventually stopped.

"Boy, that was weird..."

Even she was confused as to what happened at that moment.

The sight of Kenji and Plutia holding hands while smiling at each other in such a way was without a doubt what caused it. She couldn't precisely put her finger on it, but the perky CPU knew that was what caused it. But even so, she still couldn't understand it. Neptune always liked being surrounded by her friends, and it was way better when those friends got along with each other. This time, though, something felt awfully different.

"Just what is the writer trying to do this time?" She said with frustration "And I even had to leave behind all that pork!"

"Excuse me..."

"Eh?"

While Neptune recalled and complained about all the pork she left behind in that bowl instead of inside her belly, she suddenly hear a voice behind her. When turning around, the perky CPU saw a young man with red hair looking at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah! Yeah, finer than a pudding in a fridge!"

"I see..." He said before taking a pause and finally speaking again "Say. Mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure thing, mister!"

"You wouldn't happen to be Neptune, would you?"

"Eh? How do you know me?" Asked the perky CPU before she smiled again "Could it be, you're my fan!?"

"Something like that..."

"I knew it! My reputation as the main character makes me way too popular!"

"Well, since you're here, mind doing me a solid?"

"Not sure what that means, but sure thing, mister!" Replied Neptune cheerfully "So? What can the Nep do for you?"

At that point, Neptune expected him to ask for something most fans ussually want. Something like an authograph, a picture, a handshake or maybe even her underwear. Well, the last one never really happened yet, but she was always expecting some random creepy lolicon to actually ask.

"Easy peasy" Said Yuube while extending his arm and aiming at her with his left palm "Just drop dead"

"Eh?"

In a split second, a sonic boom emerged from his hand and hit Neptune directly.

"Nepu!"

The perky CPU was sent flying away from the impact and crashed against a wall. Yuube looked at her for a moment as she laid on the floor and wondered if she was still alive. Luckily, Neptune got up quickly and didn't seemed to have suffer any damage beyond a few scratches.

"Hey! What's the deal!?" She snarled while feeling angry for that surprise attack "You ain't getting any authographs from me now!"

"Guess you girls ain't as weak as I thought. I'll have to go harder on you"

Seeing the red-haired man wanted a fight, Neptune answered to this by transforming into Purple Heart.

"Nice!" Said Yuube with a grin before grabbing the headphones resting on his neck and holding them from the headband with one hand, which began glowing with red aura before transforming into a warhammer with a white handle and red steel

"That weapon..."

When seeing the weapon being summoned, Purple Heart noticed the way Yuube summoned his weapon was not only similar to a CPU's procesors appearing, but also very similar to Kenji's way of summoning his sword.

"Show me what'cha got!"

In a split second, the two fighters dashed forward and clashed weapons. Sword and hammer clashed countless times as neither side was willing to back down. It was after dozens of clashes that Neptune threw a vertical slash and made Yuube jump back to avoid it.

"Whatever your intentions may be. You commited a great mistake by picking a fight with a goddess!" Said Planeptune's CPU while pointing her sword at him

"Goddess? You really think you're a goddess?" He asked before trying to hold back the need to laugh

"What's so funny?"

"Seriously, you hoes are all the same. Always thinking you're goddesses, but none of you ain't even decent CPUs" Said Yuube before making a grin as a pair of power buttons became brighter within his eyes

"Those eyes...!"

"I'll show you what a REAL CPU is like!"

Yuube then dashed forward again, but with far more speed than before. While the two CPUs fought each other, Kenji was walking through the streets a few blocks away in search of Neptune.

"Damn it, where did that idiot go?"

Although she didn't act that different from usual and being random was her signature trait, the young man still couldn't shake up the feeling something was wrong. As random as she could be, Neptune would never leave half a bowl of food without eating, nor would she leave by herself instead of waiting for Plutia and Kenji to be finished with their own bowls.

After paying for the food, both Kenji and Plutia headed of into town to search for the Perky CPU. Plutia would head into the palace and ask Blanc if she had seen her while Kenji searched around the streets. The young man tried using his sensory ability to find her, but the idea yielded no results. Or at least it didn't until he felt a large increase of shares in the area around where he was.

"(It should be over here...)" He thought while running closer and closer to the source

The only problem was that the surge of shares meant Neptune was using HDD, and that could only mean something bad. Either that or she used it to fool around, although that wasn't very likely considering how her personality changes into a more mature one.

Those thoughts were quickly put to rest after something broke through the buildings to his left and crashed on the street, raising a wall of dust and making it difficult to see at first. The dust quickly dissipated and revealed Purple Heart laying on the ground.

"Neptune!" Said Kenji before heading towards the wounded CPU to check on her

She was full of bruises and wounds covering most of her body. There wasn't any serious bleeding, but she suffered quite a beating.

"Neptune! Hey, Neptune!"

The young man's voice seemed to reach Planeptune's CPU, as she slowly turned her head to look at him.

"Kenny?"

She slowly tried getting up while he helped her do so.

"Hey, what happened to you!?"

"I...I was walking through a street, and this red-haired man suddenly attacked me"

"Red-haired man?"

"Whoa, still not out?"

Kenji and Purple Heart turned their heads to look at the destroyed building and saw Yuube walking out into the street.

"You're one though chick..."

After seeing him, the young man felt a slight relief. There was one red-haired man on his mind, but fortunately it wasn't this one.

"Hm? Ah! It's you!" Said Yuube after noticing Kenji "Nice, that saves me a lot of trouble!"

"You did this?" He asked while getting up on his feet

"Yup, that's all me"

That answer was all the young man needed to know. He dind't waste a second to think and inmediately transformed before summoning his sword and dashing towards Yuube.

"Kenny, wait!"

Ignoring Purple Heart's words, kenji kept moving forward and tried to slice him to pieces, but the red-haired man used his weapon to block most attacks or simply clashed by attacking as well. This constant blocking and clashing only lasted for a moment or two, as their last clash turned into a struggle.

"Who the hell are you!?"

"The name's Yuube, but my bros call me Yuu!" He said before exentding his left palm and aiming it at Kenji

In a split second, the young man was sent a few feet back by what felt like an invisible cannon ball to the gut. This caused him to place one hand over his stomach for a moment before retaking an assault stance.

"Kenny!"

The young man looked over his shoulder and saw Purple Heart floating towards him. She was still wounded, but seemed to have regained most of her mobility.

"Be careful! This man is capable of throwing invisible attacks!"

"Invisible attacks?" He said while turning his head to look at Yuube again

He had seen quite a few types of attacks before, but one that hit so hard and couldn't even be seen? Whoever this guy was, he was not to be taken lightly.

"Hey, hey...you ain't going to bitch out, are you?"

"Like hell I am!" Yelled the angry young man before dashing forward again and entering into a new barrage of clashing attacks.

"Wa-wait, Kenny!" Said Purple Heart before lowering her head and sighing "Seriously, why can't he ever listen in that form?"

Without much other choice, Planeptune's CPU dashed forward as well to joing the fight. While the odds seemed to favor him at the start, Yuube was now being pushed back by the combined efforts of the two CPUs. And whatever attack he had used before was, neither Purple Heart nor Kenji would let him use it again. Or at least that's what they tried to do.

With two swords to constantly block and dodge, Yuube hardly had any time to do anything other than that.

"Eat this!"

After a few constant clashes, Kenji finally saw an opening and didn't hesitate to take advantage of it. He quickly moved in and used his coldfire edge. And although Yuube managed to block it, he was still sent away a few feet of distance.

"Damn it! This ain't going like I thought!" Said Yuube while looking with irritation at the two enemies in front of him, both still ready to go for more "Well, only one choice left..."

Yuube's eye color went from grey to red as his pupils became white power buttons and a red aura enveloped him. In a split second, a blinding light enveloped him for a few seconds and eventually faded away. What appeared in front of Kenji and Purple Heart was a very different person.

The red hair was now slightly brighter with the ends turning white and instead of a ponytail it was now set loose, reaching down to his shoulders. The bangs were also different as they were now joined into one single large bang on the middle and the rest framed his face. Another detail was that he had a tattoo of a red star with black edges over his right eye.

His clothes had changed as well. He was now wearing a sleeveless turtle neck red t-shirt with white bermudas with red accents over white thight-high socks and matching armored boots. He also had white gloves that covered half his forearms and a pair of headphone-like devices on his ears that resembled Kenji's, except that his were of a different color and the elf-like ear piece extending back and upweards was thicker.

Not only his clothes and appearance changed, but his mace had also grown larger. The front hammer took a shape more similar to a headphone's earpiece while the spike on the back grew longer and sharper.

"HDD?"

"What? Thought you were the only dude out there that could do this?"

In a split second, Yuube dashed forward and atacked Kenji with his hammer. The young man blocked it, but the sheer brute strength behind his attack sent him flying away. He then threw a side kick and hit Purple Heart in the stomach, sending her flying against a wall before moving towards her and giving her one final strike in the gut with the hammer. This caused her to break through the wall and a house before laing on the floor once again. While he looked at her, Kenji dashed towards him and tried to attack while he was distracted, but Yuube blocked the blade aimed at his neck. The two CPUs began clashing weapons again before one of Kenji's attacks sent the red-haired man flying towards the skies, making the fight take place above in the skies. They flew towards each other and kept clashing countless times as the terrified citizens of Lowee now had a clearer view of the two CPUs.

The fight went evenly matched for nearly five minutes as they had clashed or dodged each other's weapons and special attacks dozens of times before finally gaining some distance from each other. Both had gotten hit quite a few times and were considerably hurt, but neither seemed willing to give up. Although Kenji sustained more damage than Yuube due to the later taking advantage of his shockwave attack to hit him at close range.

"Okay, enough screwing around...I'm on a schelude here, you know?" Said the red-haired man, who seemed determined to put an end to this fight.

He then extended his hand and aimed it at Kenji.

"You think I can't dodge that from here!?"

Although he couldn't see it, Kenji knew that attack was indeed possible to avoid. He had already dodged more than once, and from this distance he had more than enough time to move out of the way.

"You? Sure. But them?" Replied Yuube with a smirk

Kenji couldn't understand what the red-haired man meant at first, but soon understood as he turned his head to look over his shoulder to see a group of people behind him on the ground looking up. Most probably paralized from fear or simply unknowing of what was about to happen.

"Beat Wave!" He yelled, causing the most powerful sonic shockwave he had created so far to fly right towards Kenji.

Without the choice of dodging available any longer, the young man raised his sword and used his Crescent sapphirus attack. Both powers clashed and exploded, creating a cloud of dust that spread around the skies.

Fortunately, the bystanders didn't get hurt. But the explosion caused Kenji to lose sight of Yuube, who used the few seconds he had before the young man could detect him to fly at full speed through the cloud and attack him. While he did manage to block the first attack and dodge the second, that was merely a distraction. Yuube extended his hand and managed to place it right in front of Kenji's face.

"Dumbass" Said Yuube before launching another Sonic Blast

At point blank, it was impossible to dodge this time. And the red-haired man knew it.

The powerful blast hit Kenji directly and sent him ejected towards the ground, where he crashed into a building like an asteroid. And just to make sure he wouldn't get out, Yuube used another Beat Wave to make the building crumble upon itself.

"That should take care of that..." He said while looking around "Now...where's that broad at?"

With Kenji out of the way, Yuube returned to the spot where he left Purple Heart. It didn't take long for him to find her, as the CPU was still where he left her. She was already getting back on her feet by using her sword as a support, but all the damage she received was made it difficult to even stand.

"Man, you just don't give up..."

"You...Coward!" Said Purple Heart while looking at Yuube with fierce eyes "How dare you attack innocent bystanders!?"

"Serves them right for getting in the way of a god" He said after scoffing at Planeptune's CPU

Yuube then held his weapon from a lower point and hit Purple Heart in the side of the neck with the white handle. The CPU was thrown almost a feet sideways before laying on the floor unconscious and reverting back to her human form. Not even the most resilient fighter could take a direct hit to the vein supplying the most blood to the brain and not lose consciousnes in such an injured state. But just to ensure it would work, he hit her with enough strength to rip an average human appart.

"About time you dropped the towel"

Giving one more look at his surroundings, the red-haired man decided he had enough fun for one day and focused on his real objective. He picked up Neptune and held her under his left arm before flying up into the sky. And just out of whim, he turned his head to look at the crumbled building where Kenji crashed to give him a few words with a smug smirk before flying away and leaving him to bleed out under the mountains of rubble.

"Better luck next time, bro"


	19. Strike three!

**Note from the author:**

 **Hey everyone. Sorry for the delay, but I've been busy setting up some new stuff and getting hyped with some games over here. Although it took some time, I've also been able to use said time to clear my mind a little and put my ideas straight. And since we're already so close to 100 followers (Didn't think I'd get more than 10 at the start, to be honest) I decided to create a forum. It's been there for some time, but I never really knew what to do with it until now. I'll probably use it for news about stories or random things like trivias and explain some references behind the present and upcoming characters.**

 **But for now, I'll just leave it in my profile.** **There's only one question so far, but I'm pretty sure many of you will be interested in it**

* * *

"So there's still no trace of him?" Asked Noire

"None yet (ó_ò)" Replied Histoire

After the incident in Lowee, the news of a second male CPU spread like wildfire and quickly reached the ears of the CPUs themselves within a few days.

As hard as it could be to believe that yet another male had achieved the power of HDD, they already knew of one male CPU, so what made it so impossible for a second one to exist? Unfortunately for them, and probably everyone else in Gamindustry, his recent acts of destruction and kidnapping proved this fellow wasn't as friendly as the first one. Therefore, it was decided to mark him as a threat and an international criminal.

"We don't have much information to go by at the moment, and the few descriptions we received were vague"

"You'd think a male CPU wouldn't be that hard to spot" Said Vert while crossing her arms

"I don't care how hard it is...I'm gonna find that asshole and beat him to a pulp..."

Despite her calm expression, the most agravated one was obviously Blanc, and it was easy to tell just from the look in her eyes. As Yuube not only caused destruction in her nation, but even tried to attack inocent civilians just because it was convenient for him. This was more than enough to make her blood boil.

"Excuse me, I've brought some juice" Said Nepgear while entering the room with a tray carrying glasess filled with orange juice, along with Plutia entering after her

"Plutia? Where were you? (ô_ó)"

"I was helping Gear-chan with the juice" Replied the drowsy CPU with a smile

The CPU candidate then proceeded to place a glass of juice at each and everyone's side from left to right.

"Thank you, Nepgear" Said Vert while smiling at her

"It's okay. Everyone's working really hard, so I've got to do my best too"

Leanbox's CPU took a moment to look at Nepgear. Even with Neptune captured and her fate currently unknown, she still did her best to keep up a smile and try to help others in any way she could. It certainly proved how strong the CPU candidate really was. But the real cause of concern was someone else, though.

"By the way, have either of you seen Kenji?" Asked Histoire

"I haven't..."

"I think he's out training again"

The CPUs didn't look surprised, but certainly not happy either.

"Again?"

It was usual for him to train every day. But he would usually return in time for dinner or to help with some chores such as looking after the children or buying groceries. But since the moment he got back up on his feet, Kenji dedicated all of his time to train from morning to night. Sometimes even returning very late in the midnight or not returning at all. But whatever type of training it was that he did now, the young man would return very beat up. Sometimes to the point of falling unconscious on his bed and being found still with some remaining wounds.

"I don't get it...Why isn't he here helping us?" Asked Vert with certain confusion in her tone

The CPUs, or at least some of them, believed Kenji was doing his best to prepare for next time he fought against Yuube, but another part wondered if he was doing this new training regime out of hurt pride rather than out of worry for Neptune. At least that was what some of them were inclined to believe after he hardly showed any signs of wishing to aid in her search other than by giving a description of Yuube's appearance. And even that didn't really help very much.

"Forget about him. He can take care of himself" Said Noire after crossing her arms

Nonetheless, they all decided to ignore this despite feeling like he lacked concern. Unlike Plutia, Nepgear and Histoire, the CPUs of the other Nations were more worried about dealing with Yuube before he caused more damage.

"If he doesn't get in our way, then there's no reason for concern..."

"I see..." Said the tome before taking a pause and eventually speaking again "In that case, let's resume our planning..."

While everyone returned to planning how to deal with this new threat, Plutia wondered about Kenji's whereabouts.

"(Ken-chan...)"

Meanwhile, in the depts of a forest, the young man took a short rest after clearing out a dungeon. He had spent hours on the depts of a cave, beating up any monster he could find. And with everything that could be fought defeated, he decided to relax in a forest nearby while waiting for them to respawn.

While laying down on the grass under a tree, Kenji looked at the branches and leaves being swayed by the breeze as the sunlight pierced through all the open spots it could find. He kept looking in silence for a moment before raising his left hand and looking at his palm this time. At first, he simply saw his own palm. But his mind slowly began recalling the fight against the CPU of the beat. Every moment from start to finish. It was right at the last moment when Yuube's palm was in front of Kenji's face that he snapped back into reality and saw his own hand again.

"(Damn it...)" He thought while clenching his hand

Kenji had defeated monsters for many days, but it hardly felt like it would work. Anything he could find in that cave or in any dungeon out there wouldn't be able to hold a candle against the foe he had to face. In order to defeat Yuube, he needed to find another way to do this, he needed a more efficient way to train. But the question was how. He thought about this for a moment before getting back up into his feet and taking a walk. It was after a few minutes that he reached a large lake. There, he moved closer to the edge before transforming, summoning his sword and shooting out one crescent sapphirus after the other.

"(Stronger, I need to become stronger!)"

If the classic method of beating monsters wasn't enough anymore, then pushing himself to his limits should have the needed effect. At least that was what he hoped for while constantly shooting out his special attack. He kept doing it again and again and again until finally reaching the point of exhaustion and falling to his knees after his thirtieth Crescent sapphirus.

The first time he unlocked this power, Kenji could shoot it a maximum of four times. After training for a month, he managed to rise this number to twelve. And after three years, he could now do it thirty times before reaching exhaustion. Right now, the Crescent Sapphirus had passed from a finisher move to an attack that would need to be used multiple times. Because as far as the young man knew, it was pretty much the only way to counter Yuube's Beat Wave. The other problem was that, unlike him, Yuube could use it a lot faster and during weapon clashes just by aiming with his palm. While it wasn't impossible to dodge, this put Kenji at a disadvantage, especially at close range. He kept thinking how to counter it, but all he got from so much thinking was a headache.

He hated thinking too hard. Thinking never helped him at all, neither here on his old world. Kenji wanted to act. He wanted to find Neptune and beat Yuube, but that plan fell appart fast. He spent many days flying from one place to the other in search of the CPU of the beat, but there was hardly anything that could lead to him. Not anyone that had seen him, or even a trace of his life force for Kenji to track down. It was as if he had vanished into thin air. And even if he found him, what chance was there that he would win this time?

Although it was frustrating, his only choice right now was to wait until the others found anything. But in the meanwhile, he would train as hard as he could and try to become stronger. It was by far the only thing he could do. With this idea in mind, Kenji got back up on his feet and resumed his training. This time making it last until late in the night before going back to Planeptune. This process repeated for at least a few days during which he would come and go from the basilicom without meeting or even seeing the others. Despite Noire's words to let him be, Plutia began to worry about the way he became more and more distant. And this worry soon spread to Nepgear as well. It grew up to the point where they decided to follow him all the way to the lake and see what kind of training he did. It wasn't really hard to find him despite the forest's size since all they had to do was follow the blue light in the distance.

"Ken-chan?"

The young man turned his head after hearing Plutia's voice and saw the two CPUs standing a few feet away from him.

"Plutia? Nepgear?" He asked before turning around "What are you two doing here?"

"We were looking for you" Replied the CPU candidate

"Why? Something happened?"

"Actually...we were just worried about you" She answered "You haven't been around the basilicom for a week and half now"

"But I do go back everyday"

"You do?"

"Yeah, but everyone's always asleep"

"I-I see..." replied Nepgear while sweat dropping

"Ken-chan, why aren't you helping us find Nep-chan?" Asked Plutia while looking at him with concern

"I tried already...Wherever that guy is, he's hiding good"

Hearing those words seemed to demotivate Nepgear, who hoped Kenji would have at least an idea of where to find her elder sister.

"Training's the only thing I can do right now" He said before turning around and walking back to the edge of the lake

"Erm...Ke-Kenji!"

The young man turned his head again, with a bit more surprise this time, after suddenly hearing Nepgear almost shout his name.

"Please, let me train with you!"

"Eh?"

"I...I want to become stronger too!" She said while looking at Kenji with determined eyes

"...Sure, I don't mind..." Replied Kenji while scratching his left cheek

"Then, me too..."

"Eh!?" said both the young man and the CPU candidate

"Here I go...!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Yelled both of them while taking some distance

"Uwaaah! That scared me..."

"Ah, sorry..." Said Kenji after standing straight again and sweat dropping "But really...just don't transform..."

"Please, don't..."

"Eh!? But I want to help too!"

"It's okay, you don't have to!"

"Buuuut...!"

Although Plutia's intentions were good and honest, no one could tell in what way they would get twisted and corrupted if she transformed. Nepgear and Kenji were aware of this, and they feared what would happen in this situation.

"Lo-Look, you can help us by...erm..." Said Kenji while quickly trying to figure out what to say next "making rice balls!"

"Rice balls?"

"Tha-That's right!" Added Nepgear "that would help a lot!"

"Really?"

"Really" Replied the young man while nodding "You see. Training is really, really tiring, and having something to eat after training would be very helpful"

"Hmmm..."

A moment of silent tension went by as Plutia thought about what Kenji said with her index finger placed on her chin before opening her eyes and looking at him.

"If I do that, I'm helping?"

"A lot" Said both at the same time

"Then, I'll do it" Replied Plutia with a smile

"(Thank godness...we convinced her)" Thought the two of them while making the same relieved expressions after the drowsy CPU agreed with Kenji's idea.

"We-well. For now, just sit down over there"

"Okay...!"

After nodding in agreement, Plutia walked away and sat down while laying against a tree where she fell asleep shortly after while watching Kenji and Nepgear spar. This time, the training had to end earlier due to Plutia wanting to go back and look after Peashy and the others. From there onward, the two CPUs accompanied the young man while the tome made sure to look after the little trio. Nepgear trained along with him while Plutia made rice balls for them, sometimes filled with different types of jam and also with spicy sauce. Although it was only one time.

At first, the young man wouldn't fight like he usually did. He didn't use his special attacks at all, his slashes had a suprising lack of strength behind them and he would spend more time on the defensive than the offensive. This made Nepgear feel that he didn't take her seriously, but over the course of the four days they spent training together, Kenji began fighting her more seriously. While he did go easy on her at first, it was more out of the rejection he felt towards the idea of hurting her. But as Nepgear showed him her determination to become stronger, the young man felt the need to go harder on her, and that she'd definitely be able to take it. Unlike her usually timid and hesitant self, the CPU candidate was fully motivated to go through with this training. She would get stronger, save her big sister and protect everyone. Kenji wanted to answer to this resolve by going all out on her. By the fifth day, they were already going against each other with everything they had and without pulling any punches.

"Here I go!" Said Nepgear as she dashed forward towards the young man "Panzer Blade!"

Nepgear's Panzer blade and Kenji's coldfire edge clashed into a momentary struggle before the gunblade and sword were pushed away from each other and quickly clashed again and again and again for over a dozen times before their wielders gained distance from each other and once again relied on their special attacks. But this time, they used their heavier ones. Kenji raised up his sword and threw his Crescent sapphirus while Nepgear aimed at him and fired a powerful laser blast. Both energy attacks crashed as the large crescent slash of blue energy pushed against the pink laser, cutting it right in the middle and making it spread out in a v shape that blasted the ground on both of Kenji's sides. For a moment it seemed like they were equally matched, but the Crescent sapphirus's power began diminishing until finally dissapearing. Seeing the laser heading right towards him, the young man quickly moved sideways. Just in time to avoid the powerful laser blast that went into the forest, piercing through a few trees before dissipating.

"Tha-that was close..." He said while looking at the trail of destruction left behind by Nepgear's laser attack and sweat dropping

Despite being initially more powerful, the Crescent Sapphirus was defeated by Nepgear's laser blast. This was due to the later one being able to receive a constant supply of energy from Nepgear while Kenji's attack could only rely on the power stored within it. This was a serious flaw in his attack, and one that he didn't notice before. He would definitely need to work on a way to fix that and fast.

"Kenji, are you okay?" Asked the CPU candidate, making him snap back into reality and turn his head to look at her

"Ah, yes. I'm okay"

"Heeeeey...Ken-chaaaan, Gear-chaaan"

Both of them now turned their heads again to look at Plutia waving at them with a smile while sitting on a matress with a basket full of rice balls in the center

"I'm doooone"

"Well, I guess this is enough for today" Said the young man while keeping his sight focused on Plutia

"Okay"

While Kenji and Nepgear could go for more, Plutia didn't like it when they made her wait too long. Either way, they had already been going against each other for the entire day and were both worn out and slightly beat up. Even if they weren't exhausted, it did make up for a good day of training. The two of them then reverted back to their human forms and walked towards Plutia to sit besides her.

"I made a lot today..." Said Plutia while reaching into the basket and took out two rice balls, each one for one of them "Eat a lot!"

At the ending of every training, Nepgear and Kenji would rest by sitting down to eat rice balls together with Plutia, who would take the time she had available to set everything up in a picnic-like fashion. It was very similar to the times when Kenji would eat together with the two Planeptune sisters, Compa, IF and Falcom after training with the later. He didn't really want to relive those days, but he certainly didn't mind them either. Perhaps because at that time he was still burdened by the resentment he felt towards his old world. But at the same time, he was also starting to feel like he was becoming a part of something. Something that really mattered. A slight sense of nostalgia and curiosity about the current state of the Hyperdimension coursed through his mind during the whole meal and on the way back to Planeptune until the moment he finally fell asleep.

On the following morning, the two CPUs woke up and prepared to leave once again. Or at least that's what the plan was before noticing one odd detail. That one being that Kenji was nowhere to be found. They searched in his room, the kitchen, and even the bathroom, but there was no trace of him anywere. For a moment they thought he might have already headed out into the forest ahead of them, but those thoughts faded away after Histoire quickly floated into the room.

"Nepgear, Plutia! There you are! (ÓoÒ)"

"Eh? Histy?"

"What's wrongy?"

"There an emergency!"

"EHHHHHH!? An emergency!?"

"Why!? What happened!?"

Among the panicked expressions of the two CPUs, Histoire took a moment to regain her composture and began her explanation.

"You see...Earlier this morning, the basilicom received a letter. There was no name or address in it, but it had Kenji's name written on the front. After I found him, I gave it to him and he suddenly...Changed..."

"Changed...?"

The tome tried to figure out how to properly describe what happened in a way that would help Nepgear and Plutia understand.

"After opening the letter and reading the contents, Kenji's mood suddenly changed. At first he was calm, but suddenly went very quiet...Afterwards, he calmly told me to tell you that today's training was cancelled and suddenly left"

"Left? To where?"

"I'm not too certain yet..." Said Histoire while lowering her head and making a worried expression "But wherever it is, it can't be good"

The tome then recalled the image of Kenji. While reading the letter, he was facing the opposite direction, but it was easy for her to tell something awfully wrong happened just by looking at the way he suddenly went quiet and nearly monotone. But it was when he turned around and left what she could still remember with the most clarity. At that moment, she caught a glimpse of Kenji's face. The calm and lax eyes became filled with silent rage and a bloodlust that seemed similar to Iris Heart's sadistic desire to torment those around her.

"Somehow, I've got a bad feeling about this..." Said Nepgear with a worried experssion

"So did I, which was why I decided to search for the letter" Replied Histoire before searching through the pages of the tome below her and taking a folded and shrugged paper from within the pages "I found it in a trash can outside the basilicom"

The CPU candidate took the letter from the tome and opened it for the three of them to see it. Her skin paled, the blood on her veins froze and her heart nearly stopped upon seing the contents. Inside the letter, there was a small strand of blood-stained pastel pink hair glued to the bottom left with the words "come to Hello nation. Alone. Two hours or next will be a finger" written in black letters along with a signature written on the bottom right saying "Love and kisses. Yuube"

"Th-This is...Big sister's hair!"

It would be near impossible for Nepgear not to recognize that shinny pink hair. It was the same hair she helped brush and clean almost everyday, the hair that shined as brightly as the smile of its owner when iluminated by the rays of the sun. But now, it was dirty, messy and covered in blood stains.

"How horrible...how could anyone do such a thing!?"

The letter itself was horrible, but the worst part about it was that the man who sent it planned to do something far worse if his demands weren't met.

"And it only gets worse" Said the tome while looking at the panicking CPU candidate "If my guessing is correct, Kenji might be walking right into a trap"

"What should we do!?"

"Nepgear. I know it may be difficult, but right now we must remain calm"

After seeing such a letter, it would be nearly impossible for the CPU candidate to calm down. Her mind wouldn't stop imagining the horrible things that were being done to Neptune as they spoke. But despite how crushing the fear and worry were beating down her brain right now, Nepgear took a deep breath and did her best to supress those thoughts in order to regain her composture.

"Okay...I'll try..."

"First of all, we need to think this through. If it's a trap, then we must make a plan and prepare for the wor-"

"Stop fooling around!"

"Eh?"

Both the tome and the CPU candidate turned their heads and looked at Plutia before going pale. While the two of them tried to remain calm and think how to proceed, the drowsy CPU was silently building up her rage. And it was easy to tell it was already a massive amount just by looking at her eyes, darkened by the shadow that fell upon them.

"Stop wasting time and get moving already!" Yelled Plutia with a tone that sounded more like Iris Heart than her

"Ye-Yes!"

It was without hesitation that Nepgear and Histoire ran out of the room. While the CPU candidate would prepare to leave for the Hello Nation, the tome went ahead and gave the other CPUs the news. Hearing about Neptune and Yuube's possible whereabouts caught their interest, but the idea of it being a trap set up by the later to ambush them made them hesitate about going in so suddenly. And of course, hearing this was Plutia's demanded served as a good motivation to speed them up.

"Well then, we're going" Said Purple Sister while looking at Histoire

"Don't worry, I'll make sure to inform you if anything happens here"

As sudden as it might have been, there was no time to hesitate. Neptune's life was in peril and Kenji's fate was even more uncertain. If they waited any longer, things could only get far, far worse.

"Geaar-chan? How much longer do you intend to make me wait?" Asked the sadistic CPU impatiently with one hand on her hip

"Ye-Yes! I'm going!"

The CPU candidate quickly turned around and flew up into the sky where Iris Heart was already waiting for her. The two CPUs then flew towards the coast south of Planeptune, where they agreed to meet up with Noire, Blanc and Vert, while leaving Histoire in charge of Planeptune for the time being.

"Good luck everyone. Please, be careful..." Muttered the tome, who could only wait and hope for everyone to safely return, while looking at them flying away

*Scene*

"Heeeeey! Mister Yuby!" Yelled Neptune while holding on the bars of the small hole of the door and pushing her head against it to look at both sides of the hallway "Heeey, lemme out! Or at least bring me a game! Wait, scratch that. Bring me a pudding!"

"Just give it up. He's not going to answer. In fact, he's not even here right now-nya" Said Devi while turning her head to look at the perky CPU

"But I'm bored and hungry!" She complained before letting go of the bars and sitting on the bed again with a pouty face "No games and no pudding! I'm giving you guys a negative review for bad costumer support!"

During the nearly two weeks since her capture, Neptune spent her time locked up in a room somewhere within a building. Judging by the length of the hallway on the other side of the door, it couldn't be a small place, but not a very large either. It was certain to be considerably tall considering the good view from the window on the opposite wall. The room itself wasn't small or cramped either. In fact, it was quite comfty. Altough the color of the walls was purely grey, there was enough room to walk without bumping into anything and the bed was soft and fluffy. A metal desk on the opposite side with a spinning chair, which was where Devi was sitting on right now, and a window on the wall also decorated the room. Unfortunately for her, the window was also barred with some powerful metals.

"You do realize you're a prisoner, right-nya?" Asked the green-haired catgirl while raising an eyebrow

Unlike most people facing a hostage situation, Neptune didn't become submisive, obedient or silent. On the total opposite, she wouldn't stop complaining and searching for ways to escape. Unfortunately, the room was secured and made of very sturdy materials. And the one time where it seemed like she would be able to escape, Yuube caught her, beat her up and took her weapon away. And without her sword, there was no way for her to break through the doors and windows holding her prisoner. Ever since that moment, Neptune realized the situation she was in probably needed some patientce. Eventually, an escape event would be triggered and she'd be free again. But for the time being, Devi was placed with her to make sure she wouldn't attempt another escape.

"Hey, Koneko. How long do I have to be here?"

"Until that guy comes here to find you. Also, don't call me Koneko. I'm Devi-nya!"

"That guy?"

"You know, the one in the black coat with the blue visor-nya"

"Ah, you mean Kenny?"

"Yeah, that one-nya"

"Why Kenny?"

"Because Master Ibiem told us to do it-nya"

"Why?"

"Not telling ya-nya"

"Ehhhh? Come on!"

"No-nya"

"Meanie!"

Although Neptune persisted, Devi wouldn't spill it out. As certain things were not for her to know, or perhaps not even the cat artist herself was given a full explanation. But one thing was certain. She wouldn't get anything out of her.

"Damn it! Shut the hell up already!" Yelled Yuube as he abruptly opening the door

"Nepu!"

"Ah, you're back already-nya?"

"And you!" He said while pointing at Devi "Can't you shut her up!?"

"And how do I do that-nya?"

"Just draw something to shut her up!"

"I already spent two days making this entire place! Just how much power do you think it takes to keep it standing like this-nya!?" Snarled the angry catgirl while turning her head to look at him

Yuube clenched his fist and closed his eyes. For a moment, it seemed like he would explode in a fit of rage. But suprisingly enough, he took a deep breath and calmed down at an astounding speed.

"Whatever...She ain't my problem..."

"Eh? He calmed down?"

"Yeah, this guy's the type that goes from calm to enraged and vice-versa very easily-nya"

"You broads wouldn't get it. The mind of a god like me is far too complex for mortals to understand!" Said Yuube while smirking and placing one hand on his chin

"More like far too empty-nya" Replied the catgirl while looking at him with an expression that didn't seem amused at all "I'm not even sure why master Ibiem sent you-nya"

"The hell was that!? Master Ibiem sent me cause he trusts me!"

"That's why I said it. I don't understand why-nya"

"Why, you little-!"

"Hey, hey. I wanna know something"

Before they were about to kill each other, both Yuube and Devi turned their heads to look at the perky CPU. The fact she didn't get that much to say in this conversation despite her status of main character bothered her, and she didn't like to be quiet either. But she couldn't really see a chance to get in, or at least she didn't until something came up to her mind. A certain doubt that bothered her ever since Devi mentioned him.

"Who's that Ibiem guy?" Asked Neptune before suddenly smiling and coming to one of her own conclusions "Could it be...He's the last boss!?"

"Last boss-nya?"

"That's right! I bet he's like those demon lords waiting in his throne for the hero at the end of an endgame castle dungeon!"

Neptune was confident in her intuition. By the way both Yuube and Devi, who she considered to be baddies, kept talking about Ibiem and mentioned him as their master, the perky CPU imaggined him to be something similar to the demon lords she saw in those old games she played with Plutia so often. Although the silence she received from the due afterwards made her doubtfult

"Eh? Did I get it wrong?"

"What dp you think-nya?"

"Hmmmm...Maybe he's more like those "hidden in the shadows till the last moment" kind of boss? Or one of those really innocent looking people that end up being the crazy evil guy!?"

While looking at Neptune coming up with with more ideas and possible hypothesis, each one crazier than the last one, as to who and what Ibiem was, Yuube and Devi sweat dropped.

"Hey, Devi..."

"What-Nya?"

"She ain't shutting up till we give her an answer, is she?"

"That's right-nya..."

It was at this moment that yuube strongly regreted not cutting off her vocal cords when he had the chance. But right now, he didn't have either the time or patience to do it. At least not without killling her in the process, which he wouldn't have minded if she wasn't the bait needed to lure Kenji into coming to them.

"Fine by me... If it makes her shut her trap" He said before turning around and heading for the door

"Hey! Where are you going-nya!?"

"It's been a few hours since I sent that letter. The bro should be here any moment now" He replied after turning around to look at her with a smirk

"What about this broad!?"

"Like I said...Not my problem"

The CPU of the beat then left the room and let the job of explaning to Devi, who didn't seem all to happy about this.

"That bastard...he dumped all the work on me again-nya!" She muttered angrily while a vein mark appeared on her forehead

Yuube agreed with giving Neptune an answer, but he ended up making an excuse to run away and dump all the explaining on her. Nonetheless, she had already decided to let the perky CPU know what could probably be told about their master without causing too much trouble in the future. And even if something happened and she were to receive an earful or a punishment afterwards, the green haired catgirl could always put the blame on Yuube.

"Oh well. If master Ibiem finds out, I'll just say he slipped the tongue while bragging-nya"

"(Somehow, I get the feeling these two get along in a weird way)" Thought Neptune while sweat dropping

She saw the way Devi and Yuube dealt with each other so far, and it somehow reminded her to Vert and Blanc. Both somehow being able to work together, but easily getting into a fight if one said something that could touch the nerves of the other.

"Hey. I get it, I'll tell you-nya"

"Eh? Really?"

"I ain't telling you everything, but I can say some stuff-nya" She said while looking at the confused CPU "Might as well kill some time while I'm at it-nya"

"I knew my main protag charms would work!" Said a proud Neptune while placing her hands on both hips

"On one condition-nya"

"Sure thing!"

"I want to know about the day you got captured-nya"

"Sure, I don't mind. But why?"

"Just curiosity-nya"

In truth, part of Devi's job on the ultradimension was keeping tabs on Kenji's activities and give Ibiem a steady flow of information. She didn't really feel any interest towards what the young man did in his own time, but Ibiem's orders were absolute. As such, She wanted to make sure she could give the best information she could to him, and what happened in Lowee was indeed something that could interest him, or at least the part when Kenji fought against Yuube. The only problem was that she had to stay back setting the place up while Yuube went to the nation and kidnapped Neptune after knocking out Kenji. And even when he finally came back, the red haired man would only brag about how easily he overpowered both of them without giving her the details she needed to hear.

"Anyway, I ain't saying it twice. So pay attention-nya"

"Okay!"

"First of all, me and Yuube belong to a group that exists in another dimension-nya"

"Group? So you're like a secret organization?"

"Something like that. But we ain't really secret-nya" She replied "Either way, master Ibiem is the leader of our group-nya"

"I knew it! Last boss!"

"Knock it off with that already-nya!" Said the catgirl with a vein mark popping on her head

"Sorry, sorry...So, what else?"

"That's it-nya"

"Eh?"

Neptune looked at Devi with widened eyes for a moment or two before speaking again.

"...That's all?"

"Yeah-nya"

"Hold on! You didn't tell me anything!"

"What did ya expect? I can't tell you everything. Master Ibiem's oracle would kill me-nya"

"Not fair! The readers on the other side of the screen waited weeks to know!" Complained Neptune before realizing something Devi said "Wait...Oracle?"

"That's right, master Ibiem has an oracle-nya"

"Then he rules a nation, right?"

"Right-nya"

"But I thought only CPUs ruled nations"

"No problem there. After all, master Ibiem is a CPU-nya"

"I see, he's a CPU..." Said Neptune for with a smile

She was relieved to know the one thing she thought of as a fact, other than pudding being the best food ever, was still true. Or at least she felt that way until her brain processed the word CPU coming from Devi's mouth.

"Eh? EHHHHHHH!?"

"What-nya?"

"A CPU!? You mean, like Keny and that Yuby guy!?"

"That's right. Master Ibiem is our leader and the CPU of nexus. A nation on another dimension-nya"

Neptune couldn't believe what she heard. When Histoire told her and the others that Kenji said a man named Ibiem was the one to defeat him instead of the deity of sin, she nerver imagined the enemy could be a CPU, and a male one at that too. Then again, right in front of her was Devi, a CPU she had never seen before, and had seen Yuube, the second male CPU she ever met, who kidnapped her. Imagining there could be even more like him and Kenji out there wasn't too hard at this point.

"Either way, I answered you. Now tell me about the day you and that guy fought against Yuube-nya"

"Okay..."

While she wasn't too sure about why Devi wanted to know about that day and the idea of yet another male CPU, and probably even more, being out there still bothered her, Neptune didn't have much of a choice right now. Besides, she felt like the rescue event wouldn't be triggered unless she spilled out the beams. The perky CPU then told Devi about the day when she, Kenji and Plutia went to Lowee to eat pork bowls together while the catgirl wrote down the details that caught her interest.

"Hm...not that much, but it should keep master Ibiem happy for the time being-nya"

With the final piece of information she missed now complete, Devi got up to her feet and headed towards the door to get ready to watch the battle between Kenji and Yuube.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"I'm leaving. I already have what I needed-nya" Replied Devi while opening the door "You just stay here, your boyfriend will be here soon-nya"

"Boyfriend?"

After hearing Neptune's confused tone, the catgirl turned her head around to look at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What, isn't he your boyfriend?"

"Wrong, wrong! We didn't get that route!" Quickly replied the perky CPU with a flustered expression "We're friends! Besides, my fans would get heartbroken if I dated someone!"

"I see...Either way, he's coming for you. So don't be noisy and wait-nya"

Devi then got out of the cell while wondering if she should erase the part of her report where she mentions that Kenji seems to have lolicon tendencies and left Neptune to think about what she just said.

Normally, she was the one to do the teasing with things like those, and they would be mostly to Noire and her loneliness because she thought it was fun. But this time, Neptune was the one in her shoes. And although she tried convincing herself that it was a simple joke made by Devi to get back at her, the perky CPU couldn't help but feel bothered about it somehow. She couldn't fully understand why, but being told that Kenji was her boyfriend got her flustered. For Kenji and Neptune to be a couple, it meant they liked each other. Of course, it's a given everyone woud fall head over heels for a popular and cute main character such as her, but the part of Neptune liking Kenji was what bothered her. As far as love went, she could only safely say she loved Nepgear. But that was a given since they were sisters. She also liked everyone else, but only as friends.

Kenji was always nice with Neptune. No matter how angry he'd get at her or complained about how she ate pork bowls with him and made him be the one to pay most of the time, Kenji never refused to take her with him or to pay instead of letting her get indebted with the owner. His tendency to be there when needed was also something to note as well. If he could, the young man always helped her out, such as when he'd usually turn a blind eye to let her run away from Histoire's lectures and slack off, or when he cheered up Nepgear and said it was all Neptune's idea to help her keep a good image as an elder sister, or when he asked Histoire to let them stay in the Ultradimension for longer because she was sad about leaving.

"I don't like Kenny like that..." Said the CPU to herself while thinking about it

Neptune was honestly confused about this, so much to the point where it actually made her think. And not the easy-going, random type of thinking. This was actual deep and careful thinking, the type she wasn't used to. Trying to think like this was hard and the lack of pudding didn't help either. But even if her mind was trying to convince her that she didn't like him, another part of her didn't seem to agree too much. After all, just thinking about Kenji smiling at her was enough to make her blush right now.

"...right?"

While the perky CPU tried to figure out the meaning behind this new array of emotions beating within her chest right now, Yuube sat down on the roof of the building in wait for his enemy.

"Hm...Seems like he's close by already..." He muttered to himself while focusing on sensing Kenji's shares

True to his prediction, the young man's sillhouette could already be seen in the skies on the distance. He would have been surprised that he found them so quickly if it weren't for the fact the building was a big castle-like tower placed right in the middle of a grassland. Something that stood out like a sore thum. The young man got closer and closer until reaching the scene and stopping mid-air.

"Yo. Good to see ya didn't bitch out"

"Where is she?"

"Straight to the point, huh?" Said the red-haired man while raising an eyebrow before smirking "Well, not like I can't agree with that"

Even from that distance, Yuube could tell from Kenji's expression that he wasn't willing to fool around. And in all truth, he could agree with him. Yuube had been waiting for Ibiem to give him the okay for this fight, and now that he had it, he didn't want to waste anymore time either.

"She's down there" He said while pointing below him at the window on the wall, making the young man lower his head to look at it "But don't I'm letting ya get to her so easy!"

Yuube then got up on his feet and made a confident smirk with his eyes closed.

"If you want her, then you'll have to beat ME first! The great and mighty-!" Yelled the CPU of the beat before opening his eyes and suddenly noticing Kenji wasn't there anymore "Eh?"

He looked around him, but there was no trace of Kenji. It was after looking below him that he saw the young man took the liberty of heading towards the window, completely ignoring him in the process.

"Hey!"

"Neptune! Hey, Neptune!" Said Kenji while looking into the cell "Are you in there!?"

"Kenny?"

After suddenly hearing his voice, the perky CPU snapped out of her thoughts and turned her head to see Kenji in the window.

"Kenny!"

She didn't hesitate to run towards the window and hold the bars while looking at the young man with a smile. She felt incredibly happy of seeing him right now, and Kenji could share this feeling as well. He was relieved to know she was not only alive, but unharmed.

"Hey, are you okay!?"

"Uwaaaaaah! Kenny, it was horrible!" She said in a tone that made it seem like she could cry at any moment "It's been weeks since I ate a pudding!"

"That's the horrible part?" He asked while sweat dropping

It was at times such as this one that Kenji had a hard time understanding Neptune's priorities. Despite being locked up in a cell in the middle of nowhere for weeks and maybe submited to torture or interrogation, the first and probably only thing she seemed honestly bothered about was the lack of pudding she ingested during her time behind bars. Then again, this was Neptune. Going around for an entire day without eating a pudding was enough to make her go crazy, so two weeks and half were surely a nightmare for her. In fact, Kenji couldn't help but wonder how she managed to retain sanity up to now.

"A-anyway, just give me a moment! I'm getting you out!"

Out of the many ways Kenji could get Neptune out, he chose the most straightforward and basic. Bend the bars. He then grabbed them and pulled with all of his might, but metal didn't seem to bend, much less budge. The enchanced strength he attained in his HDD form didn't seem nearly enough to force the construction to break.

"Rngh! Come on!" He said while trying with all of his strength for a moment or two before finally stopping "Damn it, this isn't working..."

"Hurry it up! Where's all that OC power!? Did the writter nerf you or something!?"

A vein mark appeared on Kenji's forehead. Even in such a situation, Neptune found a way to use her meta jokes to tick him off.

"You wan't power?" He said while raising his sword up to face level and engulfing it in flames "I'll give you power"

"Eh?" Replied the CPU "Whoa! Hold the phone! You're gonna blow me up if you do that!"

"I'd step back if I were you"

As she saw the young man gaining some distance from the window and getting ready to use an horizontal slice attack, Neptune quickly got away and hid under the bed as an improvised safety measure.

"Coldfire-!" He said as he was about to blow up the wall, until he felt something above him approaching with a killing intent and quickly slashed upwards "-Edge!"

Kenji's slash attack was able to block the falling hammer aimed at his head just as it was mere inches away from hitting him.

"Lemme tell you something, bro!" Said Yuube as they struggled against each other

This struggle ended shortly after Kenji pushed him away, causing the red-haired man to do a back flip and fall on a red sigil that he used to stand in mid-air.

"I don't take kindly to people ignoring me!"

"Out of my way!"

"First you ignore me, and now you treat me like small fry? That's definitely strike one, ain't it?" Muttered Yuube with an irritated tone, causing the first of a row of three small red lights in the handle of his warhammer to turn on, before transforming

In a split second, the two men went from silently looking at each other to dashing towards each other and clashing weapons once again. Blade and hammer clashed and strked each other countless times as the two fighters flew from one place to the other in the midst of this all-out battle. It was only after hundreds of clashes that they gained some distance from each other.

"Looks like someone's been hitting the gym"

Yuube managed to notice an increase of speed and strength in Kenji's attacks. Although it was just a few weeks, the young man didn't waste a second of it and trained himself to the bone. Of course, this meant in no way that Kenji had managed to surpass him. Or at least that was what the red-haired man was confident about.

"Let's see you handle this!" He yelled as he aimed his palm at the young man and made an arrogant grin "Beat wave!"

Seeing Yuube had launched his special attack, Kenji didn't hesitate to launch his crescent sapphirus as well. The two special attacks clashed against each and eploxded, expanding into a large cloud of smoke.

"You dumbass..."

Just like he had expected, things played out exactly like they did during their first fight. Or at least that's what he believed as he flew towards the cloud before noticing a faint blue light within it. In a split second, a blue slash suddenly flew right at him and dodged him by inches-

"What the fu-!?" He said as he stopped in mid-air before being interrupted by a sudden series of new slash attacks flying at him

Yuube dodged the first three and countered the following two.

"If someone's a dumbass..." Said Kenji as he suddenly flew out of the cloud and right towards the CPU of the beat with his sword ready "that's you!"

The young man then used a thrusting attack headed straight for Yuube's head. He hardly managed to avoid being stabbed in the face by moving his head the right, but the blade managed to scrape him and leave a cut on his left cheek along with nearly hitting one of his headphone processors. After Kenji went past him, Yuube quickly turned around and aimed his palm at him to use a quick wave blast. But the young man turned around as well while doing a slash attack and releasing another blue slash of energy. Both powers crashed against each other and created a shockwave that pushed the two of them away from each other.

"(The hell were those!? Devi didn't say shit about a skill like that!)"

Yuube couldn't help but feel confused right now. While they did resemble the Crescent Sapphirus, wich could usually be larger than an ancient dragon in size, the attacks Kenji used just now were unlike nothing he saw or heard about from his partner. They were smaller, around the size of a person if not slightly larger, and way faster than the regular one.

During the time he spent training, Kenji constantly drew himself into exhaustion. At first it didn't seem to work at all, but soon bore fruits. Even if the improvement in the speed and power of his Crescent Sapphirus wasn't that great, he managed to make a discovery. The closer he got to exhaustion, the less shares he'd have for his attack. This caused the energy wave to get smaller and less powerful with each try, but it also became nearly as twice as fast. Soon, he came to realize this could actually be very practical against a fast opponent like Yuube. With this idea in mind, the young man focused on throwing slashes with as little share energy as possible and eventually gave birth to this new skill.

"Cool, isn't it? I call it "moonlight slash""

"(So that was it...a new skill)" Tought Yuube while placing his hand on the bleeding wound before looking at Kenji and speaking again "I really like my face, you know? And you went and cut it..."

Suddenly, a red aura emanated from him. As an arrogant narcissist, Yuube had quite an affinity for his face. Having it cut or harmed was more than enough to get the easily irritable CPU into a fit of rage.

"That's strike two!" He said with anger before dashing forward again.

Once again, the two warriors were locked into a constant exchange of attacks. But this time, they added special attacks to the mix. Every now and then Kenji's slash attacks would clash against Yuube's sonic wave blasts or they'd try to dodge them. This process repeated itself a few times before a powerful explosion in the distance caught Kenji's attention, making him turn his head to look over his shoulder.

"What the hell?"

"Ah? Looks like they're here"

"They?"

Kenji turned his head to look forward again and saw Yuube heading towards him. He quickly blocked the incoming attack and caused both of them to enter a struggle.

"You see, We knew those broads you're always with might catch up on our little fight here and would try to get in the way, so we asked our bros at the seven sages to lend us a hand"

Little did the young man imagine that while he and Yuube were fighting it out, Copypaste, Mister Badd and an army of robot monsters were holding back the CPUs, who had traveled to Hello Continent to lend Kenji their help.

"The seven sages!? So you work with them!?"

"Work with them? Are you shitting me!?" Asked Yuube while putting more strength behind his weapon and making Kenji lean back slightly "Those clowns are working for ME!"

"Just what the hell do you want!?"

"Me? Nothing. It's master Ibiem that want's ya to kick the bucket"

"Ibiem?"

"Oh? Name rings a bell, doesn't it?" Asked Yuube after noticing Kenji's expression

That name certainly wasn't hard to remember. Even if they met just once, Kenji would never be able to forget how Ibiem stopped the most powerful sword thrust attack he could muster with only the tip of a finger and even nearly cut his torso in two without him even being able to tell what happened or see the sword until he was already falling to the floor in a half dead state.

"So he's the one you work for!?"

"Correct! Now you win a prize!" Said Yuube while placing his palm against Kenji's stomach "A free flight!"

A shockwave came out of his hand and hit the young man right in the stomach, sending him a few feet away before stopping.

"Oh, and you did ignore me again earlier..." He said with an evil grin before raising his free hand and showing three fingers "That's strike three!"

With those words, the final light in the row of three lighted up. This caused the head of the warhammer to shine brightly as massive amounts of power began emanating from within it.

"What?"

"Did'ja really think the beat wave was my only move!?" Said Yuube while flying up to be at least a dozen feet higher than Kenji and then holding his weapon like a staff to aim the flat side of the head at him "This is my strongest attack! Survive it if you can!"

Suddenly, a red sigil two times larger than the hammer appeared in front of it and shone brightly.

"Subsonic armaggedon!"

With the name of Yuube's supreme attack yelled at the top of his lungs, the large sigil released a massive redish sonic shockwave. It was so powerful that the way it distorted it's surroundings could be easily seen even from miles away. The massive shockwave flew right towards the young man ready to crush him and crashed against him before pushing him all the way down to the ground, which was completely destroyed by the explosion that took place from the impact. After a moment, only destruction and barriers of smoke remained below Yuube.

"Kenny!"

Neptune, who had been watching the fight from her cell as best as she could, witnessed the massive attack falling down on the young man.

"Hah...He wasn't that though after all!" Said Yuube with a smirk while breathing heavily

"No way..."

Among the destruction and eerie silence that remained afterwards, a part of the perky CPU feared the worse.

"The heck...was that, you bastard?"

After hearing a voice, Yuube opened his eyes and looked down again. With the smoke clearing out, he saw Kenji standing on the ground. He was very beat up, his visor and the left shoulder processor were broken. His coat had also suffered severe damage as well. The left sleeve, left chest area and part of the coat's tail were torn appart or missing, revealing his lean body. Although most of the muscles that were visible right now were covered in blood that poured out of his wounds, with the most bleeding focused around the right side of his face, part of his chest and his left arm. And there were a few visible bleeding cuts in his legs and right arm as well.

"Don't go...killing me off so easily!"

"Kenny!" Said Neptune more cheerfully this time

At first Kenji thought about dodging, but the range was far too wide to dodge from that distance. In a last moment decision, he focused as much energy as he could on making the most resilient sigil he could with both hands to absorb as much of the impact as possible. Even if it didn't stop it completely, this strategy reduced the amount of damage just about enough to avoid being killed. Unfortunately, it left a hefty amount of injury in his body. But as beat up as he might be, Kenji was still alive. That alone was enough to help Neptune's worries fade away and be replaced by relief.

"So one ain't enough?" Muttered Yuube after clicking his tongue "Fine by me, I'll just do it again!"

Yuube planned to use his Subsonic armaggedon once again. But he couldn't do it without the three strikes. He first needed Kenji to do something that could greatly anger him at least three time. Withthis already in mind, the CPU of the beat flew towards him, and the young man did the same. This caused the two to enter a series of clashes once again. But this time, Kenji was starting to get pushed back. His wounds were already taking a toll on his strength and speed, causing him to lag behind. Yuube kept taking advantage of this and kept overpowering Kenji before finally using a quick parry followed by a beat wave that sent him flying away and crashing against the ground.

"What's wrong? No juice left on ya?"

While landing on the ground and walking closer to him, Yuube saw Kenji slowly getting back up on one knee.

"Oh? So ya still feel like going at it?" He asked before making a frown "To be honest with ya, that pisses me off"

Kenji's persistence to keep fighting meant he believed he could beat Yuube. And in turn, the red-haired man saw this as a Kenji believing he was stronger than him. This show of confidence was enough to pile up a good amount of anger.

"But guess what? That's strike one!" Said Yuube with a grin before one of the lights in his handle turned on again

Seeing no answer or further movement from Kenji, Yuube wondered for a moment if the young man fell unconscious while kneeling or simply gave up. Either way, he had a job to do. Killing the young man and getting rid of the other CPUs in the Ultradimension.

"In your next life, learn not to mess with the strong ones!" He said while dashing forward, ready to rip Kenji's head clean off in one swift swing of his hammer.

But the CPU of the beat got quite a surprise when his hammer got blocked by Kenji's sword, who moved his arm to block in the last second.

"Wha-!?"

"Bla,bla,bla...You keep spewing bullshit here, buddy. And I'm tired of it" Said Kenji in a slightly different tone from usual with his head still lowered

Slowly, Kenji pulled Yuube's hammer sideways despite the later putting as much strength as he could to avoid it. It was after a short moment of silence that Kenji suddenly got back up on his feet and raised his head, showing a far different expression from before. Instead of the serious face, there was now an evil grin. Far darker and bloodthirsty than any grin Yuube had managed to pull off so far. His eyes now held nothing but a mixture of killing intent and desire for carnage and changed from sapphire blue to a deep sanguine red along with his sclera turning pitch black. Yuube could hardly react to this new, evil expression before Kenji used his free hand to punch him right in the middle of the face and sent him flying away before he stopped face down on the ground. It took a moment before he got back up on his feet again while placing the tips of his fingers over the bridge of his nose, wich was now bleeding.

"What!?"

"So you call that fighting, pal?"

Kenji took a step forward before raising his head and looking at Yuube with a smirk

"That ain't how you fight"He said before his sword got enveloped in flames as red as blood and making a grin again "THIS is how you fight!"

In a split second, Kenji threw his sword at Yuube. The red-haired man didn't even flinch and dodged it by moving his head, but soon he saw that the young man had his left hand extended forward with his thumb and middle finger pressed against each other. Kenji then snapped his fingers, causing the sword, which was still flying right next to Yuube's head, to violently release all the compressed energy withing it and explode. Yuube was hit by the explosion at point-blank range and was thrown sideways for a few feet before stopping. As soon as he regained his balance, he saw Kenji already in front of him. He had summoned back his sword to his hand and began a relentless barrage of attacks.

"Come on ginger boy! Didn't ya say you were strong!? Where did all those balls from before go!?"

Faced with the constant and merciless sword attacks, Yuube could only clash or block as the young man gave him no chance to retaliate. As every time they entered a struggle, Kenji would quickly resort to a punch to the face, a headbutt or a knee to the gut to stun Yuube and push him back before the later had any time to react.

"Fight me! hit me! Blast me! crush me! Break me!" Said the crazed Kenji with every attack before entering a struggle in the last slash, which he used to approach Yuube and grin while looking at him in the eye "Give me a hug!"

"(What the hell is going on with this bro!?)"

Yuube was striken by confusion right now. The serious and hot-blooded man he was fighting just a moment ago had completely dissapeared. In his place, a crazened, relentless and ferocious berserker had appeared. It was almost as if he was fighting a completely different person right now. And that idea might not be so impossible to believe.

It was during the final struggle that Yuube managed to avoid Kenji's hand-to-hand attack and gained some distance by doing a long backwards jump.

"Damn it...Damn it!" He muttered before looking at the young man with rage and yelling at the top of his lungs "Don't get carried away, you fucker! Strike two!"

As Yuube's rage released a shockwave of energy, the second button turned on before the two dashed towards each other once again. The two began clashing weapons once again until reaching a new struggle.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you!"

"Try it, you cu-urgh!"

Suddenly, the young man's grin became a frown as he took a few steps backwards and held the side of his head tightly.

"Wha-what the fuck are you-argh!?" He said as the beating within his head became even stronger "Stop it! Can't you see I'm winning!?"

The beating within his head became stronger and stronger as Kenji struggled to hold it back.

"No...no! NO! I can win! I can do it! DON'T FUCK WITH ME! I CAN DO THIS! I CAAAAAAN!"

A scarlet red aura emanated from Kenji's body and began distorting into a shape similar to a raging flame before he screamed at the top of his lungs. Afterwards, the red aura became blue and dispersed as the screaming suddenly stopped as well. The only thing that remained was Kenji, with both his head and torso lowered along with his sword arm dangling and the other one still holding his head.

"Sorry about that..." He said while raising his head to look at Yuube as he breathed heavily "He gets like that sometimes..."

In front of the sudden scene, the red-haired man remained completely confused. He wasn't sure what just happened, but the young man seemed to have reverted back to his usual state. It was easy to tell by how his eyes returned to having a white sclera and sapphire irises again. Once he regained his composture, Yuube managed to speak again.

"Whatever that shit was, I don't wanna know"

"Fine by me" Said Kenji before taking an assault stance "Let's get this over with!"

Both Kenji and Yuube were already badly beaten up and reaching their limits.

"You made ME, a god, look THIS pathetic! You'll pay for it!" Said the angry CPU of the beat "Third strike!"

The humiliation he felt from being beaten to such an extent by Kenji made his blood boild fiercely enough to charge the third and final strike. He then took flight and ascended before spining his warhammer with both hands and holding it like a staff once more. Kenji did the same thing while gaining some distance from the CPU of the beat before raising his sword and focusing all the remaning power he could muster within his blade. They had already decided that this would be the final struggle.

"This time, I'm throwing everything I've got at you!"

Both fighters began charging up their attakcs right until the last second before shooting them out with all of their might.

"Subsonic Armaggedon!"

"Crescent Sapphirus!"

The massive slash of blue energy clashed against the equally large reddish shockwave, causing an effect similar to a constant explosion as the strong wind created from the impact blew everything unlucky enough to be too close far away or into pieces. Slowly, Yuube's Subsonic Armaggedon seemed to be pushed back. Inmediately to fix this, he held his warhammer tighter and poured every last inch of power he could muster. At first it seemed to be working, but Kenji didn't lag behind either. While Yuube focused on pouring as much power as he could into his shocwave, Kenji charged up a second Crescent Sapphirus and shot it out. This new slash of energy merged with the first one, creating a more powerful attack that managed to balance out the power struggle. Nonetheless,Yuube refused to give up.

"Hey, Yuube!"

Suddenly, the red-haired man heard Kenji's voice. But what shocked him was that it didn't come from the front. Rather, it came from behind him. He turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw the young man a few feet behind him with his sword engulfed in bright flames and raised as high as he could.

"Strike three, you're out!" Yelled Kenji before shooting out the final Crescent Sapphirus.

Seeing the large slash behind him, Yuube soon realized it. Unlike his Subsonic Armaggedon, Kenji's Crescent Sapphirus wasn't connected to his weapon. And even if he couldn't give it a constant power supply like Yuube's attack or Nepgear's laser blast, the young man could easily move after shooting it out. And he took advantage of it by circling around the blast area to do the pincer attack taking place right now. Unfortunately for Yuube, he was too focused on the attack in front of him to realize this until it was too late.

With no time to waste, Yuube let one hand go off the warhammer and aimed his palm to create a sigil to block the attack. Although this had the opposite effect. As the energy focused on the Subsonic Armaggedon was weakened due to this, and allowed the first Crescent Sapphirus to break through the shockwave and head right towards Yuube. He quickly reacted to this and dispelled the warhammer to extended his other hand and create a sigil that blocked the massive slash from hitting him. He tried with every ounce of strength he had left, but the two powerful slash attacks were far too much too handle. Slowly, they got closer and closer as the sigils began cracking and weakening.

"Damn it...Danm it! Damn it! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!" He yelled in rage at the top of his lungs before both sigils broke

The two slash attacks then crashed against each other, crushing Yuube between them and quickly becoming a massive explosion that destroyed everything around it, including most of the building where Neptune was locked up in.

"Nepu!" She said before jumping away from the wall and reaching the door before it exlpoded into pieces

Once the shockwave and the blinding light subsided, Neptune opened her eyes and turned around to see there was now a large hole instead of a wall. She walked towards it until standing on the edge and saw a large black cloud of smoke where two massive powers clashed just moments ago. Just a few meters from it, Kenji descended back to the ground. And within seconds, Yuube fell out of the cloud and crashed against the earth. This caused Kenji to turn around again and look at him.

"Not...yet...I can still fight!"

"He's still alive?" Asked a surprised Kenji

After getting hit by something like that, it wouldn't be a surprise if Yuube had disintegrated or blown away to bits. And yet, he was now getting back up to his feet. Or at least he was trying to. He was hardly in a fit state to stand up, let alone keep fighting. But the young man knew he wouldn't give up. Yuube would come back and threaten to kill Neptune and the others if he was allowed the chance to do so. With this in mind, Kenji turned around and held his sword thightly before dashing towards the red-haired man. But just before he could stab him through the heart, a large wyrm fell down from the skies right between them and stopped Kenji right in his tracks.

"Wha-!?"

"Sorry, but this is as far as it goes for today-nya" Said Devi, who was sitting atop of the large lizard

The wyrm then flapped it's large wings, creating waves of wind as it flew up and away into the skies with Devi on it's back and Yuube held on one of the feet.

"Wait!"

Kenji tried taking flight to chase after them, but his transformation reverted against his will before he could do little more than give a step forward.

"Damn it...It had to run out now?" He said as he kneeled down from the aching pain and exhaustion in his body

After seeing the young man fall to the floor, Neptune transformed and flew out of the building, which crumbled on itself shortly afterwards, to help him.

"Kenny! Are you okay!?"

Purple Heart couldn't help but feel worried about Kenji. Even if his human clothes were only slightly damaged, all the wounds he received in his HDD form were still there. And although only a few cuts were moderately deep, he had lost quite an amount of blood.

"Don't worry...I'm okay..." He said in an exhausted tone before turning his head to look at her "And what about you...are you okay?"

"Eh?"

The question took Purple Heart by surprise. Even in his current state, the first thing Kenji asked was if she was okay.

"Ye-Yeah...I'm okay..." She said before sweat dropping "Rather, I don't think it's the right time to play the hero..."

"I see...Then it's all good" Replied the young man with a smile

Despite being slightly annoyed from being unable to do anything noteworthy or cool during the battle despite being the main character, all of that faded away as if it were only a breeze after seeing Kenji smiling at her. In its place, the same warm feeling building up inside her chest from before reappeared and caused her to blush. Although that didn't last for long as Kenji suddenly fell down to the floor and lost consciousness.

"Kenny? Hey, Kenny!" She said while placing her hands on his back and moving him in an attempt to wake him up

Meanwhile, above the ocean...

"We're getting yelled at for this, aren't we-nya?" Said Devi after lowering her head and sighing with her eyes closed

The two had sucessfully managed to escape the Hello continent and Devi had already sent Anonydeath a message to tell the sages to retreat as the plan had failed, but Nnow the two were in for a lecture or a punishment.

"Hey...Devi...Let go already!"

"Nya?" She said before looking down at the wyrm's leg and seeing Yuube atempting to struggle out of it "Ah, you're still awake-nya?"

"Damn it! Let go of me...I'm not done yet!"

"Don't be a sore loser. The fight is over-nya"

For a moment, Yuube attempted to snarl back at her. But fell unconscious and reverted back before he could even say another word. Devi looked at him for a moment or two before raising her head again and looking forward.

"Oh well, at least I won't have to hear him whine all the way back-nya"

With Yuube unconscious, Devi calmly relaxed during the trip back to the seven sages's hideout while Purple Heart helped Kenji along with the rest of the CPUs, who hurried to their location after Mister Badd and Copypaste ran away. After having a hearthwarming reunion with her elder sister, Purple Sister did her best to patch up Kenji's wounds the best she could before carrying him back to Planeptune. There, he received some more intensive care and woke up after four days of rest despite the doctors saying he might not be waking up for an entire week. The following day, he was already up and about. Although he still had quite a few bandages on his body. Mostly the torso, arms and forehead along with a few on his neck.

"Man...what a week..." Said the young man as he sat down on the couch, lay his right arm on the armguard and his back against the couch

"Hey, Kenny!"

After opening his eyes and looking at the doorway, Kenji saw Neptune walking into the room.

"How are you feeling?"

"Better than yesterday. I can't stay in bed any longer, though. I'll rot away if I don't get a pork bowl..."

"I see...I don't have that, but I have this!" Said the perky CPU while placing her hands inside her pockets and suddenly revealing two puddings "Ta-da!"

"Pudding?" He asked while receiving one from her

"Yeah! It's all lukewarm cause I kept it in my pocket, but it's really tasty!"

"Lukewarm, huh?"

While looking at the pudding and sweat dropping as he felt it was indeed lukewarm, Kenji suddenly felt someone tugging on his pants. He leaned his torso forward and saw little Peashy, who until now had been playing with her stuffed toy, clinging to his leg.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

It took him a moment to figure it out, but he soon realized Peashy probably wanted to sit on his lap due to the way she tried to climb up.

"Fine, fine. I get it" He said before putting the Pudding at his side and picking her up "Up you go!"

While Kenji placed Peashy on his lap, picked his pudding and removed the cover, Neptune sat next to him and removed the cover of her own pudding before digging the spoon into it and then straight into her mouth. Although the word lukewarm didn't really make it sound very tasty, Kenji had to admit the pudding still tasted very good. Both of them took a few bites before Neptune finally spoke to him.

"Kenny?"

"What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Eh?"

"I mean...I'm angry cause the writter didn't give me as much screen time as you during this chapter, but you're the one that got all beat up...so I wanted to know if you're okay..."

"Oh...Well...I'm okay, I guess..." Said Kenji with slight confusion due to the fact that sounded unusually serious for someone like Neptune, even if she did add a meta comment mid-way through "And what about you? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay!"

"Then it's all good" He said before taking another bite of his pudding

Before speaking again, Neptune took a moment to look at Kenji. Even if that sounded unusually serious for a carefree character type like her, she felt the need to ask. As during the time he spent sleeping, Nepgear told her about how the young man dedicated every waking moment to train himself to the bone to save her, and how he was probably worried sick about her even if he didn't say it out loud. And although all the bleeding probably caused his memory of that moment to be blurry, Kenji asked her the exact same thing and even gave the exact same question without even realizing it. That, combined with the way he smiled at her after making sure she was safe, made her realize he honestly cared about her.

"...I didn't really say this before, so I want to say it now" Said Neptune before looking at him again and making the kindest smile she could "Thank you, Kenji!"

"I see...Well, don't worry abou-wait a minute!" Replied the young man before suddenly realizing something "Di-Did you just call me Kenji!?"

"That's rigth, Kenji!"

The young man looked at Neptune with widened eyes before snapping back and looking forward again with his eyes.

"Stop that, will you? It sounds weird when you call me that. Just keep calling me Kenny"

At first, Neptune usually called Kenji "Bum man" due to the unfortunate way they met, but soon changed it to "Kenny" after his complains about the first one. That just now was one of the few, if not the first, times that she actually called him by his real name and not by a surname she had come up with. But more than relieved or glad, Kenji felt like it was just an attempt to sway him before asking him for a favor he'd probably refuse or was just trying to tease him in some way he had yet to figure out.

"Kenji!" Said Neptune happily

"Kenny" replied the young man with his eyes closed and his head facing forward

"Ken-ji!"

"Kenny!"

Neptune then leaned sideways and rested her head against Kenji's arm. Despite what she initially believed due to the muscular build, his arm was actually quite comfty and warm instead of hard and and uncomfortable. It had such a welcoming warmth that it made her feel like she could fall asleep on his arm and wake up fresh like a lettuce.

"You were really cool, Ken-ji..." Said Neptune in a very calm manner while blushing

"(Seriously...What's with her all of a sudden?)" Wondered the young man as he blushed without even realizing it

Even if Kenji couldn't understand the motives behind Neptune's actions, the perky CPU's mind was quite clear about it. Both her feelings and Kenji's relevance in them were now perfectly clear to her. And in all honesty, she was okay with it.

*Scene*

"A few touches over here, and a little fix up over here...aaand we're done!" Said Anonydeath after setting up a new security program

After Devi and Yuube's "invasion" of their base, the pink hacker dedicated most of his time to remake all the security systems from scratch. Even going as far as encrypting some of the programs to make them even harder to penetrate despite Rei telling him it wouldn't be necessary to do so.

"Seriously now, all of this work is going to make my skin wrinkle..."

What bothered him mostly about all of it wasn't the effort he had to put into this remake, as it did help him find those minor flaws or details that could use improvement. What really bothered him was the hours of beauty sleep that he lost because of it. After all, he was a hacker, but also a maiden at heart. If he didn't reserve some time to take care of his appearance, his natural beauty would end up deteriorating. And that was absolutely not acceptable. Nonetheless, he had to absolutely make sure their security was top notch as well. Because this wasn't only an insult to his pride as a hacker, but also very dangerous considering he had quite a few archives that were better off not seen by anyone other than him. Of course, he always made sure to carry around the most important or crucial data with him. But it still didn't justify allowing such a blunder.

"Hm...but now that I think about it, It's been a few days since that guy showed up..." He muttered to himself as his mind suddenly recalled Yuube while double-checking his last encryption "And I never got to figure that little issue out"

Shortly after their apparition in the hideout, the two CPUs didn't show up as often as he had expected them to. It was only the day before Yuube fought against Kenji that he showed up to ask, or rather order, for them to lend their help. While Anonydeath didn't believe they would ask of them to do anything too imporant in their plan, he didn't think they'd be placed as a simple security measure against to CPUs. It was a rather good thing that he had all those spare robot prototypes laying around, or he would have been forced to go handle things in person. This would have been a nightmare for him, as his secret identity as the magic hacker of the seven sages would have been discovered. Besides, bruises take time to heal, and they never look good in the mirror. But after it failed, the sages were left without notice from them for nearly three days. And it was on the fourth day that they finally received a visit, although it was from Devi alone. She told them that they had performed a good job, and to do whatever they wanted for the time being. Saying that master Ibiem would eventually require their help again. After that, she would appear from time to time, but Yuube didn't show up again.

"Master Ibiem, huh?" Said the pink hacker before lowering his head and sighing "Dear me. So many questions, but not a single answer..."

Initially, Anonydeath retired to his own workspace to avoid all the pointless arguing of the other sages. But even in solitude, his mind began wandering around all the doubts and questions born from meeting the two CPUs. Yuube's resemblance to a certain someone he knew, his and Devi's true intentions, their origins and even this Ibiem man. All questions that needed an answer, but no way to attain them. It was actually quite disapointing for him.

"And I was really hoping for something interesting to happen too..."

"Trees don't grow in a day, you know? Stuff like that takes time-nya"

"Eh?"

The hacker turned around to see Devi standing behind him. And although her apparition was rather sudden, he couldn't really say he wasn't expecting something like that out of her. After all, she and Yuube seemed to have a thing for appearing out of nowhere.

"Oh, my...I didn't think I'd see you around here"

"Why? Got a problem with me being here-nya?"

"None at all. I'm simply a bit shy about it..."

"Shy-nya?"

"I mean, I've been so busy lately that I hardly had any time to do some cleaning around here. It's a little embarrassing to let people see all this mess"

Devi then looked around her. The room did look a bit messy, but the lack of ilumination made it hard to notice. Probably that was the idea behind the screens being the only source of light in the room.

"Doesn't look that bad. Maybe a bit too dark-nya"

"That's the whole point of it, sweetie"

"Don't call me that-nya" Replied the cat girl while a vein mark popped on her head "I'm way older than you, you know-nya?"

"Oh, is that so? my bad"

Due to his playful tone, Devi initially believed he was taking her for an idiot. But quite the opposite, he believed her words without hesitation. After all, having a large or even massive difference between your youthful looks and actual age was a very common trait among CPUs. Although this trait was sometimes also seen in humans such as Abness. It made him a bit jealous to be honest, as he would certainly like to keep his young beautiful looks forever too.

"So? What can I help you with?"

"Nothing really. I'm just here to fulfill Yuube's promise-nya" Replied the green-haired catgirl before putting one hand inside one of her pockets and taking out a book "Here-nya"

The pink hacker looked at it for a moment before grabbing it. The book was small enough to be held in one hand, but it many pages, easily surpassing the hundreds.

"Hm? What's this?"

"You forgot already-nya?" She asked while her tail slowly moved to the side before getting back in its original position again "It's all that info about the CPU memories he promised you-nya"

"Oh..."

Anonydeath then looked at the book in his hand once again. While Yuube did sound honest, he didn't think he'd keep his word. Especially after his plan failed the way it did.

"By the way, what happened to your friend? I haven't seen him around very often as of late"

"First of all, we're not friends. And second, he's not dead if that's what you think-nya" Explained Devi, who then looked sideways "After getting his ass kicked, he's been..."

*Meanwhile, somewhere else...*

"THAT SON OF A BITCH!" Yelled Yuube as he punched a rock wall, leaving a mark of his fist in it along with countless cracks "How did THIS happen!? How could I lose against HIM!?"

The red-haired man then began charging up before exploding into a shockwave of rage.

"He'll pay for this! Damn it he'll pay for this!"

While the CPU of the beat went on a rampage in some ravine in the middle of nowhere, Devi looked at Anonydeath again.

"...Coping-nya"

"Sounds to me like he's quite short-fused"

"You've got no idea-nya..." Replied Devi while sweat dropping with her eyes closed

Anonydeath looked at her for a moment or two and realized she might be recalling some awful moments she probably went through due to Yuube's unstable temper. And by the looks of it, there were more than a few wandering around up in that little head of hers. Just trying to imagine the kind of things going through her head right now made the hacker himself feel somewhat on low spirits, which was why he decided to try putting his focus on something else. Fortunately, he remembered he was still holding a book which probably had some very interesting information.

"Let's see..." He muttered while opening the book and browsing through the pages "Thi-This is...!"

Within the book, there were dozens of notes and explanations. Some of them currently only thought of as mere theories, and others completely unknown to the hacker or probably anyone else in the Ultradimension. It also included some robotic designs and sketches for more efficient power usage and increased output. This would indeed be some good reading for him.

"Ah, now that I remeber-nya" Said Devi while suddenly opening her eyes and looking at Anonydeath again "Look at the last few pages, there's something you need to see-nya"

"Hm?"

Curious to see what was it, the pink hacker moved through the pages and went all the way to the last few. There, he found not only the same as before, but also much more detailed designs of a certain machine along with instructions of how to build it. The name "share generator" was written in the very first page where the designs began appearing.

"Can you do it-nya?"

"I'll have to check all of this information carefully, but it shouldn't be an issue" He replied before raising his head to look at Devi "So this why you decided to pay me this little visit?"

"Yeah. Master Ibiem requested for you to build it-nya"

"Me? Well, that's quite the honor" Said the hacker with his usual tone "But why me exactly? I'm supposing someone capable of bossing two CPUs around should have someone more knowledgeable at this than me"

"He does, but said that doing it this way makes things more interesting-nya"

"Is that so?"

Due to the helmet, Devi couldn't see the smirk on Anonydeath's face. But it was there. Although he didn't like being bossed around by someone he never even met before, the idea of building such a fascinating machine was far too tempting to shoot down. And someone who preferred doing things in harder or complex ways just for the sake of making them interesting was indeed someone the hacker could agree with.

"Very well, I'll see what I can do"

"I see...then I'm off-nya"

Devi then turned around and left by walking out the door. Leaving Anonydeath alone with a entire book filled with new information and a very interesting new project to amuse himself with for the time being.


	20. I want to be a nurse!

**Note from the author: Hey everyone, hope you had a nice christmas. I was planning to post this tomorrow, but what better way to wrap up the year than by posting the 20th chapter? Kind of like a milestone, but there's still a long way to go yet.**

 **Either way, hope you enjoy this read and the ones that'll follow and have a happy new year!**

* * *

After the fight against Yuube, the number of incidents around Gamindustry went down drastically. That, combined with the sudden dissapearance of the seven sages, gave room to a somewhat stable peace that lasted five years. While some people would consider that to be a long time, it went by much faster than imagined. Perhaps an effect of not having any powerful or dangerous threats looming around. The mind slowly drifted into the daily routine, letting time go by without one even noticing it.

"...I guess she was right about not aging..." Muttered Kenji to himself while looking at his face in the mirror and placing his hand on his chin

Among the things that changed over the ages, Kenji's youthful appearance wasn't one of them. The Histoire from the Hyperdimension told him that CPUs didn't age, but he didn't imagine it to be true. Then again, she also told him the four CPUs were hundreds of years old. Which was something that he didn't believe either at first. But just like him, Neptune nor Nepgear aged a single day in the last eight years they spent in the Ultradimension. And his own face, which didn't show the slightest sign of aging either, was a proof he couldn't reject. Part of him wondered how the girls coped with this, but they probably didn't mind it in the least. In fact, it was very possible they were happy with it. Blanc had already been a CPU for a very long time before their arrival, so she was pretty much used to it. Noire mentioned once that she didn't want to grow old, so she was definitely okay with it. And Vert, who boasted about her voluptuous figure to no end, certainly didn't miss the aging process either. Kenji was probably the only one still thinking about it at this point. But it's not like he wanted to grow old either. It simply felt weird not aging anymore. As aging was a basic part in human life. Perhaps he and the others weren't truly human anymore after all. And maybe that was what truly bothered him.

"Oh well. No use thinking about it now..." He said to himself before turning around and leaving the bathroom

Whetever he was human or not, thinking about things such as those held little to no meaning at all at this point. Besides, perpetual youth wasn't such a bad deal anyway. Or at least that was what he tried to convince himself of while walking down the hallway.

"Kenny!"

"Eh?"

As he walked calmly with his mind still half caught in his thoughts, the young man suddenly felt a strong impact right to the gut.

"Ugh!"

This unexpected and rather powerful surprise attack forced all the air out of his lungs and nearly emptied his stomach as well. Fortunately, he managed to keep his lunch down. But it still didn't make the lack of air any better. As he raised his head, Kenji saw his ambusher was Peashy.

"Pe-Peashy?"

"Kenny! Let's play!"

"Hey, Peashy. You shouldn't do that!" Said IF while looking at her

"Kenji, are you okay?" Asked the young Compa while looking at him with concern

Seeing the worry in little girl's eyes, Kenji quickly did his best to regain his composture and recover

"Yeah, I'm okay" He replied with a smile while straightening up and then looking at Peashy while sweat dropping "(Man, she's getting stronger by the day...)"

During the five years that passed, Compa, IF and Peashy grew up into healthy children and were now six years old each. Compa was a very kind-hearted and caring child while IF was steadily proving to be quite mature for her age. Although she did also seem to be a bit too serious for someone so young. And last but not least, Peashy. She might not be the most well-behaved or the most mature one, but she certainly was strong for her age. Kenji met quite a lot of random thugs that couldn't hit half as hard as she did just now. Perhaps it was because of how she grew up while looking at him, who had a constant tendency to entertain her by showing her fighting moves, or due to Neptune's "training" as she liked to call it. In truth, it was her getting beat up by the trio while they were still babies, but they certainly learned to punch well back then.

"When did you three get back from school?"

"Just now" Answered IF first

"Ah! There you are!"

After hearing Nepgear's voice, Kenji turned her head to the left and saw the CPU candidate running towards them.

"Peashy, IF, Compa. I told you not to run around like that. You could trip and fall on your face" She said after stopping in front of them

Since last year, the trio began attending primary school. It was just a few blocks away and the trip was almost guaranteed to be safe due to all the trafic control and police located around the area, but Histoire and Plutia insisted for them to be escorted by someone for at least the first two years. At first, that duty was supposed to be given to each one every day but ended up falling completely on Nepgear, just like many of the tedious or boring chores no one else wanted to do. Although she didn't seem to mind.

"Kenji? What's wrong?"

"Nothing...I just got the P-ko greeting..."

"A-again?" Asked Nepgear while sweat dropping

"Yes, again..."

Peashy's sudden headbutt attack wasn't a one-time thing either. It was very common for her to headbutt people. And curiously enough, she always hit straight in the solar plexus. Kenji couldn't honestly tell if it was a simple coincidence or if she did it on purpose and had an amazing aim. Either way, he soon began calling this custom of her's the "P-ko greeting" after Neptune started calling her P-ko.

"By the way, where are Plutia and big sister?"

"Plutia's sleeping in her room, and i think Neptune went out to buy pudding"

"Kenny! Kenny!" Said Peashy as she kept pulling on Kenji's wrist, which made him lower his head to look at her "Let's play!"

"Sorry, Peashy. I have to go out"

"I don't wanna! I wanna play with Kenny now!"

Peashy kept insisting while pulling on his arm even harder before Kenji raised it to get free and placed his hand over her head.

"Maybe another day" Replied the young man while caressing her hair, causing her to make a pouty face as he looked down "Well, I'm off"

"Then, take care..."

After getting his hand off of the little girl's hair, he calmly walked past IF, Compa and Nepgear while heading out to the front door.

"Nepgear, why is Kenji always leaving when we get back from school?" Asked Compa while looking at the CPU candidate

"Eh?"

"Does he hate us?"

"Tha-That's wrong! He doesn't hate any of you at all!" She quickly replied in a panic

"Then, why?"

Looking at Compa's saddened eyes, Nepgear quickly tried to figure out how to explain it to her.

Out of all the people living in Planeptune's basilicom, Kenji was probably the one that spent the less amount of time with the young trio. In fact, he hardly spent more than a few hours with them every few days and it had been a couple of years already since he took a moment to stop and play with them. Probably before they were even able to remember. It was no wonder that at least one of the girls would end up feeling like the young man was rejecting them out of disdain.

"You see...Kenji goes out to train everyday because he wants to get really strong"

"Why?"

"Tha-That's..."

"That's because it's his job..."

"Eh?"

The four turned around after suddenly hearing a new answer coming from behind them and saw Histoire approaching them.

"Histoire?"

"Sorry for suddenly intruding, Nepgear. I was going to check on Plutia and couldn't help but overhear what you were talking about (^-^)"

"It's fine" Calmly replied Nepgear, who felt happy about the arrival of someone that could probably give Compa the answer she needed

"Job?"

"That's rigth. I'm certain they taught you what jobs are in school"

"Jobs are those things you do to get money, right?" Answered IF with confidence

"That's precisely it. In order to get money, which is needed to buy things such as clothes and food, adults need to do jobs" Calmly explained Histoire while hovering down until she was face to face with the little duo "Kenji's job requires him to have a strong body, which is why he dedicates so much time to training"

"Then, he doesn't hate us?"

"Not at all. In fact, I'm certain he cares deeply about the three of you (^-^)"

"Don't care!"

While both Compa and IF were thinking about Histoire's explanation and seemed to be grasping what she was trying to say, Peashy suddenly raised her arms and yelled in protest.

"Peashy?"

"Jobs are lame! I wanna play!"

"Now, now...you can ask Neptune or Plutia to play with you later"

"Don't wanna! I wanna play now!"

Seeing the little girl wouldn't come to terms with Histoire's explanation, Nepgear thought about a way to get her happy again. Or at least a way to calm her down. Fortunately, there was one fail-safe way to do it.

"Ah, I know. How about I make some pudding for you?"

"Eh? Pudding?"

"That's right. If you promise to be good, I'll give you some pudding"

"Yay! Pudding!"

"Somehow, I've got the awful feeling she might grow up to be like Neptune (=_=;)" Muttered the tome to herself while watching Peashy following after Nepgear and sweatdropping

"Histoire, would you like to eat with us?"

"Of course, I'd love to (^v^)"

Histoire's expression changed from worry to a smile after being kindly offered to eat with everyone else. While the five of them shared a pudding together, Kenji was already reaching his new training grounds. A place that was recently built after Plutia's suggestion, better known as the coliseum. Initially, the place was intended to be something similar to a theatre. A place where all sorts of shows, events and competitions could take place at certain specific dates. But halfway through, Plutia had the sudden idea of turning it into a coliseum after Kenji and Neptune told her about the one in the Hyperdimension. Of course, Histoire had her doubts about it at first, but it was rare for the drowsy CPU to make a suggestion and even get so excited about something that had nothing to do with pudding, gaming or napping. Besides, after the "other Plutia" showed up and gave her approval of the idea, there was no going back on it. Or Rather, nobody had the guts to acutally refuse her. Suprisingly enough, people came to love the coliseum. It seemed as though the idea of seeing two people fighting it out to the verge of death appealed to a lot more individuals than the tome imagined. But what made the strongest impact was, without a doubt, the monster fights. Histoire and even some of the CPUs were still struggling to understand how she did it, but Plutia managed to design and build a program capable of bringing monsters into the arena and make them fight. According to what one of the engineers in charge of the project said, it was something similar to holograms capable of establishing physical contact with the world around them combined with an AI designed using the information about the monster's powers and attack patterns that were stored within the basilicom's library files.

"Okay, let's see here" Said Kenji while plressing the options on the touch screen

Since it was property of the nation and used many files acquired from the national records, most of the workers were naturally from the basilicom. Although most of them were around only during certain days and those few that spent their time there regularly were too busy with their jobs and hardly even crossed paths with the young man. Of course, this meant there were some restrictions to the coliseum despite it being a public building. First and foremost, civilians were not allowed to participate in fights. Hunters from the guild and warriors could attend during competitions and tournaments, which were held regularily as a way to give the coliseum popularity. And finally, CPUs were able to enter the coliseum and make use of it in any way they desired without any need for a permit. This quickly caught Kenji's attention, who saw some really good potential in it as a new place for training since the monsters made by the programn could be either much weaker or ridiculously stronger than those found out there in the world. Soon enough, he began using the coliseum as his personal training ground and went there almost every single day that didn't have an event scheluded to happen.

"Hm...Guess this one should do for a warm up"

With his enemies already set up, Kenji pressed the start button on the lower part of the touch screen, causing a mechanical voice to announce the battle that was about to begin over the speaker as he walked to the center of the stage.

"Attention,Attention! Battle starting in thirty seconds..."

The voice began counting down until finally reaching zero, causing five bits to be summoned. The five machines flew towards him at top speed and began shooting lasers, which he then dodged by jumping out of the way. He kept dashing and jumping to every direction he could in order to avoid the constant barrages of blasts being shot at him from all sides for nearly four minutes before going on the offensive. He started by aiming for the bit closest to him and dashed towards it while stepping sideways to avoid it's attacks before finally getting close enough to attack. Kenji quickly used a vertical slash attack and hit the enemy directly, causing it to be thrown sideways and crash against a wall before exploding. With that one taken care of, he turned around and headed for the remaining four. It took some skill and time, but he managed to keep dodging until running between two bits and causing them to shoot and destroy each other. And to finish off the straglers, Kenji used an horizontal moonlight slash after jumping sideways to avoid their last attacks. The small wave of blue energy flew towards them and cut through both, causing them to split in two before exploding.

"Battle complete...Victory!" Said the voice over the speaker

With the warmup battle over, Kenji headed back to the touch screen on the edge of the arena to set up another battle. While going through the options, his mind recalled Peashy.

"(Man, she looked really bummed out...)" He thought to himself while stopping for a moment "(...Can't be helped, I guess...)"

Although Peashy seemed really upset about the lack of attention Kenji gave to her, it was unavoidable. There was no clue as to when Yuube or someone else could make their appearance in the Ultradimension and attack them again. He needed to be strong enough to handle whatever this dimension or the others threw at him, and for that he needed to get as strong as he possibly could. Even if he had to neglect the trio up to a certain degree, it was also for the sake of keeping them safe. Besides, they always had Neptune, Plutia, Nepgear, Histoire and even the other CPUs to keep them company. There was no way for them to feel lonely like that. Those thoughts kept lingering inside his head for a minute or two before he finished setting up the "training" battles he would go through for the following hours. At the end of the day, an exhausted Kenji finally finished his training and headed back. This daily routine lasted a few days until a certain request from Histoire interrupted it.

"Kenji. I'm sorry for being so sudden, but would you mind picking up Peasy, IF and Compa from school today?"

"Why? Ain't that usually Nepgear's job?"

"It is, but Nepgear went to another nation for an errand (u_u)"

"What about Neptune and Plutia?"

"I think they're playing games together right now. I was about to ask them before running into you"

"So I got asked cause you found me first?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"I can ask them to go with you if you wish"

For a moment, Kenji had the odd feeling Histoire ignored his question. Or rather, she probably pretended not to hear it. Either way, he decided to ignore it as well and reject the idea.

"No, I can go by myself"

"Very well...Oh, and before I forget. You do know where the school is, right?"

"...In Planeptune?" Said the young man slowly with a raised eyebrow after a moment of silence

"Well...at least you didn't get it wrong (=_=;)"

Histoire felt glad she asked the young man beforehand. After all, she was aware that he never even saw the school the trio asissted to. It wouldn't be hard to imagine he didn't even know where it was. She then proceeded to give him exact directions of where to go before sending him off. But the young man didn't really have too much of a hard time finding the place, And the large amount of parents and kids gathered outside the school made it an even easier task.

"Hm...Let's see..." He said while looking around at the crowds of children gathered outside the building "Ah, there they are"

The trio was waiting close to the door along with a grown woman with long brown hair and a few other students. He then walked a few feet closer before calling out to them.

"Hey, you three!"

"Ah, it's kenny!" Said Peashy while turning her head to look at him

She couldn't help but be surprised after seeing him there. After all, they had grown used to seeing Nepgear coming to pick them up from school.

"Erm...excuse me? Are you related to these children?"

"Yeah, I'm their...relative" Replied the young man, who had to take a moment to think what to answer

He didn't have the aged look to say he was their father and calling himself their elder brother would surely end up getting the trio confused.

"I see..." She said before looking at Compa this time "Compa, do you know this man?"

"Yes, he's Kenji. He lives with us in the Basilicom"

"Oh, so he's Kenji?"

The teacher, or at least who Kenji assumed was their teacher, raised her head again to look at him again for a moment before making a more relaxed expression. She was probably used to seeing Nepgear just as much as the three kids and having a strange man appear so suddenly instead was a cause for concern.

"What happened to Nepgear?" Asked Compa

"She had to go on an errand. Histoire asked me to pick you up instead" He replied calmly while looking at her "So, ready to go?"

Both IF and Peashy nodded in agreement without hesitation and walked towards him. But when Kenji turned around and was about to walk away, he noticed one of them was missing. And he quickly noticed who after turning his head to look back.

"Compa?"

"What's wrong?" Asked IF while seeming congused

Unlike the other two, Compa seemed hesitant to go. She didn't look scared or reluctant, just hesitant. It was after a moment or two that she let go of her teacher's hand and walked towards Kenji. The four of them left the school and headed back, but the young man still noticed Compa's mind was elsewhere. Although he had no idea what was she thinking about, it couldn't be good if it bothered her so much. But as he tried to answer these questions popping inside his head, Kenji failed to notice how Compa glared at him from time to time while they kept walking through the street.

"Hey, Kenji"

Fortunately, this awkward silence was cut short by IF.

"Yeah?"

"What's your job?"

"My job?"

"Histoire said you're always out training because of your job, but she never told us what you do. And I kind of want to know"

"I see..." Replied the young man while looking at her

The truth of the business was beyond a simple question born out of the blue. Ever since she received the makeshift explanation from the tome, IF had an urge to get a more detailed answer. But even after asking her teacher, she hardly got anything that could satisfy her desire to know. In the end, IF chose to go straight to the source and ask him herself.

"You see, my job is..." Said Kenji calmly before suddenly realizing something and sweat dropping "(wait...What IS my job? Do I even have one?)"

For the young man, what he did wasn't considered as a job. On the opposite, he saw it as a way of getting some quick bucks and a good excuse to fight monsters to his heart's content. For people like him, who constantly took quests and hunted down monsters to make a living, there was a specific term. Mostly known as "adventurer", but Kenji's inclination towards quests was much more focused on hunting quests than gathering or service quests while adventurers were more diverse with the jobs they accepted. Fortunately, recalling this fact gave Kenji the answer he needed. Or at least an answer.

"I'm a hunter..."

"A hunter?"

Although defeating evil male CPUs and toppling secret international organizations wasn't really part of a hunter's daily schelude. It was pretty much the very first thing Kenji could think of, but what he did for a living was indeed something very similar to what a hunter devoted himself to.

"What's a hunter?"

"A hunter is someone who...well...hunts monsters...and other stuff..."

"Hunt monsters...then, you fight them?"

"Yeah, pretty much...But I don't use metal Yoyo's or do super attacks using rock, paper, scissors"

"Oh! That sounds cool!" Said Peashy while imagining Kenji fighting against monsters using flashy moves like the superheroes she saw in TV

"Why?" Asked Compa, who finally broke her silence while looking up at him "Did mister monsters do something bad?"

"Well...Monsters tend to stick around dungeons and caves and never hurt people that keep their distance, but sometimes a group of them comes out and attack humans randomly. When that happens, they call people like me to deal with them"

"But why do you train so much?"

"Because monsters are strong. And unless I'm stronger, I can't win against them"

Kenji's answer was very simple, but it was by far the most convincing and honest one he could give for such a straightforward question. Besides, he was fully sure of of his answer this time. And something so simple should convince them and hopefully give an end to the theme.

"Kenji?"

"What?"

"How do you become a hunter?"

"(The questions never stop, do they?)" Thought the young man while closing his eyes and sweat dropping

Having a strong curiosity was good for children their age. But Kenji felt that for every question he answered, two more popped out of the blue.

"I guess...You just have to go to the guild and start taking on hunting quests. If you do good enough, they'll give you harder quests to do. After that, you become a hunter"

"Just like that?"

"That's how I did it"

Working directly for the guild was one thing, as it required a certain level of studies and to be a citizen of one of the nations despite it being an independent organization due to it's strong pull within the basilicoms, but working by doing quest was a completely different business. Taking quests or giving up on them was someone anyone could do, and If you did enough of them correctly on a regular basis, the guild starts considering you as a valuable asset. At first they give you harder and harder quests. But if you prove yourself, you'll become a prominent figure in their records.

People like Kenji were usually referred to as mercenaries or hunters within the guild due to their strong inclination towards hunting and generally battle-related quests, but he liked the term hunter more than mercenary as he hardly ever fought other humans besides the CPUs and Yuube. Well, at least not with the intent to kill.

"What's the guild?"

"It's a place where lots of people gather to take quests. I think Histoire called it an "international organization" or something like that..."

"Organization!?" Asked IF before suddenly getting in front of Kenji and looking up at him with a glitter in her eyes "Hey! You said "Organization", didn't you!?"

"Eh? Ah...erm...Yeah?"

"Hey, what's it like!? Is it big!? There's lots of siuper secret stuff!? Do lots of guys with long coats and black sunglasess go there!? Does any of them use flames!?"

"(So she's that kind of kid...)" Thought Kenji while looking at the hyped girl in front of him and sweat dropping before making a small smile "(I guess that's why she joined the guild in the Hyperdimension)"

Although it was by accident, the young man had the feeling he just discovered a very interesting trait about IF's personality. And while she kept bombing Kenji with endless questions about secret schemes and demonic users of dark flames, it was actually nice to see the usually serious and no-nonsense part of the trio get so hyped about something.

Meanwhile, Compa looked at him again. Unlike what she feared earlier, he didn't seem distant or hateful from being with them. Quite the opposite, actually. He looked like he was having fun and even smiled just now. And as far as she knew, people couldn't smile unless they were happy. Therefore, being with them made him happy. Just as she finally came to realize this, the four of them reached a street and waited for the red light to change. It merely took a few seconds for it to turn green, but Kenji was unable to move forward as Compa suddenly pulled on his sleeve.

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"You hand" She said while extending hers to him

"Hand?"

"Nepgear says you have to hold hands when crossing a street"

"Ohhh, right. I forgot" He replied before gently grabbing her hand and looking at IF and Peashy "You girls too"

"No need, I can do this" Replied the little flame lover with her arms crossed

"Come on, don't be so stubborn about it"

"I don't like holding hands"

"I'll tell you more about the guys with coats if you do"

"Understood!"

Without hesitation, IF tightly grabbed his free hand with both hands in just a split second. But eventually let one hand go to give it to Peashy. Although it was rather hard for her to grab due to her large, puffy gloves.

"All right, let's go"

While walking forward, Compa focused her attention on Kenji's hand. Unlike Nepgear, Neptune or Plutia, his hands were bigger and had larger fingers. But felt just as warm and his grip was also just as gentle despite their strong appearance. This combination of strength and kindness gave the little girl a feeling of safety, almost as if nothing bad in the world could harm her or make her scared. She kept focusing on that feeling for the rest of the way home, but a warm welcome was the last thing they received.

"Kenji, there you are! I was waiting for you!"

The first thing the group of four saw when entering the basilicom was Histoire. And the way she flew from one side to the other in a painc said she was definitely worreid about something.

"Hi-Histoire? What's wrong?'" Asked the young man while sweat dropping as he saw her flying from one place to the other

"It's the seven sages! They're attacking the other nations! (n)"

"What!?"

"I just received a message from the other CPUs. It seems their nations are being attacked by the seven sages as we speak" Explained the tome before stopping to look at Kenji and getting closer to him "Nepgear is already helping Blanc in Lowee, and I have already sent Neptune and Plutia out to assist in Leanbox. I'd like you to head out as well"

"Okay, where do I go first?"

"Your first destination will be Leanbox. After that, head to Lastation"

"Alright, leave it to me!"

"I'll be counting on you. Please be careful"

The explanations were scarce, but so was time. If the seven sages had finally chosen to come out of hiding, then it was very likely that Yuube was on the loose again as well. And even worse, he might have help this time. With this in mind, Kenji turned around and headed out while leaving the trio in care of Histoire.

"He's gone..." Said IF, who felt annoyed by the fact he didn't keep his word from earlier

Once again, the young man left without the slightest hesitation. But this time, Compa didn't feel worried like before. Her doubts were cleared out earlier.

"Histy. What do we do now?" She asked while turning around and looking at the tome

For a moment, not a single sound came out of Histoire. In fact, she didn't even move a muscle and stood like a statue floating in mid-air.

"Histoire?"

The trio called out her name again, but still received no respone from them. It was after a moment or two that something shocking happened. Histoire's skin, clothes and even her book began to slowly grow paler until becoming fully black and white. And without any warning, she suddenly faded away as if being erased from existence.

"Wha-What's going on!?"

"That worked better than I thought-nya"

Compa, IF and Peashy suddenly turned around and saw Devi walking out of hiding until finally standing in the middle of the doorway.

"Who are you!?" Quickly Snarled IF while taking a step forward

"Me?" Asked the green-haired catgirl while tilting her head slightly to the left "I'm Devi-nya"

"Devi?"

"That's right...And right now, I'll be taking you with me-nya"

*Scene*

On the skies over the ocean, Kenji flew towards Leanbox as fast as he could. Fortunately, the green nation was much closer to Planeptune than one might think, and it hardly took him more or less a few minutes to get there. He quickly headed into town, and found quite a scenery. The streets were a total mess. Not destroyed, but just messy. Broken windows, toppled trash bins and crashed cars. It gave the image some riot or crazy accident instead of an enemy attack. Kenji noticed the trail of destruction lead out of town and followed it right into the forest, eventually descending on a dirt road to have a closer look.

"Okay, it should be somewhere around here" He said while looking around him "But where?"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Eh?"

Kenji turned his head sideways after hearing a strong scream and saw both Neptune and Plutia jumping out of the bushes. Both of them seemingly creeped out about something, and both about to fall towards him.

"Uwaaah!"

"Nepu!"

"What the-!?"

A strong crashing sound echoed through the forest as the duo crashed against the young man, causing all three of them to fall to the floor.

"Owww...what the hell?"

Kenji kept his eyes closed for a moment before opening them. The first thing he saw was plain and pure white, along with quite an interesting design right in the center.

"(...A bear?)"

This unexpected upside down view confused him at first, but he soon came to realize what it was after noticing the hanging skirt above and the pair of legs below said animal.

"(Oh cra-!)" Quickly thought Kenji as he sat back up until suddenly crashing heads with Neptune, who was sitting on top of him "Urgh!"

"Owie!"

Neptune held the top of her head while he held his forehead with both hands and quickly fell down to the floor again.

"Eh?" Said Plutia after she got up on all four and lowered her hips to sit down "Ken-chan?"

The drowsy CPU turned her head to look behind her and noticed he was right behind her. Close enough for his head to nearly end up as her seat if she had placed her rear just an few inches further.

"Hey! What's the big deal, headbutting the protagonist like that!?" Said Neptune while placing both hands on the top of her head "Didn't we go over this in chapter 10!?"

"You're the one that jumped on me first!" Snarled the young man before sitting up and moving one of his hands away to look at her with an irritated expression "Or rather, why are you two jumping on me!?"

The reason for two people jumping out of nowhere and falling on you was definitely something everyone would want to know, especially if you considered the way they screamed right before jumping out. But before either of them could answer, the sound of leaves coming from behind them caught their attention. Neptune and Plutia turned their heads around while Kenji slightly leaned his torso sideways to look at the shivering bush with a raised eyebrow.

"Kyuuu!"

"I-It's there!"

"It?"

The two CPUs quickly got up to their feet and hid behind Kenji who was still sitting on the floor.

"I don't wanna! Just go away!" Said Plutia while holding his shoulder

"Hey, what's wrong now!?" He asked while moving his head to switch between looking at Neptune and Plutia before quickly getting back up on his feet and taking a battle stance

Just a glance was enough to tell they were pale and very scared, or rather, grossed out. But this raised the question, just what was hidding inside that bush? If it was able to reduce the usually fearless Neptune and even the terrifying Plutia to such a state , then it had to be either terribly powerful of inmensely terrifying. Probably even more terrifying than Plutia in her HDD form, and the mere thought of such a thing existing was enough to make Kenji break a cold sweat.

"(Just what the heck is hiding in there!?)"

The bushes kept shivering constantly for a few moments and it kept getting more intense until a small creature walked out in a slow and very anticlimatic way.

"...Eh?"

"Kyu?"

Kenji looked at it with widened eyes and even blinked twice from confusion. The fearsome monster he imagined turned out to be everything but that. It looked like an odd fusion between a fish and a lizard, or maybe a bug, or probably all three. It was about the size of a cat or a puppy, with vanilla skin and a large orange spot covering most of the upper body. It also had three large and red scale-like appendages coming out of it's back along with a red tail and four bug like legs on each side. But the most noticeable feature, without a doubt, was the face. The large and goofy-looking mouth with the tongue constantly hanging was only outdone by the large and googly eyes.

"That's the fearsome thing?" Asked Kenji while straigthening up

"Ewwww...It's so icky! Nep-chan, do something!"

"I don't wanna touch that thing! I feel like I'll puke just by gettinc close to it!" Replied the perky CPU while looking at Plutia behind the young man

Suddenly, Kenji slowly walked towards the fish-like creature and left both Plutia and Neptune standing back. He then crouched in front of it and stared at it for a moment.

"Hmmmm..."

"Kyu?"

"God, this thing is ugly" He said bluntly while sweat dropping

"Ky-Kyu!?"

"Those goofy eyes are kinda funny, though"

"Kyu...!"

Kenji's comment about it's appearance being unsightly and ridiculous didn't please the little creature in the least. In fact, they only seemed to make it sadder. But he hardly was able to notice, as the little fishbug couldn't make another expression due to it's goofy features.

"Hey! Hold it right there!"

"Kyu!?"

Upon hearing the voice behind it, the fishbug snapped out of it's trance and inmediately ran past Kenji and between Plutia and Neptune.

"It ran away..." Said Kenji before getting up and looking forward again

From the same direction the two CPUs had jumped out of, Green Heart apeared. And unfortunately for the young man, she jumped out far too fast and was unable to notice him until the very last second before crashing against him. Once again, he had been pushed down to the ground. And this time a heavier load kept him down.

"Seriously, what was that just now?" Asked the CPU while caressing her head with one eye closed

"Vert?"

Any pain Leanbox's CPU felt faded away the moment she saw Plutia and Neptune. Instead, it was replaced by irritation.

"You two! I thought I told you to hold it down!"

"But it's really gross!"

"And you think this is pleasant for me!? I'm grossed out by these things just as much as both of you!"

"Erm...Vert? I like fanservice just as much as the next guy, but I think you need to move"

"Move? What do you mean by that?"

Green Heart's question was quickly answered, not by Neptune, but by a hand that poked her in the right cheek and pointed downwards twice after catching her attention. It didn't take long for the voluptuous CPU to notice Kenji was right under her, with his head being crushed by her large bust. Of course, she didn't hesitate to inmediately get back up and allow Kenji to breath.

"I-I thought I'd die for a moment there..." He said while turning around and sweat dropping along with taking a few deep breaths

As soft or warm as they may have been, the lack of oxigen was the young man's main focus. Or at least it became the main focus after noticing he couldn't breathe.

"Hey! What exactly do you think you're doing!?"

"Me!? You're the one that crushed me with those meatballs!"

"Mea-Meatballs!?" Snarled Green Heart with widened eyes and a blushed face "For your information, the number of men that wish for a mere look of my breasts is countless! So don't you dare refer to them in such a way!"

"(Today's just not my day, is it?)" Thought the young man while getting up on his feet as he ignored her comments about how much men desired her bust

Little did he know, the number of men out there that would kill for only half of what he just received a moment ago was easily on the thousands. Even he may have enjoyed it if it weren't for the fact he nearly chocked halfway through.

"Anyway...What are you doing here?" Asked Leanbox's CPU after regaining her composture and looking at him

"What do you mean what? I'm here to help you with those things"

"(Help? How did he find out about those creatures?)" She wondered before realizing he just mentioned it "Wait! You saw it!?"

"What? The goofy bugfish thingy? Yeah, it just ran that way"

After Kenji pointed behind him with his thumb, Green Heart moved past him and headed towards that direction at full speed.

"Come on, you three! We have to follow it!"

Plutia and Neptune seemed reluctant to go at first, but ended up following Leanbox's CPU after Kenji ran between them to follow her. During the chase, the young man tried getting an explanation out of her.

"Hey, Vert. What the heck is that thing?"

"I'm not certain. But they suddenly appeared in town and started causing havoc all over the place"

"They? So there's more than one?"

"Yes. I've counted around 16. But chances are there's probably even more of them out there"

Kenji couldn't help but imagine a bunch of fishbugs gathered in one place, all of them with the same or similar goofy-looking faces. This mental image made him unsure of whetever he should get disgusted or laugh.

"I've been chasing them around all day long. But they're far more resilient than they look and always run away before I can finish them off"

"And why are we chasing after this one again?"

"Because following it may lead us to the source"

"Oh...I thought you just wanted to kill it"

"And we will. But only after we found where they're coming from"

"All right then! let's track that little fishbug!"

Finding the creature's nest and exterminating it along with the rest of them. It was a rather simple and straightforward plan, but simple and quick. The type of plan Kenji liked the most. Fortunately, the fishbug wasn't too difficult to track either. It was fast enough to keep running away, but not enough to loose the group. And such an odd-looking monster wasn't very hard to track down either. Eventually, they followed it all the way to the depths of the forest, where they found over a dozen of them gathered around a certain middle-aged man. More commonly known by the CPUs and most of the world as Mister Badd.

"I knew we'd eventually run into one of you" Said Green Heart with a stern tone and expression

Mister Badd turned around after hearing her voice and was quick to snarl back. Oddly enough, he seemed far angrier than shocked.

"You! How dare you show your face to me!?"

"Well...That was not the reaction I expected" Said the young man with slight surprise

"Wh-why do you sound so angry with me?"

Even Leanbox's CPU herself was confused in front of the sudden yelling she received.

"Why wouldn't I be angry!? You made my daughter cry!"

"Eh!?" Replied the four in unison

"Vert made the old man's daughter cry!?"

"What a scandal!"

"You really did that...?" Said Kenji while turning his head to look at her

"Wa-Wait a minute, you three! I never even met this man's daughter before!"

"And you! You're just as bad as her!" Snarled Mister Badd once again while pointing at Kenji this time

His sudden accusation was enough to make the young man turn his head to look at the middle-aged man with widened eyes

"Wait, what!?"

"You made her cry too!"

"What did I do!?"

"You called her ugly right in her face!"

"What!?"

"Ken-chan, that's horrible!"

"That's right, that's right! Calling a girl ugly hurts her maiden heart. That's a fatal flaw in character design, Kenny!" Said Neptune while pointing at him with an irritated expression

"You're a terrible man..."

"I didn't do anything!" Snarled Kenji at the trio before pointing at Green Heart "And he said YOU made her cry too!"

"I-I didn't do it either..." She replied before turning her head to look at Mister Badd again "But with that said, I think you're making a mistake here. None of us have ever even met your daughter before"

"What are you talking about!? She's here right now, and even told me herself!"

The four CPUs then turned looked all around them, but there was no sight of a human girl nearby.

"Where?"

"Are you trying to mock me!?" Snarled the angry middle-aged man before picking up one of the fishbugs and extending it forward "Right HERE!"

"Wait...THAT'S your daughter?" Asked Kenji while pointing at it with one eyebrow raised.

"That's right!"

A good ten seconds of silence went by before Green Heart asked the one thing surely more than one of them was wondering.

"Erm...excuse me, but is your wife human?"

"I'm a happy bachelor with my job!"

"Then where the hell did you find those things?" Asked Kenji before sweat dropping "Or rather, why do you call them your daughters?"

"Things!? Why, you little-!" Snarled Mister Badd while holding back the urge to curse at him "First you attack them, then you call them ugly and now you even call them THINGS!?"

"I can't blame him. Those things are so gross I can't think of them as anything other than that"

"Wha-!?"

"I mean, they're literally so gross that I feel like I'll puke just from looking at them!"

"You...How dare you!" Said Mister Badd with a vein mark popping on his forehead and an expression of pure rage

"Hey, Neptune. I really think you should stop talking..."

"Enough! I'll make you pay for insulting my daughters!"

Angered and fed up with the four CPUs insulting his "daughters", Mister Badd pressed a button on his wristwatch. This caused it to shine brightly enough to momentarily blind everyone. And after the light faded away, he was already strapped onto his power suit and ready for battle.

"CPUs! Prepare yourselves!"

"Oh well, no choice but to fight him now..." Said kenji before transforming.

"We already knew this would happen anyway" Added Green Heart before holding her spear with both hands and aiming it at him.

Both Neptune and Plutia transformed as well before Mister Badd rushed forward and punched Kenji, who blocked it with his sword. The sheer strength of the of the robotic fist managed to push him back a few feet before Green Heart used a spear thrust attack, causing him to jump back and used both arms as a shield. Leanbox's CPU put a considerable amount of strength behind her first attack, but it wasn't able to topple her target.

"Don't go getting overconfident! My power suit is far more powerful than before!"

"Looks the same to me!"

Mister Badd simply answered the young man's claim with a smirk as a pair of rocket launchers popped out of his power suit's shoulders.

"...Okay, that's new..." Said Kenji with widened eyes

Dozens of rockets were shot out towards the CPUs, who had to spread out once again and gave a start to the battle. Altough his power suit's speed and defense parameters were far superior compared to the last time they faced off, the CPUs still held the upper hand in this fight. Or at least they would if it weren't for the interference of the fishbugs. Whenever the barrage of robotic hooks, jabs and rockets ended, Mister Badd counted on the little creatures to cover for him and keep the group from moving in to attack when they saw an opening by jumping right in between and interupt them. They would also try tackling them to give their "father" an opening. And it was working fairly well, considering the little creatures were far more resilient than they looked. Even the most powerful slashes they threw at them didn't kill the little ones, and they were too fast to be caught by heavy attacks such as the Crescent Sapphirus or the 8-bit sword. But even with their amazing resilience, the fishbugs began falling one after the other after receiving constant attacks from the four CPUs. It was after all of her daughters had been defeated that Mister Badd prepared to release his largest missile barrage so far. The whole area was filled with countless explosions as they avoided or sliced the dozens of incoming rockets while dashing forward. Once they got close enough, the CPUs began their unison attack. Kenji used a moonlight slash to blow up one of the rocket launchers on the power suit's shoulders while Vert threw her spear at the other one, impaling and destroying it. And with both rocket launchers destroyed, Mister Badd could only rely on physical attacks. But that hardly worked as an alternative, as Both Purple and Iris Heart moved in to land the final blow before he could even react. The two CPUs landed their most powerful slice, causing an X-shapped attack to impact against the power suit and rendering it inoperable as it fell down to the floor.

"Uwooaaaahhh!" Yelled Mister Badd as fell out of his seat and straight to the ground "Ho-How did I lose again!?"

"Did you really think getting some moster sidekicks and rocekts would make it easier for you?" Asked the young man while pointing with his sword at him

"Now then. We'll be taking you back to Leanbox for some questioning"

"Kyu!"

"Wha-!?"

As Green Heart approached him, the Fishbugs quickly got between Mister Badd and the CPUs.

"Ohhhh!? You would get in the way of danger just to protect me!?" Said the middle-aged man while beaming at them "What good daughters you are! I'm so proud of you!"

"Wa-Wait a minute! Don't get so close!"

In order to keep them away, the little creatures began approaching the CPUs. And this worked better than they probably expected.

"Okay, I get it! I'll let you go, just stay away!"

"Kyu?"

"Eh!?"

Out of the other three, Kenji was the first one to look at her with widened eyes.

"Wait a minute! Why!?"

"I'd rather not let this fight drag out any longer. Besides, I don't want to touch those things again..." Answered Leanbox's CPU while sweat dropping with her eyes closed

Even the most resilient or determined individuals had a breaking point or a limit, and it applied to the CPUs as well. Green Heart was already exhausted from both running all over the nation and from fighting Mister Badd just now. And even if it meant letting him go, she'd gladly agree as long as she got rid of the fishbugs. Of course, Kenji couldn't really agree with the idea as much.

"Hey, you two! Are you okay with this!?" He asked while turning around to look at the remaining CPUs

"If it means the icky monsters leave, then I'm okay with it..."

"Agreed!"

"Why are you agreeing with that-or rather- why did you revert back?!"

"I mean, staying like that for long is tiring..." Replied Neptune while sweat dropping with a frown

"That's right, Ken-chan...I'm really sleepy now..."

"Fine! Then I'll do it myse-!" Said Kenji with an irritation as he turned around "...Eh?"

Mister Badd, and the fishbugs as well, were nowhere to be seen.

"...Where did they go?"

"They left while you turned around to look at those two" Calmly answered Green Heart

"Oh, for the love of-!" He said while clenching his fist before closing his eyes, lowering his head and sighing "Oh, forget it. Let's just go to Lastation already"

"Okay!

"Roger!"

The young man began walking away while both Plutia and Neptune followed him.

"Wait a minute, you three! Just where are you going!?"

"To Lastation, where else?"

"Are you intending on leaving all the cleanup to me!?"

"I'm a swordsman, not a janitor" Replied Kenji while stopping and turning his upper body to look at her

"Sorry, Vert. But we're running short on space for this scene, so we gotta make it snappy!"

"Bye-Bye, Vert!"

"Hey! Wait!"

Without even paying attention to Green Heart's words, the trio quickly left the forest and headed off to Lastation There, they didn't find any riots or destroyed streets like in Leanbox, but a much more different type of destruction.

"Lady Black Heart! Here are the reports of servers that were hacked so far"

"Let me see it..." Said Noire while getting a hold of the list

"Lady Black Heart! We are receiving more complaints about people's accounts getting hacked, and some are even demanding a refund!"

"Tell the workers on the first floor to make a list of games. We'll offer them for free as compensation"

"Yes!"

Now with their orders, both guards left. Leaving Noire to analize all the data she received about the attacks so far.

Unlike Leanbox, Lastation wasn't facing any sort of monster attacks or destruction. Instead, it was suffering a nation-wide series of hacking incidents. It went from indivual civilian accounts to entire national servers, all of them hacked and completely thrown out of balance. But the most irritating fact about this was that the hacker was completely untraceable. And whenever it seemed like they'd find it, the adress would split into countless spots spreading all over the nation.

"Uhhh...why is this happening!?" She said while leaning back on the chair and raising her head with her eyes closed "If I had known this was going to happen, I wouldn't have made everything digital!"

Noire was already hitting her limit. No matter how hard she worked to fix something, the hacker would break it even worse within minutes. And despite having access to all of it, he didn't steal a single shred of personal information. At this point, she felt like the hacker was making a fool out of her or simply wished to make her suffer.

"Erm...Noire?"

"Hm?"

Lastation's CPU lowered her head to look in front of her and saw Nepgear looking at her.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay" She said while rubbing her forearm against her eyes to keep the CPU candidate from seeing she had gotten teary eyed

"I think you should try to rest a little...You've been working non-stop all day long"

"I'll do that after I deal with this"

Nepgear, who arrived a few minutes earlier, could easily notice the exhaustion in her face. But even so, Noire refused to stop working.

"I know! I know! How about an ancient dragon and a sealed calamity?"

"Hmm...how about "ancient calamity"?"

"Or maybe draconic calamity?"

"Oh! That's a good one, Pururun!"

"Eh?"

Both CPU and CPU candidate looked at the doorway and saw Neptune, Plutia and Kenji coming through it while seemingly discussing something important. Or at least important to them.

"Big sister?"

"Ah! It's Nepgear!"

While the two sisters reunited, the young man walked closer to Noire's desk along with Plutia, who smiled at her.

"Hey there, Noire-chan"

"What are you three doing here?"

"Yeah, nice to see you too.." Answered Kenji with sarcasm and a raised eyebrow

Although it was common for Lastation's CPU to sound a bit rude due to her tsundere personality, today she sounded specially cold. And the irritation in her tone said she was not happy at all with getting visits.

"You know, being so agressive won't make you any friends" He said with his arms folded

"Like you're one to talk!"

"Come on, Kenny. It's not lonely heart's fault. It's the writters that made her like that"

"Don't you butt in either! Also, don't call me lonely!" Snarled Lastation's CPU before lowering her head and sighing for a moment "Just what do you people want anyway!?"

"We're here to help you"

"Help me?" She asked with slight surprise before snapping back to her usual self "I don't need your help..."

"Okay then..."

With complete calm, Kenji turned around and headed towards the doorway.

"Eh? Where are you going?"

"To Lowee. Where else?" He said while turning his head to look at her

"Wait! You're leaving just like that!?" Said Noire, who was surprised with how easily Kenji was willing to walk out on her

"Well, you said you didn't need help soooooo..."

"Tha-That's..."

Noire didn't really intend to make them go away. As a matter of fact, receiving a visit from Plutia always made her happy. From Neptune and Kenji, not so much. Nonetheless, it still made her glad they'd take the time to visit her. Unfortunately, the current situation had her very stressed out and she couldn't deal with them right now.

"Erm...Noire? what's this?"

Fortunately for Lastation's CPU, Nepgear created the needed distraction by making both of them look at her.

"Hm? What's what?"

"This..." Answered the CPU candidate while turning away from the bookshelf she had been inspecting just moments earlier and showing Noire her findings

In Nepgear's hands laid an unknonw gadget. It was slightly larger than her hand and, by the looks of it, was made by someone of profesional skill.

"What's that thing?" Asked Kenji while leaning closer to it

"It doesn't look like like any model I've ever seen before, but I think this is a camera"

"A camera?"

"Yeah. And judging by it's size, it's probably a spy camera"

"Oh!? You mean like those used by secret spies in movies!?" Asked Neptune with excitement

"Or those used by that famous criminal gang in a videogame about heists?" Added the young man while placing a hand on his chin

"Hey! Game references are MY thing!"

"Wait...why does Noire-chan have a spy camera on her room?" Asked Plutia with a confused expression

"Maybe Noire is one of those people that likes to film themselves working and then watch it late at night!"

"Se-Seriously...?

The young man then turned his head to look at Lastation's CPU while sweat dropping. He was already aware of the other Noire's taste for cosplaying, but it seemed as though this one was into a whole different kind of hobby. And this one seemed to have some ulterior motives.

"Why would I like to do something so creepy!?"

"You tell me, you're the one filming yourself..."

"I don't film myself!" Snarled the angry CPU at the young man

"I don't think this camera belongs to Noire. The technology used to make it isn't from Lastation"

"Do you think you can find the source?"

"It shouldn't be too difficult" replied the CPU candidate before pulling out a new gadget from under her sailor dress "If you give me a moment, I can try to override the signals it sends and find the receptor"

"Why do you have something like that with you?"

kenji knew very well how impressive Nepgear's technical skill was, but he couldn't shake the doubt out of his mind. After all, the gadget she just pulled out of her clothes didn't seem like something an average girl should have.

"Hm? It's normal for young girls to have one of these, right?"

"Su-sure...if you say so..." Replied the young man while sweat dropping "(That's Neptune's little sister for you. Her idea of normal is competely upside down...)"

For Nepgear, who was a girl obessed with machines and technology in general, carrying around such a device was as normal as wearing shoes. But it still wasn't something one could merely ignore so easily.

"Ah! I've got it!" She said with a cheerful smile "The signal seems to be coming from a factory on the outskirts of Lastation"

"So that's where he is..." Said Lastation's CPU with a stern tone before turning around to look at the group again "All right. Let's get going!"

Now that she knew where to find the one responsible for all of her troubles, Noire didn't want to wait a single second longer. She decided to head there straight away and took everyone else along with her, knowing that five CPUs could give a much harder and brutal beating than one. But little did she know that the one they were trying to chase down was already aware of their intentions.

"Hm...Looks like they found out my little camera. I really should be more wary about that Nepgear girl from now on" Muttered the pink hacker to himself as he looked at them through the still active spy camera "But with that said, though...I still can't believe I'll get to meet Noire!"

While Annonydeath could easily erase all traces of his actions and even have spare time to escape, the chance of meeting Noire in person was far too tempting to let go. It was a given this would definitely blow his secret identity as a member of the seven sages, but he couldn't care less about that at this point. And either way, they already knew the identities of almost all of them except Rei and himself. Letting them know at this point wouldn't make any difference.

It took only a few minutes for them to arrive to the run down factory where the hacker hid in secret. And needless to say, Noire was impatient to find him.

"Not here. Maybe deeper?" She said while searching around

"Ken-chan, now's your turn to say a couple"

"Okay then..." Replied Kenji calmly while raising his head and thinking with his eyes closed "...How about a royal jelly and a Cerberus?"

"Oh, that sounds like a hard one..."

"I know! Jelly dog!" Yelled Neptune as soon as the name popped up inside her mind

"I don't know...it doesn't really sound menacing..." Answered the young man

"But royal Cerberus doesn't sound right either..."

"Erm, Kenji? I don't think it's even possible to mix those two"

"Well, that's true. But jellys ARE technically kind of dog-like. So maybe it counts?"

"I-I guess it makes sense..."

"Don't sweat over the little details, Nepgear. Just enjoy the game"

"Oh, okay then" Replied the CPU candidate to her elder sister with a smile before trying to come up with a name "How about...Jerberus?"

"I like that one..." Said Plutia with a smile

"Yeah, that could work"

"Hey! Stop fooling around and help me find this creep!" Yelled the angry CPU "What are you even doing!?"

"We're playing a game"

"A game?" Asked Noire with a raised eyebrow while looking at Kenji this time.

"Yeah. We name two monsters and try to guess how they'd be called if you fused them together"

"Well, play it later! Focus on searching right now!"

"Oh, come on. Relax a little, will ya? The bosses at the end of dungeons never run away before the fight" Said Neptune whille looking at the irritated CPU of Lastation

"I don't want to risk it!"

"Noire, I don't think you need to worry. The only way out is through here and we didn't see anyone yet"

"Yeah. Besides, I bet he's standing still waiting for us like every event enemy!"

"Stop saying nonsense already! There's no way something like that could happen!"

"Ah, there he is!" Said Plutia while pointing at the end of the path

"Eh?"

Noire turned around and saw her friend was indeed pointing at someone standing calmly a few meters away from them.

"There you are. I've been waiting for you" Said Anonydeath with one hand on his right hip "I'm a bit dissapointed Noire wasn't the one to figure it out though..."

"He really was waiting..." Said Kenji with a surprised expression

"Seriously!?"

Once again, Neptune's meta sense of humor somehow managed to predict the future almost perfectly.

"That's a protagonist's sixth sense for you!" Said Neptune, who felt proud of her luck

"Woahhhh, is that a robot!? Or maybe some sort of cyborg!?"

"Actually, honey, it's more of a robotic suit. Or a power suit, if you're the type that likes to argue about that sort of thing"

"Oh...nevermind then..."

"That's was a fast change of reaction..." Said the young man while looking at Planeptune's CPU candidate

"Nep junior. loses interest really fast when no mech stuff is involved"

"Nevermind that!" Snarled Noire before turning to face Anonydeath "Hey, you! Are you the one that's been messing up with my nation!? If you are, then you better get ready to pay the consequences!"

"I-It's No-Noire...it's the real one! The real Noire! I can't believe my eyes!"

"Wh-What's with this guy all of a sudden? He's really creeping me out..."

Needless to say, the pink hacker's odd and somewhat creepy panting response to Noire's question was more than enough to make her take a step back while looking at him with slight disgust.

"Somehow I get the feeling he's a fan of yours"

"Well, Noire's fanbase is full of weirdos and creeps. It ain't very surprising" Said Neptune with a smile

"Apologize to every single one of my fans! Apologize right now!"

"I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. It won't happen again"

"Ahhhh, I knew it. Seeing you in person is so much better than doing it through a screen! It really makes not runnig away when I could worth it..."

"And you! You still didn't answer my question! Are you the one that's been messing up my nation or not!?"

"Oh my, pardon me, dear..." Said the pink hacker after regaining awareness of his surroundings and a bit of control over his excitement "That's right. I'm the one behind all of the hacking. I'm the magician of the seven sages, Annoyndeath! Oh, but it'd like it if you gave me a cute nickname such as "Anny" or something similar"

"Like I'd ever call you that!" Snarled the CPU while ignoring the flying text of Anonydeath's name "Why!? Why cause me all this trouble!?"

"That's simple...It's because I love you..."

"Eh?"

It took a moment for Noire to process and react to what she just heard.

"Ahhhhh! It's a real confession!" Said Plutia with sparkling eyes.

"Wha-What are you saying all of a sudden!?"

"Why so surprised? It's normal for shy nerds to bully someone a bit when you love them, no? This is that!"

"I think hacking an entire nation's network goes way beyond "a bit" of bulling..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"First a friend and now a lover! This Noire really is on whole other level than our Noire!"

"This creep will never be my lover!"

"That's right...That raven-black hair, those sexy and taut twin pigtails, that mature face shinning with innocence, and that contradictory attitude along with hints of being a hardcore otaku...Hmmmm! You're a straight ball into my strike zone!" Said the pink hacker as he began recalling some of the most memorable things he recorded with his cameras "And the way you work so hard everyday, how the loneliness drives you to the edge of tears but you still hold it back...it's just so mesmerizing!"

"So this Noire is a lonely loner too" Said Neptune with dissapointment

"I'm not lonely!" Snarled Lastation's CPU as she turned her head to look at Neptune and before looking at Anonydeath again "And just how do you know so much about me!?"

"Isn't it obvious? My cameras have been recording you for quite some time now, honey"

"Wait...There's more than one?"

"Of course! Just one mere camera won't give me enough Noire. I have dozens of cameras all over your basilicom! Always recording everything!"

"Eeeeh!?"

"That's right! I have plenty of recordings! For example, I have on camera the moments when you go to sleep teary eyed, when you're working so tireresly from morning to dawn, and even when you go HDD and do poses in front of the mirror with a smirk"

"That's not true! It's not true at all!"

Anonydeath certainly didn't hesitate to speak out about Noire's private hobbies out loud, even if she didn't aprove of the idea. And even if she wanted to deny them, the way she became so nervous would make it very difficult for others to believe her at this point.

"I never thought Noire would do that sort of things" Admitted Nepgear with surprise in both her tone and expression

"Stay away from her, Nepgear. She's a bad example for you"

"Like you're one to talk..." Said the young man while looking at her with his arms crosed for a moment before looking at Anonydeath again "But man...this guy's a hardcore stalker..."

"guy? I think you're making a mistake. I'm not a man"

"Eh? But you've got a man's voice..." Said Plutia

"Don't freet over the details honey. In heart, I'm a pure maiden! The purest of them all!"

"Pure maiden? What's that?"

"Kenji, over here..." Said Nepgear to catch Kenji's attention and make him bend down enough for her to reach his ear and whisper on it "You see, That's..."

Kenji couldn't understand what Anonydeath even meant by "pure maiden". But fortunately for him, Nepgear was willing to lend him a hand. It took a bit of explaining and some thinking, but he managed to at least have a general idea of it.

"Ohhhh... " He said slowly before looking at Nepgear again "So I can still punch him or not?"

"It should be okay...Maybe..."

At this point, not even Nepgear was sure how to answer to that. As she never really thought too much about things like those in the past.

"Stop changing the subject and focus on fighting already!"

"Now, now, Noire. you shouldn't get so frustrated, dear. It'll be bad for your skin..."

"And whose fault do you think that is!?" Snarled Lastation's CPU while turning around to look at Anonydeath and transforming "I've had enough of you. I'll make you pay for what you did to my nation!"

"I really dislike that form. Your hair turns all white..."

"Like I care...You invaded my privacy, and now I'll make sure to make you pay for it in spades!"

"(I kind of like it, to be honest. But i think it lacks something...)" Thought Kenji while putting a hand on his chin

"Hey, Plutia! Go ahead and transform!"

"Eh!?"

Neptune, Nepgear and Kenji's eyes widened like plates after hearing what Black Heart just said. Needles to say, Iris Heart's rampages were nothing short of massive torment for both enemies and allies alike. And to willingly ask for that storm to arrive was borderline insane.

"Eh? can I really transform?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and go all out!"

"Wa-wait a minute! Are you sure that's a good idea!?"

"Don't go getting cold feet now. You're a man!"

"Men can feel fear too, you know?" Replied Kenji to Lastation's CPU while sweat dropping

"Then, I won't hold back" Said Plutia with a cheerful smile "Here I gooooooo!"

Although the idea of Iris Heart's arrival was a terrifying one for others, Plutia was feeling quite happy right now. It was the first time Noire allowed her to freely transform, and she wouldn't waste this chance.

"I see your love for Noire is so shallow..." Said the sadistic CPU as she took a step forward "Rejecting Noire's current form proves you don't really love her, you simply wish to own her. And she's MINE!"

"Is that so?"

"That's right...Noire, Nep-chan, Gear-chan...they're all mine, and I don't like to share what's mine...But you went and tortured my belongings without my permission, so I'll have to teach you a lesson...one that'll never rub off of that tiny brain of yours"

"I can't wait! I do enjoy taking it from time to time!" Said Anonydeath, who hardly seemed affected by Iris Heart's threat

"Oh, really now? Let's see for how long you can keep saying that..."

"Erm... big sister? Shouldn't we transform? I'm feeling a bit too defenseless over here.."

"Yeah, I think we should..." Replied Neptune while sweat dropping

Both Planeptune's CPU and CPU candidate didn't waste any time and decided to transform just for the sake of feeling safer in the face of the crushing tension building up. Of course, Kenji decided to follow their example and transformed as well. It didn't completely erase the sense of danger, but at the very least they didn't feel like they'd die just from being in the scene.

"I do enjoy taking it, but don't think I'm not putting up a fight either, honey. I'll try to resist you...just a little..."

"That's fine by me. It's not fun if they don't struggle!"

Seeing conflict was unavoidable, Anonydeath prepared for battle by summoning multiple of his custom made bits, along with several robotic plates of a similar fashion to the processors wielded by CPUs that floated around him and allowed him to hover a few feet above the ground. It was then that the battle began as the CPUs dashed forward to fight against the bits.

Red lights flashed all over the torn down factory as the small robotic spheres shot lasers their targets without any restriction and with far greater precision and potency than that of average bits. Forcing the group to be on the defensive as they dodged, blocked or parried the focused blasts of energy aimed at them. For nearly two minutes, they were forced to stay on the defensive until the turn of tide finally arrived after Purple Heart parried one of the laser attacks and reflected it rigth towards another bit. This, in turn, gave Purple Sister the chance to charge her gunsword and fire a powerful laser blast that destroyed both the damaged bit and another one lined up behind it. With two enemies less, the CPUs were now starting to gain the edge over the small machines whose firepower got weakened due to their decreasing numbers. It was just a matter of time before the other ones began falling down one after the other as both Kenji and Black Heart sliced them up while Irish Heart straight out tore them to shreds with her powerful whip slashes.

"Oh my. I suppose those little guys weren't good enough for the job..."

"You're wide open!"

With no more bits in the way, Black Heart dashed towards Anonydeath with the intention of slicing him in half. But the pink hacker didn't even flinch as one of the processors hovering behind him quickly got in the way of the attack and succesfully blocked it.

"Wha-!?"

"Seriously, you people are so violent...Not like I mind it, though"

In just a split second, the processor pushed her massive sword away before Anonydeath used a powerful spinning kick and sent Black Heart flying away.

"Argh!"

"Noire!"

Black Heart fell down to the floor but quickly got up. Altough she didn't even have time to snarl back at the pink hacker, as the first thing she saw right after getting back on her feet were almost a dozen of new bits floating behind Anonydeath.

"There more of those things!?"

"I assumed this would happen, so I brought a lot of them with me"

The CPUs had no time to react to this revelation as the new batch of robotic enemies charged forward after Anonydeath snapped his fingers, getting them stuck once again in a similar fight such as the one that ended mere seconds ago. And although destroying this batch wouldn't be harder than the last one, it was easy to tell Anonydeath was merely trying to drag this out. Probably with the intention of tiring the group out and finnishing them off by himself or merely to make his escape easier. Either way, allowing themselves to get caught in this loop was out of the question. And they were awre of it. Instead of merely attacking the bits all at once, Purple Heart, Purple Sister and Kenji focused on them while Iris and Black Heart dealt with Anonydeath. Even though their fighting power split into smaller fragments, the strategy was far more effective than expected. Due to Kenji's constant training against similar enemies in the coliseum, he could handle taking on most of the heat along with Purple Heart while Purple Sister provided them support with her long range attacks and keept them from focusing on the remaining two. Meanwhile on the other side of the battle, Iris and Black Heart attacked Anonydeath with everything they had. But the pink hacker's processors effectively blocked any attacks aimed at him while he retaliated with strong kicks. And even those few times where they managed to attack him directly didn't deliver as much damage as desired due to the resilience of his robotic armor. Nonetelees, just like any armor or shield, they were starting to get worn out from the constant damage. And he could notice it.

"(Hm...looks like I won't be able to play around with my darling Noire for much longer)"

As the pink hacker began to analyze the escape options he had available, the two CPUs moved in one more time to deliver the final attack. Both of them slashed at the cracked processor shielding him, causing it to break into pieces and throwing him off his balance. They then took advantage of this chance to slash at him in unison. This combined impact from both weapons made Anonydeath be sent a few feet away before falling to the ground. And after getting up, he was welcomed by the sword of Lastation's CPU aimed at him with the tip just inches away from his neck.

"This is why I don't like violence...It's so unfitting for someone like me" He said after sighing "Fine, I give up..."

"I'm not taking you to jail...I'm killing you right here!"

"Of course...not before I'm done with you..." Said Iris Heart while stretching her whip

"Oh? How scary..."

"Hey..." Said Kenji to Purple Sister, who was standing next to him "I don't think Noire is joking this time..."

"Well...that man did invade her privacy and mess up her entire nation" Replied the CPU candidate while sweat dropping with a weak smile

Just around the same time that both of them managed to break through Anonydeath's defenses and landed their final attack, the other group had already taken out the last couple of bits. Now, they simply stood and watched both CPUs preparing to do unthinkable things to the pink hacker before killing him as painfully as they could.

"Nepgear, kenny...If those two take things too far, we will stop them..."

"I-I'm not sure if we can do such a thing..." Said Purple Sister with a hesitant tone

"Any last words?"

"Not really. I didn't foresee that I was getting killed today...and It's not like I can stop you at this point"

"Whatever...Might as well be rid of you now!" Said Lastation's CPU while preparing to slice Anonydeath's head clean off

"Oh! But keep in mind that if I die, all the recordings and pictures I have of you will be widespread among the entire continent"

"Wa-wait...what?"

The vicious execution about to take place was abruptly cut off after Black Heart heard the pink hacker's last comment. It seemed as though he had one heck of a last ace up his robotic sleeve after all.

"I forgot to mention this earlier but I set up a programm that, if I were to perish, will activate and send every single picture and video I have of you to each and every single person throughout the entire continent"

"Ehhhh!? Why would you make something like that!? Or rather, are you okay with tossing all of your stuff away like that!?"

"Well, since you're about to kill me, I can't say I'll be having any use for it anymore. Besides, being able to fill the whole world full of my lovely Noire doesn't sound half bad at all!"

"Nepgear, can you do something about that programn?" Asked Purple Heart while turning her head

"My specialty is hardware, so I don't know much about that area"

"So if Noire kills the guy, then the whole world will know about her secrets. And if she tries to arrest him, then he could probably activate the programn willingly" Said Kenji with one hand on his chin

"Therefore, it's either letting him go or letting everyone know everything about her private life" Summarized Purple Heart with her eyes closed

"Huh...Guess the guy did think this one through"

"Yo-You have to be kidding me!"

"Oh my...the inmense humiliation Noire would go through if that happened...It kind of makes me want to kill him even more now..."

Right now, Black Heart was stuck between two choices. She could take revenge on Anonydeath and loose her privacy for the next few hundreds of years and probably forever, or she could let him escape and keep all of her secrets to herself.

"U-uuuugh...Fine, I get it!" Yelled the angry CPU before reverting back to human "Just get out of here already!"

"Thanks sweetie! I'm really glad we could reach an agreement" Replied the pink hacker happily after getting up and turning around

With the approval from Noire, he moved past the two of them and past the trio standing on the back before reaching a safe distance and turning around to look at the CPU one more time.

"Oh, and by the way...That part about spreading all the pictures and videos I have of you was just a little white lie...A bluff, if you prefer"

"Eh?"

"What? Did you really think I'd let anyone see my treasure just like that?" Asked the pink hacker before quickly turning around and leaving "Well, gotta go! Bye!"

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

Noire turned around and even thought about chasing after Anonydeath for a moment, but he was already gone by the time she had given even one step. Not only did he escape after messing up Lastation and invading every inch of her personal life, but also managed to make a fool out of her right in her face.

"Ohhhh damn it!"

Needles to say, she didn't take this trickery very well. As a matter of fact, she remained quite upset about it all the way back, but finally calmed down after reaching Lastation. After all, even if Anonydeath managed to escape, at least he wouldn't be a problem for the time being and the nation would be able to recover for now. And if he ever had the idea of doing something similar ever again, Noire wouldn't hesitate next time.

For the time being, Neptune, Plutia, Kenji and Nepgear all headed back to Planeptune to report back to Histoire. Oddly enough, they met with the other CPUs on the way there along with Noire who also went with them.

"Nep-ge-ar..." Said Vert cheerfully as she leaned closer to the CPU candidate and wrapped her arms around her

"E-Erm...Vert? Could you let go of me, please?"

"But it's been so long! And I really missed my little sister..."

"It's only been three days!" Replied Nepgear in a panic before feeling Vert's hand slipping closer to a more personal spot "Ahhhh! Ple-Please don't touch me in weird places!"

"Hey, Vert! I told ya already, Nep junior is MY lil sister!"

"(That's your main focus?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping with his eyes closed

From the way her voice began breaking and being replaced by moaning, Kenji could imagine Leanbox's CPU was getting a bit too friendly with her. But he didn't dare turn around to watch. While Neptune arged with her about the elder sister title, he turned his head to look at Noire, Plutia and Blanc.

"And what happened with your nation?"

"The castle was attacked by a giant robot called Copypaste while I was out...But he was gone when I returned with Nepgear..."

"Did he escape?"

"No, he went to the mines..."

"Why the mines?"

"Because one of the guards suggested it to him..."

Kenji remained silent for a good ten seconds. That explanation was definitely not something he had expected to hear today.

"That's...odd..." He said while sweat dropping

"I can still remember that guy...he was so loud and annoying" Said Noire with her eyes closed as she recalled her first fight against Copypaste

"He certainly was..." Said Blanc while making the same expression "But he didn't really act like someone evil either..."

"Blanc is right"

The trio then turned their heads and saw Nepgear walking closer to them. Her hair and clothes were a bit messy, but she seemed fine nonetheless. Although she took a moment to tidy both of them up before speaking again.

"He didn't really feel like a bad person...He was actually very cheerful and light-hearted all the time. Even the miners were sad after we destroyed him..." She explained while closing her eyes as her expression seemed to sadden slightly "It kind of felt like we were the bad guys instead..."

"That...doesn't really sound like the one I met..." Said Noire while sweat dropping with a confused expression

"By the way, why are you here?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at Lastation's CPU this time

"What? You don't want me here?" Asked the CPU while staring at him with a stern and slightly angry expression

"No, that's not what I meant..." He replied while sweat dropping "I was just curious...why go to Planeptune with us when your nation's still a mess?"

"Oh..."

For one part, Noire didn't seem angry anymore, but she didn't seem happy either.

"For one part, I already took care of all the paperwork before we left. And fixing all the hacking is the job of the IT experts and engineers..."

"I bet you came with us because you didn't want to go back to your everyday loneliness" Said Neptune, who was now walking next to Kenji, with a smile while leaning forward to look at her

"Would you drop that off already!? I'm not lonely!" Snarled Lastation's CPU "Besides...I don't really want to be there right now...for various reasons..."

Looking at the way she paled and seemed sickly all of a sudden while looking away, Kenji imagined she was probably thinking about the many cameras that were still hidden all over her home. And felt like he understood what she meant. No sane person would wan to stay in a place where they knew an obsessive stalker was watching and recording them 24/7 through dozens of spy cameras in every room, probably even the bathroom. And that was a very creepy thing to imagine

"Hey, hey...If Noire-chan is here because she's lonely..."

"I already said I'm not lonely, Plutia!"

"...then why are Blanc and Vert here?"

"Now that you mention it, I didn't think about that until now" Said Kenji while placing one hand on his chin and raising an eyebrow

"So you were more focused on doubting me than them?"

"Like I said, that's not what I meant..." He replied while sweat dropping

"The palace will be a mess for the rest of the day, so I thought it might be a good time to visit Plutia..."

"In my case, I merely wanted to spend time with Nepgear!" Said Vert while wrapping her arms around Nepgear once again

"Ah! Ve-Vert! Please don't start doing this again!"

"Besides...there's something I'd like to ask Histoire about..."

"To Histoire?"

At that moment, both Kenji and Nepgear, who were closest to her, noticed something odd. Vert's last comment sounded more stern than before. It somehow gave off the feeling that something was worrying her. And they, along with the entire group, understood if shortly after arriving.

"We're back!" Said Neptune with the same loud tone she always used everyday

"Heeeey! Histy!"

Despite both CPUs announcing their return, there was no response at all. Not even from the children. Even after standing in the entrance for a moment or two, they still didn't receive any sort of response. And that was odd to say the least.

"Eh?"

"Histy?"

Usually, they would always be received either by Histoire, Peashy's powerful headbut to the gut, or both. But this time, there was only complete silence. It was as if the basilicom was empty. And that thought became a reality after the group entered and saw there was no one around, not even in the main room where they spent most of their time.

"Where is everybody?" Asked Nepgear while looking around

"Beats me...I left the trio here before rushing out to Leanbox..."

"About that, Kenji...there's something I've been meaning to ask you"

"Me?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at her

"How exactly did you find out about what was happening in Leanbox?"

"How? Histoire told me..."

"Histy told us to go too..." Said Plutia to back him up

"That's odd..." She said while placing one finger on her chin and making a thoughtful expression "As far as I know, no one from Leanbox's basilicom spread the news about those creatures running around nor asked Planeptune for help"

"Neither did I" Mentioned Noire

"Me neither..."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that Histoire somehow knew about what was happening in the other nations when none of us or our basilicoms made any contact with her" Explained Vert while looking at him "Doesn't that strike you as odd?"

"I'm sure there's a reason for it..."

That small phrase was by far the most the young man could say. It wasn't hard to figure out what Vert was insinuating, but there was no way he could believe Histoire would ally herself with the seven sages. She cared about Planeptune and its people far too much to do such a thing.

"That's right, that's right! Histy is one of the good guys!"

"I'm not necessarily saying she betrayed us. It's merely one option"

"There's also the chance that the seven sages themselves leaked the information to her while pretending to be from the other basilicoms" Said Nepgear in an attempt to justify Histoire's innocence

"Certainly, that's posible too..."

"Either way, we won't know until we find out what happened here" Said Noire while looking at the CPU candidate

At that moment, everyone went silent. Just like Noire said, they'd never get the answers without Histoire. And this made everyone wonder where she was or how to even find her in the first place. But the collective thinking process was quickly interrupted by a plastic sound coming from the same room they were in.

"Wha-What was that!?"

After looking at their surroundings, the group noticed the trash bin was shaking around and bouncing as if it had been filled with bouncing beams. It kept doing so until finally falling down and spilling its contents. And among the candy wraps and empty pudding cups, there was a familiar looking tome bouncing from one side to the other.

"That's...!"

Nepgear didn't hesitate to pick up the book and remove the tape that kept it shut, allowing the tome to open and be free from the crushing pressure of the pages.

"Uwahhh! Finally...I thought I'd suffocate in there...! (x_x;)" Said Histoire while taking deep breaths

"Histy!"

"Histy, are you okay!?" Asked Plutia with a concerned expression

"Yeah...I'm fine..." She replied more calmly this time before going into a panic again "But more importantly, the children!"

"Hey, Histoire! What happened!?" Asked Kenji while getting closer to her "Where's Peashy and the others!?"

"They've been kidnapped!"

*Scene*

Upon hearing the news of the kidnapping from the tome, who roughly explained that her assailants entered by force and tossed her away into the trash, the CPUs headed off with full speed towards the valley that connected Planeptune to Lastation. According to what little she could hear from the criminals behind it, that was where they were going for their escape.

"Uwaaaaah!"

"Urgh...why did this happen to me-chu?"

Meanwhile, in that same valley, Warechu was doing his best to escape with Compa after splitting up from Arfoire and Rei. Unfortunately for the mouse, things weren't playing out the way he expected them to.

"I want to go home! I don't like being here!" Said Compa between sobs

Out of all three, the mouse was forced to take the young Compa along with him. And needless to say, she was scared to the point of crying non-stop.

"Come on, stop crying already-chu"

"But I want to go home!"

"You shouldn't feel so sad. After all, there's a really cute and famous mascot here!"

"Cute?"

"That's right! You're looking at Warechu, the world's third most popular mouse in the world and the cutest one-chu!"

"This mouse isn't cute at all!"

"What!? How can you say that-chu!?" Asked the shocked mouse before closing his eyes and lowering his head while sweat dropping "Kids these days just don't know what's good anymore, do they-chu?"

Warechu then opened his eyes and looked at Compa. She was crying again while covering her teary eyes with both hands. And Seeing her like that didn't sit well with him at all.

"Hm...I'm not sure why, but looking at this brat cry is making me feel a pain in the chest area-chu..."

Although he was never one to care about children or other people in general, the scene in front of him somehow made him feel bad about kidnapping her. This sort of feeling was completely new to him, and not only it confused him, but also made him hesitant about what he was doing right now. So much that it drove him to do something he never believed he'd do. A good deed.

"Well...There's three of them, so letting one slip away wouldn't hurt-chu..." He muttered to himself before turning around and looking at her again "Hey, you can stop crying now. I'll take you back to Planeptune-chu"

"Eh? Really?"

"Yeah, really-chu"

Not only she stopped crying, but her frown changed to a smile the moment she heard Warechu would take her back home.

"Thank you, Mister mouse!"

Seeing that innocent and kind smile, not only did the mouse's pain subside along with being replaced by an unexpected warmth, but he suddenly felt his heart skipping a beat as well.

"What an angelical smile! Could this be what they call true love-chu!?"

"Compa!"

"Chu?"

The surging love didn't last long, though. As the mouse noticed the group of CPUs approaching them after turning around. Compa, on the other hand, was very happy to see them.

"Nep-Nep! Everyone!"

"Compa! Are you okay!?" Asked Nepgear while approaching her

"Yes!"

"Okay...time for this mouse to turn tail-chu" Muttered Warechu while turning around

Since Compa was now reunited with the CPUs, who would take her back home, there was no need for him to do it himself. Now it was time for him to make his escape, or at least that's what the mouse attempted to do.

"And where do you think you're going!?" Said Kenji while dashing towards Warechu and grabbing him by the tail to lift him into the air

"Uwaaah! Let me go! Let me go-chu!"

"Good. Just hold him like that and I'll handle the beating..." Said Blanc while holding her hammer with both hands

"Ch-Chu!?"

"Try not to kill him, Blanc. We still need to know where to find the others" Said Noire while unsheating her sword

"Wait, everyone! Mister mouse isn't a bad guy!"

Just before anyone had any chance to give Warechu the beating of his life, Compa approached Kenji and stoped them at the last moment.

"Huh?"

"He was going to take me back home"

"Oh, really now?" Said Kenji while turning his head to look at Warechu with a doubtful expression similar to the one everyone else had on their faces as well

"Tha-That's right! I was just going to do that! I swear it on my pride as a mascot-chu!"

A few seconds of silence went by before Kenji looked at the CPUs and spoke again.

"What do you girls think?"

"Well. If Compa says he wasn't doing something bad, then I guess we can let him go" Said Nepgear

"No point in wasting time with him if he won't fight..."

"I agree...I want to find Peashy-chan and Iffy-chan..."

"Okay, then..." Said Kenji while before turning his head to look at Warechu again "Good for you, little mouse. We'll let you go"

"Really!? Then-"

"AFTER you tell us where to find Peashy and IF"

"Forget it! This mouse has his criminal pride-chu!" Replied the mouse while crossing his arms and closing his eyes

"Please, Mister mouse!"

"They went over there, just follow the road and you'll find them soon..."

Everyone simply looked at Warechu and sweat dropped. Just a few words from Compa were enough to make his loyalty almost fade away within seconds.

"That was a fast change of heart..." Said Blanc while sweat dropping

"And he even forgot to say his usual "chu" at the end" Added Nepgear while making a weak smile

"E-Either way, just put me down already-chu!"

Kenji stared at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment or two before finally letting go of his tail, allowing the mouse to run away at full speed while the CPUs focused on the task of chasing after the remaining kidnappers.

"Come on, you brat! Stop squirming!"

"No! Let me go!"

Unlike Compa, IF didn't hesitate to struggle against her captor despite the gap in power and size. This irritatingly constant resistance made the witch want to toss her down to the bottom of the ravine and be done with it, but that would turn the entire mission into a failure.

"knock it off already!" Said Arfoire with an angered expression before lowering her head with both eyes closed "Damn it...why do I have to do something like this?"

Kidnapping children wasn't as hard to do as annoying, but it was indeed a degrading task for her. The usually arrogant and prideful witch having to go around snatching children from their homes like some low-life trying to make a living through ransoms. This was an extremely low tactic, even for her already rotten standards.

"IF!"

"Oh, what now!?"

True to the mouse's word, the group managed to catch up to the witch rather fast. And this only meant trouble for her.

"Tch...now the CPUs show up?"

"Let the girl go now!" Said Noire with a demanding tone

"Oh? And why should I?"

"Because it's five against one...You don't stand a chance"

"Hah! You probably think you've won with your numbers. But as we speak, the other kid is getting even further away from here"

"You mean this one?" Asked Kenji while pointing at Compa, who was holding hands with Nepgear

"What!? How!?"

"Your little companion gave her to us. And even told us where to find you..." Explained Blanc

"It didn't take too much effort to convince him either" Added Kenji

"Why, that cowardly rat! I'm gonna rip his tail off when I return!"

Arfoire put her free hand on her face as if to contain the desire to yell at the top of her lungs for a moment before removing it and looking at them again.

"But you know, I never thought the seven sages would stoop so lowly as to kidnap children..."

"Certainly, there's not a single shred of pride in this" Replied the witch to Noire with her eyes closed before looking at them one more time "But even so, don't think I'm falling down so easily!"

Not wishing to share any more needless words, Arfoire let go of IF's arm and transformed into her bunny goddess form.

"No more talk I guess" Said Noire before transforming

The other CPUs followed her example and transformed as well. All with their weapons drawn and ready for battle.

"Compa, hurry up and hide. Make sure not to come out, no matter what"

"Yes"

Compa did as Purple Heart told her and turned around before running to hide behind a rock. But before anyone could even make the first move, the sound of rock breaking followed by the little girl's scream. When turning their heads around, everyone saw her being lifted into the air by a golem that grabbed her by the leg with it's massive hand. The golem was unlike any type of golem seen before by the CPUs. It was purely made out of rock instead of various precious rocks and was much taller than a normal human. It had massive arms and legs along with a large emerald on the center of the torso.

"Nep-Nep! Gear-Gear!"

"Compa!"

Both Purple Heart and Purple Sister didn't hesitate to turn around and dash towards the golem with their weapons ready. But despite slashing at him with all of their might, the monster didn't let go of poor Compa. It merely turned it's head to look at both CPUs and sent them flying away by hitting them with its massive arm. They then landed a few feet away from it, barely avoiding grave injury thanks to blocking the attack with their weapons at the last second.

"Wha-What a though body!" Said Purple Heart with widened eyes

"The only thing we could do is leave cut marks in it!"

"Please, let me go! It hurts!" Cried Compa with teary eyes, who was starting to feel the pain of the large fingers clenching tightly against her small leg

"Compa!"

"Like I'll let you!"

Kenji was about to turn around and head towards the golem, but Arfoire stopped him by dashing towards him and attacking. This forced the young man to block and enter a struggle. As he tried to force her away, the sounds of rocks breakin echoed all around the battlefield. And within seconds, half a dozen more golems like the first one popped out all around them. All emerging from the rocky surfaces such as the walls of rock and the ground.

"Hey! The heck is going on in here!?" Said White Heart while looking around and grabbing her weapon with both hands

"They look like golems...but I've never seen this type before" Mentioned Green Heart while focusing on one emerging out of the wall.

"Tch...so that cat brat is getting involved?" Muttered the bunny goddess to herself while eyeing one golem "Oh well, it does work on my favor"

"Get out of my way!"

Using all of his strength, Kenji managed to break free of the struggle. But Arfoire didn't allow him to escape by throwing a barrage of attacks at him and forcing him to focus on her. Meanwhile, the other CPUs had their hands full dealing with the golems approaching them from all sides.

"What's with these things!? They don't flinch at all!" Said Black Heart after looking at one Golem she just attacked directly with all of her might wobble slightly.

The idea of breaking a stone didn't seem difficult to do, but this was a very different type of stone. Somehow, it was much harder than regular rocks and it hardly cared about the few nicks and cuts it received during battle. This extreme resilience to damage and lack of fear to it made them specially difficult to take down. But it didn't make them invincible either.

"Compa, cover your eyes!" Said Nepgear as she aimed at the golem holding her captive

"O-Okay!"

The CPU candidate didn't want to use this measure as she feared Compa may get hurt due to it, but the stone monstrosity wouldn't budge even after both Planeptune sisters constantly attacked it from all sides. She decided to attack it directly with a focused laser blast. It was a little risky, but there was not much else they could do right now.

"Here I go!"

After aiming carefully at the center of the body, Nepgear focused as hard as she could within the short amount of time she had and fired. The pink laser flew all the way and hit the golem right in the toso, causing the emerald embedded to it to shatter into fragments that dissipated into the pink light. Followed by this, the blast pierced right through the monster, leaving a clean hole in it before dispersing.

"I-It worked?" Muttered Purple sister, surprised that it actually worked

The rocky monstrosity stood still for a moment or two before it began crumbling down to pieces. This caused it to lose grip on Compa and let her fall.

"Kyahh!"

"Compa!"

Purple Heart quickly dashed forward at full speed and caught the little girl right before she hit the ground.

"Are you okay?"

"Nep-nep! That was scary!"

While Compa hugged the CPUs and sobbed, she looked at her and smiled. Even if scared to the point of crying, at the very least she was unharmed. But this feeling of relief didn't last long, as their ears caught the sound of breaking stone once again. When turning her head around, she saw a brand new golem emerging from the ground. Almost as if to replace the one that got destroyed just moments ago.

"Another one!?"

Along with that one, a new batch of golems emerged as well and approached them.

"Compa, go hide somewhere away from here" Said Purple Heart while putting her down "Make sure to stay out of sight"

"Okay!"

Although still scared, the young girl did as she was told and ran to a safe spot. This time, Purple Heart kept her gaze focused on her until she saw her hidding behind a rock. Hopefully, she would be out of harm's way now. And the way the golems focused on her rather than on the little girl gave Planeptune's CPU the feeling that her safety wouldn't be a concern for now.

"Big sister, I think I get it!"

"What?"

"It's those emeralds! They're what's giving these monsters the power to form their bodies!"

"The emeralds..." Muttered Purple Heart while turning around again and looking at one of the golems

Certainly, those emeralds were a very outstanding detail compared to the rest of the body. And there was no loss in trying either way. With this in mind, Planeptune's CPU dashed towards the closest golem and slashed at him. The large sword cut right through the surface of the emerald and caused it to crack before shattering into pieces. Within seconds, the golem stopped and fell down to pieces just like the one before it.

"It worked!"

"So that's how you take them down..." Said Purple Sister before turning around to look at the other CPUs "Everyone! Attack the green crystall in their chests! That's their weakness!"

"The crystal?" Asked Black Heart before looking at one of the golems and noticing the emerald "There?"

Curious to see if it would work, Lastation's CPU followed the CPU candidate's advice and slashed at the little emerald. The result was the same as earlier.

"Hey, it did work!"

"I feel that's a terribly flawed design..." Mentioned Green Heart while sweat dropping before it became a smirk "But if we're talking about precise strikes..."

In a split second, Leanbox's CPU held her spear with one hand and launched a barrage of thrust attacks againts three golems. The weapon's tip managed to pierce all three emeralds in one try, reducing the number of enemies to almost a half.

"Then that would be my specialty"

"Tch...damn show-off" Said White Heart after clicking her tongue

As the golems fell down one after the other, new ones emerged almost instantly. But with the knowledge of how to defeat them, the odds were leaning to their side. Once after the other, the rocky creatures kept falling down one after the other and more kept emerging at an almost identical rate. Even after what felt like minutes, they still didn't stop appearing. And their numbers only kept increasing while the CPU's stamina was beginning to drain.

"Just how many of these things are there!? I feel like I killed a hundred already!"

"The faster we take them down, the faster they're replaced by new ones..." Said Green Heart while looking at them emerging from the ground "This constant spawn rate isn't normal...There must be some sort of source nearby!"

"Yeah, but where!?"

While the CPUs tried to figure out the origin of the seemingly endless rocky creatures. Kenji was still stuck dealing with Arfoire.

"(Damn it! There's no end to this!)"

Although the golems were mostly focused on the other CPUs, the bunny goddess made sure to keep Kenji at bay. Probably thinking that, by keeping him under a leash long enough, the golems would eliminate the CPUs and eventually swarm him. Unfortunately, the young man couldn't rely on his Crescent Sapphirus due to IF being too close to the battlefield. The shocwave from the energy slash or even a flying rock hitting her in the head could hurt her badly, and taking the fight to the sky wasn't a good idea either. If he lost sight of her, a golem could easily grab her like it happened to Compa earlier.

"Mwahahahahahaha! It seems like you and your dumb friends will finally meet their demise!"

"(Even in that form, she keps laughing like that?)" Wondered the young man while sweat droppging

He didn't want to admit it, but Arfoire had a point. Unless they stopped the golems from respawning, this would only end with them being overwhelmed and eventually wiped out.

"(There has to way to kick these things out of the picture...but how!?)"

While trying to figure out how to get out of this pickle, the sound of a bell reached his ears.

"(Huh...?)"

Amongst the raging battlefield, among the sounds of wapons clashing against rock and of monsters fighting against the CPUs, the sound of a bell echoed through the air like a mermaid's song going through a storm in the middle of the ocean. the others seemed too focused on the battle to notice it, but Kenji could hear it quite clearly. It was an oddly familiar sound, and it reminded him of something he had heard before.

"(It's the same as that time in Leanbox...)" He thought while looking in the direction where he felt the sound was coming from "(Over there?)"

He wasn't sure why, but his gut told him that chasing after that sound was the only way out of this ordeal. And his gut had yet to fail him even once.

"Where are you looking!?" Yelled Arfoire as she charged towards him and slashed her weapon at him

It was as clear as day that she was trying to force him into another struggle to keep him in place, but the young man was already prepared for it. He pretended to block, but parried the twinblade at the last moment and caused her to loose balance. This was followed by a roundhouse kick that hit her in the back and almost caused her to fall down.

"(Now!)"

With the little time he had, Kenji turned around and jumped to the top of the rock wall. But the bunny goddess didn't waste a second either. She quickly turned around and flew after him before being stopped by something that yanked on her leg. When lowering her head to look at it, she saw a whip was entangled on her.

"What!?"

"No running away now..." Said Iris Heart with a smirk

"How dare you! Let go of me!"

"Sorry, keep an eye on IF for me!" Said the young man before looking forward again and heading off

"Just leave it to me..." She replied with a smile

"Hey! Don't you dare run from me!"

"You know...these things are really boring. I like how hard they are, but they don't feel pain at all nor scream...and it's not fun like that" She said before yanking on the whip even harder and making a grin more fitting to a villain than to a goddess "So Ill have my fun with YOU instead!"

While Iris Heart took care of handling Arfoire, Kenji ran through the terrain in search of the sound. Part of his mind still held some worry towards IF and Compa, but quickly brushed it off. Compa was hidding at a safe distance while both Purple Heart and Purple sister kept the golems away from her. Surely Iris Heart would do the same for IF, or at least he hoped she would instead of getting too distracted torturing Arfoire. One way or the other, he had to focus on his own task right now.

After chasing the bell noise for a considerable distance, he slowly heard it becoming clearer and louder. This sensation got stonger and stronger until the sound stopped as suddenly as it began.

"(It should be somewhere nearby)" He thought while looking around

"Are you looking for something-nya?"

The young voice caught the young man's attention and made him turn around, notcing there was a cat-eared little girl with green hair and a dress sitting on top of a rock. She had a booklet in one hand and a probably a pen in the other, considering she seemed to be drawing something in it.

"(Whe-Where did she come from!?)"

Not only did she appear out of nowhere, but she also did it without making a sound. Kenji only managed to notice her right after she spoke.

"Hey, are you deaf-nya?"

"Eh?"

"I asked you if you were looking for something-nya"

"(Nya?)" Thought the young man before speaking "Ye-Yeah...a ringing bell..."

"You mean, one like this-nya?" Asked Devi before stopping her drawing and flickering the cat bell on her choker, causing it to ring

At that moment, the young man's eyes widened. It wasn't just a sound like that one, it was the exact same sound.

"You...who are you?"

"You forgot already-nya?" She asked with a raised eyebrow "Well, it's been five years since that fight...And you were beat up pretty badly..."

"Five years..."

At first he was confused, but it was after staring at the young girl for a few moments that the memory played back inside his head. A memory from his fight against Yuube. It was blurry, but he could recall someone sitting atop the winged lizard that took the nearly unconscious CPU of the beat away from the battlefield. That someone was small, probably around the same eight as Blanc if not smaller. She also had a black dress, long green hair, and a pair of cat ears. He later remembered Neptune telling him that Yuube had an accomplice that fitted the description perfectly.

"You're...!"

"That's right-nya"

"Koneko!"

"Devi! I'm Devi-nya!" Snarled the green-haired cat girl while both her tail and ears pointed upwards and before calming down "Seriously...Did that idiot forget my name so easily-nya?"

"Well, Neptune tends to remember nicknames better than names" Replied the young man while sweat dropping

In her explanation, Neptune didn't mention the name Devi even once and always referred to the catgirl mostly as "Koneko". He had an odd feeling that Koneko sounded a bit too much like one of her odd nicknames, and now he knew why. Most likely she forgot Devi's name and Koneko was the one that remained in her head, making the perky CPU think Koneko was her real name.

"But nevermind that...Are you the one behind those monsters?"

"That's right. I made them-nya"

"That's all I needed to know..." He said while taking an assault stance

Kenji was about to dash towards Devi, until he felt the ground below his feet shaking. Sensing something big was coming, he flew up into the sky and dodged a massive hand capable of grabbing his entire body by inches. As he stopped in mid-air and looked down, the young man saw a golem emerging from the ground. But unlike the other ones so far, this one was massive. Much larger than any ancient dragon he had seen so far. It had a proper head with an emerald in the center, making it look like it was a cyclops and there were other emeralds spread through it's limbs as well.

"What? Did you think I'd meet you one on one like that idiot did-nya?"

"Why, you little coward!"

"Say whatever you want. I'm simply fighting in my own way-nya" Replied the green-haired catgirl while looking at him "I'll let you in on a little secret, though. All the other golems come from this one. So if you kill it, the others will die too-nya"

When hearing Devi's words, the young man focused on the golem instead. If killing it could get rid of all the others, then defeating Arfoire would be a cinch for the CPUs. Of course, there was the chance that the catgirl could be lying. But there was no time to hesitate right now, and whetever it worked or not, he had to kill the monster if he wished to face Devi anyway. With the decision already made, the young man decided to focus mainly on the giant golem.

Despite it's large size and massive weight, it was able to move at a decent speed. But it was still slower than its smaller counterparts. This made it easy to dodge the boulder-sized hands. Kenji had to remain in the air, as the creature could make the ground shake just by taking a step forward. And its endurance was far beyond anything he had ever seen. His normal attacks didn't do anything nor the moonlight slash have any effect against it, and the Crescent Sapphirus could only stagger it.

"This thing's a walking mountain!" Said Kenji to himself after nearly getting caught by one of its attacks

Because of the wide range of his attacks and its constant mobility, the young man had a difficult time reaching the small emeralds. But it was only a matter of time before he found the chance to destroy one. When the golem threw a punch with its left arm, Kenji dodged it and dashed forward until reaching the emerald engraved in what he believed was the elbow. Using the speed and momentum he currently had as a boost, he spun around like a twister and slashed at the hard rock. The tip of the sword managed to pierce through the emerald and tore it to bits. Instead of falling appart, the golem's arm merely went limp and hanged from the shoulder like like a fish from a hook.

Even if he retained it, the arm was now nothing but dead weight. With the number of attacks directed at him now reduced by half, Kenji was able to swiftly move around the golem with more freedom. One after one, he found the location of the emeralds on each limb. First he started by the legs, making it fall down on its knees. Afterwards, he went for the remaining arm and finally hit the last one located in the face by stabbing it with a two-handed thrust attack. After all the emeralds were destroyed, the giant monstrosity fell down to the ground.

"Your turn now!" Said The young man while pointing the sword at Devi

"I guess there's no choice-nya" She said with her eyes closed before opening and revealing two white power buttons "I'll take you on, boy..."

In a split second, a gust of wind blew around the catgirl. This caused her hair and dress to waver along with making the pages of her booklet deatch one after the other and being flying around her as if she was the center of a tornado. At the center of this whirlwind, a bright lighte shone. This blinding light lasted for a moment or two before finally dissipating along with the wind suddenly dying out. And fromt he whirlwind of pages emerged a complelety new person.

The small and child-like individual was gone. In it's place, a mature and voluptuous body appeared. The hair retained it's spiky and messy appearance, but took a darker green tone that became brighter around the edges along with the ears and tail growing slightly larger. Although the choker and cat bell remained, the dress was replaced by a black bodysuit opened at the center, revealing most of her stomach and the underside of her breasts in a similar fashion to the Ultradimension's Vert attire. She also had a short double layered white cape that reached a little below her collarbone. A pair of long fingerless gloves that reached up to half of the upper arm with long and sharp cat-like claws at the end of each finger. The gloves were covered by a piece of white cloth tied to the arm by a dark green band on the same spot where the gloves ended, leaving a slight part of them popping out the top and the rest reaching all the way down to the wrist along with growning wider and loose at the end. She had a long skirt attached to an underlying green belt by matching buttons that reached down to her calves and split around the knees in the back and was also split in the front, leaving a knee-long piece of cloth to cover the center along with black tight-high stockings and dark green boots with very small heels that opened up loosely around the ankles.

The pen and booklet she had in hand were now replaced by a long staff-spear shapped somewhat like a massive pen. It was mostly black in color with some dark green circuit patterns similar to those of her bodysuit and a large green stone similar to a CPU memory on the top along with a sharp dark green pen tip made out of the same material on the opposite end. She also had a row of nine to ten large blank paper pages floating behind her.

"Now then...let's get this over with, shall we?" Said the Voluptuous CPU in a much more mature voice than before while placing one hand on her left hip

From seeing both Neptune and Plutia, Kenji already learned just how extreme the HDD transformation could be. But this one was really shocking to say the least. The little catgirl, smaller in both size and height than even Blanc, just transformed into a voluptuous woman that could win even against Green Heart. Even her tone and way of speaking sounded completely different from before.

"(Blanc would flip out if she saw this...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

Although she never said it, one of the things that annoyed Lowee's CPU the most was how Neptune could become a curvy and sexy woman in her HDD form while she remained almost the same. If she were to see the transformation that took place just now, she'd definitely enter a state of rage like none other before.

The young man's thoughts were abruptly cut off by an incoming sheet of paper flying at him, which he barely managed to dodge by inches at the cost of letting it cut a few hairs.

"Whoa!"

"It seems I missed..." Said Devi while the sheet of paper returned to her

"(A second later and it could've sliced my throat open!)" Thought Kenji while looking at her and taking an assault stance

"Let's try that again, shall we?"

With a mere movement of her staff, all the sheets floating behind her flew up into the sky and glided at a speed equal to that of a jet towards Kenji. Within seconds, they had him surrounded and attacking from all sides. Despite being only sheets, the extreme speed of their movement caused them to be as deadly as sharpened blades. Attacking or blocking was no option, as standing still in this situation was the worst thing he could do. If they managed to hit him in the neck, he would bleed out to death.

He managed to dodge mostly. But one after the other, the sheets managed to leave large cuts in his limbs, torso and one even managed to leave a bleeding cut in his left cheek. They weren't too deep, but things would end badly unless he did something.

"What's wrong? Is that all you can do?"

Trapped inside a twister of razor sharp blades, the young man decided to use a risky move. He enveloped his sword in flames and raised it as high as he could before yelling out the name of his chosen skill.

"Outburst!"

The flames focused inside the blade violently got released into a powerful explosion that reduced anything in it's reach to cinders, including Devi's paper weapons. From the cloud of smoke that was left afterwards, Kenji flew out of it at full speed and attacked Devi, but she managed to dodge the attack easily. Even so, he didn't give and launched a barrage towards her.

As she kept dodging his blade, Devi looked at the young man. The physical endurance he gained through training along with his natural resistence to the fire element made him able to walk out of that explosion with his life, but there was some notable damage in sight. Both as tear in his clothes, mostly around the sleeve, and bruises in parts of his body.

"(An area of effect attack that burns your enemies to cinders at the cost of wounding you as well...Reckless, but efficient)"

"Damn it! I can't hit her!"

"What? Didn't you know?" Asked Devi with a smirk before dodging the last attack and getting behind him to whisper in his ear "Felines are quite nimble..."

Taking advantage of the moment, the feline CPU licked the blood off of the cut in Kenji's cheek. This caused him to shiver and blush before quickly turning around and trying to slice her in two. But she managed to easily dodge that as well.

"Oh? What a nice reaction...it kind of makes me want to play with you a little more..." She said with a smirk before making a frown "Too bad we're done here..."

"Eh?"

Amidst his confusion, the young man was suddenly surprised by a massive pair of rock hands that caught him from behind and trapped him. The giant golem got back up while he was distracted with Devi and now managed to catch him.

"It's still alive!?"

"Did you really think I would allow it to be so easily destroyed?"

With his opponent now caught, she made a gesture with her weapon to her creation. The golem then clenched his hands, crushing Kenji's body within them. She watched as the young man made a pained expression due to the inmense pressure.

"(Fuck! I'm gonna get crushed!)"

In the middle of his desperation, he looked around for a way to escape and found a large crack on one of the hands. Using all of his strength, he managed to squeeze out his arm. The young man then quickly summoned his sword again, enveloped it in flames and stabbed the crack before using another outburst. Unlike before, the energy spread within the rocky arm and blew up a large portion to bits. This loosened up the grip greatly and allowed him to slip away. He took a few deep breaths to regain the air in his lungs before turning his head to look at the golem.

"Hm? Not bad..." Said Devi before a new row of sheets was summoned behind her "But we are still not done here..."

"(So now I have to deal with both at the same time!?)" He thought while alternating between looking at the golem and at Devi

Suddenly, the tornado of paper blades was back. Forcing Kenji to be on the defensive once again. And while dodging the incoming attacks, he noticed a green glow inside the broken portion of the arm.

"Those emeralds are inside him too!?"

The emeralds he thought to have destroyed were everything but gone. Now they were inside it, spreading within the limbs like veins.

"The emeralds you destroyed weren't the real one...they were merely an extension"

"(Extension?)" Thought the young man before turning his head to look at the golem again "(Then...the real one is somewhere else?)"

Suddenly, Kenji had an idea. But to know whetever it would work or not, he had make sure of something first.

"(It's do or die now!)"

It took a few more minutes of dodging and a couple more cuts before he finally found the thing he was looking for. With it in sight, he waited for a chance to slip away from the barrage of attacks and head towards the golem. After nearly getting caught by its hands once again for a moment, Kenji managed to slip through and stab the largest crack he could find on the torso. And with the sword now stuck deep into the layers of stone, he got ready to use the outburst one last time. The powerful explosion blew him away and large chunks of stone, revealing an emerald the size of a child glowing through a small hole after the smoke cleared out.

"(I knew it!)"

Kenji recalled something about the smaller golems. Each and every single one of them had their emerald in the chest. And It was at that moment that he realized something. If this massive monster was just a bigger version, then the emerald he needed to destroy was likely in the same spot, but probably covered by layers of stone as a way to keep it safe. All he had to do was get the layers out of the way and make the emerald visible.

Now that he had confirmed it, he just needed to destroy it. But before he could shove the sword into the gap, the golem captured him using his remaining hand. At this point, Kenji couldn't reach the emerald now and neither the Crescent Sapphirus nor the moonlight edge were small enough to enter the gap. So instead, he aimed at it the best he could and threw the sword like a dagger using all of his strength. The sword then flew right towards the golem's chest, got in through the hole and managed to pierce the emerald with ease. This caused it to start cracking all over as its glow increased by the second while the golem's outer body began falling down to pieces. Eventually, it ended with a powerful explosion that blew pieces of rock all over the place like a meteorite shower.

"There we go..." Said kenji, who slowly got back up after falling from the Golem's grasp and hitting the ground "Now stay dead..."

Right after getting back on his feet, the first thing he saw was Devi looking at him from the same place where she stood ever since the now destroyed golem caught him the first time. Without hesitationg, he summoned his sword back to him and took an assault stance again.

Instead of answering to that stance, the feline CPU simply kept looking at him for a moment before speaking. She focused mostly on his eyes. Those eyes, still as fierce and filled with just as much of a burning will to keep it up until the bitter end as they were in the beginning of the fight. Even with blood pouring through the many cuts around his body, even with the exhaustion, he was still willing to fight with every inch of his being.

"Your way of fighting lacks grace, but it's quite decent nonetheless...I think now I understand why master Ibiem is so interested in you"

"Ibiem? So you guys do work for him..."

"That's right...Me and Yuube are part of Ibiem's personal task force...we're known as "the seven oracles"

"(The seven oracles...)"

While Kenji's mind focused on the name, Devi suddenly felt something a few miles away. It felt like a small light emerging out of the darkness for the very first time.

"(It seems that elderly man was right after all... one of them had it in her...)" Thought Devi while looking at the side for a moment before looking at Kenij again "Well...I suppose it's about time for me to take my leave"

"I won't let you!"

The young man quickly took flight and headed towards Devi, but she simply placed her hand forward and caused the sheets of paper behind her to join together and form a wall. Afterwards, a drawing of a large dragon appeared in it before the wall began shinning and a real dragon head poured out of the light. Kenji's eyes widened as the large lizard head suddenly opened its mouth and released a blazing hell around him.

"Don't be so eager to fight...There will be a time and place for it" She said while turning around and looking at him over her shoulder "...And that time may be sooner than you might think"

With those words said, Devi looked forward and flew away. Shortly afterwards, the dragon went back into the light and turned back into a drawing which split into many papers that soon dissipated in green dust particles. The young man thought about chasing after her, but she was already long gone by the time he noticed.

He stood there and looked at the spot where she was at less than a minute ago. He kept looking at it for a moment or two before lowering his head and turning around.

"(I should go back with the others...)"

Since the battle was over and the enemy was gone, Kenji didn't have anything else to do there and decided to return with the CPUs. It took a few minutes since he had to figure out the direction, but Kenji managed to retrace his steps and returned to the intial spot. Although what he saw wasn't exactly what he expected.

The golems were all destroyed and the CPUs, who were back to their human forms, recovered IF. But there was a slight detail to notice.

"Uwaaaaaahhh!"

"Iffy, don't cry...It's all okay now"

IF was crying her eyes out while Compa tried to cheer her up. And on the other hand, all the CPUs had sickened or pale expressions. Except for Plutia, who seemed to be sad about something.

"Uwahhh! I'm sorry, Iffy-chaaaan!"

"Erm...guys?"

"Ah...It's you..." Said Noire while turning her head to look at him

"Hey, just where did you go?" Asked Nepgear

"It's a long story..." He replied calmly "Sooooo...What happened to the witch?"

In almost perfect synch, everyone pointed at a spot a few meters from Kenji's feet while some tried to avoid eye contact with that spot. Curious, the young man lowered his head to look and saw something that froze his blood.

"(A corpse!?)" He tought with widened eyes and a paled expression while taking a step away from it

The witch was lying motionless on the ground over a puddle of an unknown liquid that released a fetid smell. Her expression was similar to Noire's back when Plutia broke her brain, but Arfoire's expression seemed damaged to much, much, much more severe level.

"Hey...What happe-?"

"You don't want to know..." Said Noire while sweat dropping "Believe me...you don't..."

"...Plutia did it, didn't she?"

"Yeah...It was horrible" Answered Blanc while getting paler just from recalling the horrible things she saw "I even had to look away at one moment..."

The things the CPUs had to witness at that moment were beyond any disturbing type of torture. It was horrible enough to mentally scar the battle-hardened CPUs and surely was the reason behind IF's crying. The poor child didn't only see it, but she even had a front row seat of it. Without a doubt, she was probably going be traumatized for life.

"Is-Is she even alive?"

"She does twitch every now and then...so maybe yes..." Said Nepgear while looking at her

True to the words of the CPU candidate, the witch did convulse for a fraction of a second. Whatever Plutia did as Iris Heart, she didn't go all the way and killed her. But Kenji had the feeling that letting her live after that was part of the punishment.

"(Just what the hell happened while I was gone?)" He thought while sweat dropping

Part of Kenji wanted to know, but he knew leaving it like that would be for the best. The last thing he wasnted was a life-long trauma.

Although they had both IF and Compa, Peashy was still missing. And even though they wanted to search for her, the group was in too bad of a shape. Both physically and mentally. Everyone was worn out to the bone from all the constant fighting and taking both girls back to safety was the top priority right now, especially since IF needed some serious therapy. Besides, with all the time they wasted on Devi and Arfoire, whoever took Peashy surely left long ago already.

On the way back, Kenji wondered if merely making time for the remaining kidnappers to escape was her real goal instead of fighting him. If it was, the her plan was was a success. The young man had to carry this sense of failure all the way back to Planeptune basilicom.

"Histy...we're back..." Said Neptune with a tired tone that lacked her usual excitement

"Yeah...we're back..."

"Neptuna! Kenny!"

"Ugh!"

Suddenly, the perky CPU was tackled by a strong headbut aimed right to the solar plexus and fell down to the floor.

"Eh?" Said both with confusion before noticing who the person sitting on top of Neptune was "Peashy!?"

"Kenny! Neptuna! Let's play!"

"Hey, what's going on in there?" Asked Noire before entering and noticing Peashy sitting on top of Neptune "Eh? Isn't that Peashy?"

"Peashy?" Said Compa while entering into the basilicom along with IF, who was still slightly sobbing softly

"Eh? What's wrong with IF?" Asked the confused Peashy after noticing her current state

"She...she had a difficult day..." Said Kenji while looking sideways and sweat dropping

"Ah! Everyone, you're back! And I see you made it back safely (^-^)"

"Hey, Histy...How did Peashy-chan get here?"

"She came back by herself?"

"Herself?"

"Yeah...that cat said she had pudding, so I went with her. But she didn't have any, so I came back..." Explained the little girl while looking at the group of people in front of her

"Peashy, you're not supposed to go with strangers. Even if they offer you pudding" Said Nepgear with a worried expression

"Nepgear is right, Peashy. Today you got lucky, but things could have ended up worse (ò_ó)"

While Nepgear and Histoire scolded Peashy for going outside with strangers, a feeling of surprise and relief filled the room. In the end, things worked out. The attacks against the nations were over and the three girls were safe and sound.

One after the other, the CPUs returned to their nations after a short rest while Neptune and Plutia resumed their gaming schelude and Histoire returned to her work.

"Please, try to stand still. I'm not very good with this..." Said Nepgear while wrapping a bandage along Kenji's torso.

While everyone went back to their own daily life, the CPU candidate helped Kenji with his bandages while he sat on the couch. She was slightly clumsy with the wrapping every now and then, but the way she gave it her all made it hard to complain.

"Okay, this should do it...Please wait here. I have to make sure dinner doesn't get burned"

Nepgear placed the roll of bandages over the light table and went out through the doorway to check on the dinner, which did while giving first aid to the young man.

"(Neptune was right. Nepgear is good waifu material)"

Kenji kept looking at the doorway while his mind imagined Nepgear as an everyday housewife until seeing something that caught his interest. He noticed it just now, but Compa was hidding behind the edge of the doorway while staring at him. It was hard to make out at first since her face was mostly hidden, but she seemed concerned about something.

"Hey, Compa..."

When he called out to her, the little girl moved out of her hiding spot and slowly walked towards him.

"What's wrong?"

"Kenji...how are you feeling?"

"Feeling?" Asked the young man with a raised eyebrow before raising his head and thinking about it "I'm okay, I guess...A bit hungry, though..."

"Does it hurt?"

"What? These?" He asked while looking down at one of the cuts located in his torso "Not really. I'm already used to this sort of stuff"

"I see..." She said while lowering her head for a moment before raising it again to look at him "Erm...Kenji?"

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm sorry..."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not strong like IF or Peashy, the bad guys took me away and everyone had to fight lots of bad mister monsters...And you got hurt a lot..."

"(Wait...That's what's bothering her?)" Thought the young man while looking at Compa get teary eyed

Like most children do during bad situations, Compa felt like everything bad that happened today was her fault.

"So? What's wrong with that?"

"Eh?"

With her eyes still on the edge of tears, the little girl raised her head and looked at him again.

"I mean, everyone's got stuff that they're good and bad at. There's nothing wrong with that" He said before looking at her again and smiling "Besides, all this stuff happening it's not your fault"

"But..."

Judging by Compa's expression, his words did keep her from crying, but he still needed something to cheer her up. It was then that the young man saw the roll of bandages Nepgear left on the table. With a new idea in mind, Kenji picked it up and looked at her again.

"Say, Compa. Do you wanna try bandaging my wounds?"

"Bandaging?" She asked with an expression that showed a strong curiosity

"Yeah, it's really easy too" He answered before giving her the roll "Here you go"

After giving the roll to her, Kenji took the bottle of medicinal alcohol, applied it to the dressing, and then wrapped it around a wound on his arm. The stinging feeling of the alcohol still bothered him, but it went away fast enough.

"Okay, now grab it from here and start wrapping it around my forearm"

Although confused by this request, Compa did as told and began wrapping the dressing with bandages along with the rest of the yonug man's forearm.

"There you go, now use that piece of tape to keep it in place" Said the young man while pointing at a roll of white adhesive tape left on the table

"Okay..."

While she grabbed the white tape, Kenji kept the end held in place so she could easily put it without much problem.

"There, I'm done"

"See? That wasn't so hard" He said while looking at the little Nurse's very first bandage attempt "Hey, and it's well-made too"

"Does it feel better now?"

"Yeah, a lot better"

"Really?" She said with more cheerful tone this time

"Yeah. I bet you'd make a good nurse"

"A nurse? What's a nurse?"

"A nurse is someone who helps other people feel better by curing their wounds with stuff like this"

Compa then lowered her head and took a moment to process the information she just received before raising it again and looking at Kenji, this time with a determined expression.

"Kenji...I want to become a nurse!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! I want to be a nurse and make everyone feel a lot better whenever they get hurt!"

Just by seeing the strong determination within those big and innocent eyes, the young man knew she was being serious about it.

"I see..." He said with a smile before looking at his other arm and showing it to her "Say, I still need to patch up this arm too. Want to give it a try? Nurse Compa?"

"Yes! Leave it me!"

"Thank you. Then, let me show you how to do it"

While Kenji explained to Compa about dressings, how to use the alcohol and how to apply it on wounds before bandaging, which where things he learned from the Hyperdimension's Compa, Nepgear watched them while hidding on the side of the doorway. The CPU candidate couldn't help but smile while looking at the two of them bonding like if they were family.

"Maybe I should go keep an eye on the dinner for a bit longer"

Nepgear then turned around and headed back to the kitchen, feeling at ease with the knowledge that Kenji's wounds were being treated by one of Planeptune's top future nurses.


	21. The rise of Eden

**Note from the author 31/01/2017: Hello everyone! Are you enjoying the story so far?**

 **Today I just wanted to thank you all for sticking around with me for so long and to keep giving me support despite all my delays and trying to justify them with my low self-esteem. So thank you, guys. You're amazing!**

 **Also, I wanted to tell you that after thinking about it for quite some time already, I will do a little update on the earliest chapters. Nothing too big, though. Just a few grammar corrections and spell-checking. Chapter 1 may be a bit different from before, but there won't be any important plot points there nor on the other chapters, so you don't need to worry about missing on anything important even if you don't read them again.**

 **Anyway, thanks again for all the support and have a nice day!**

* * *

"Jump! Run! Attack!"

"Do you have to narrate EVERY single thing you do?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping "Also, stop moving around so much!"

On the daily peace of the Basilicom, everyone relaxed while leading their daily lives. Today, the colliseum was closed due to repairs and wouldn't re-open until a later date. So instead of laying down and sleeping, Kenji decided to hang around the place. And he at some point ended up as Neptune's gaming partner while Plutia took her daily nap at the moment.

He didn't really mind playing games, either. It was actually a nice change of pace. But what really bothered him was how Neptune exaggerated every single thing she did in the game by making some sort of sudden movement in real life. This would usually end up with her hitting Kenji on the arm with her elbow every now and then. And even if he tried to complain about it, she hardly paid any attention to it at all.

"Hey, Kenny. Can you get me a pudding?"

"Go get it yourself. I'm trying to play here..."

"Okay!" Replied the cheerful CPU before yelling "Nepgear! Nepgear!"

"What's wrong, big sister?" Asked Nepgear while walking into the room

"Would you get me a pudding?"

"Of course, just give me a moment"

The CPU candidate then walked out of the room to search for pudding to give to her elder sister.

"I meant YOU should get up and get it..."

"I know, I know...But asking Nep junior is way easier..."

Kenji simply eyed her for a moment or two before Nepgear returned into the room.

"Here" She said while placing the pudding right next to her elder sister

"Thanks, Nepgear!"

"Damn...I'm feeling thirsty now..." Muttered the young man before turning around his head to look at Nepgear "Hey, Nepgear. Mind getting me a soda?"

"Ah, sure. Which one do you want?"

"Anything's fine. Just no diet...or grape..."

"Okay. I'll be right back"

"You're not that different either...(-_-;)" Said Histoire, who had been watching the two play for a while now while the CPU candidate made another trip to the kitchen

"Hey, Kenny! Feed me some pudding!"

"I told you already, I'm trying to play over here"

"Come on! just for a little bit! Think of it as some fanservice for all the shippers out there!" Replied Neptune while turning her head to look at him "Pleeeease!?"

For a moment kenji felt like he'd be dragged into another one of Neptune's childish requests, but Nepgear arrived just in time to avoid it.

"Sorry. All I could find was orange juice..."

"It's okay. Thanks" He said while turning around and grabbing the can Nepgear offered to him

"Nepgear. Feed me while I'm playing, please!"

"Well, I guess it can't be helped"

"You people...are you really okay with the way things are going right now? (ô_ö)" Asked Histoire while Nepgear sat down next to her elder sister and fed her pudding

"I know...It sucks the colliseum is closed" Said the young man before taking a sip of the now opened can "But you know, mantainance and stuff..."

"That's not what I meant... (-_-;)" She said while sweat dropping

Among certain other things, the tome couldn't believe how laid back both Kenji and Neptune were in regards to the situation in the Hyperdimension. From Neptune, who loved being able to nap and play as much as she wanted to, she expected it. But Kenji was another story. At first the young man was determined to return at all cost after finding Planeptune's CPU, but that determination seemed to waver or even fade away after visiting Lowee. It certainly made her wonder if Pork bowls were the only reason he wished to return, if Neptune managed to spread her laziness to him or both. Then again, it was also possible he completely forgot about it during the course of the last few years.

"(No...there's no way he could forget something THAT important...)" Thought Histoire before sweat dropping "(...Right?)"

"I don't wanna! Scary!"

"Huh? (O_O)"

Suddenly, the tome was surprised by one of the little girls running past her and jumping towards Kenji's back in just a split second.

"Wha-!?" Said Kenji as he was surprised by the sudden weight on his neck and noticed from the large puffy gloves visible on the corner of his eye that Peashy was the one holding thightly to the top of his head "Peashy!?"

"Kenny! Neptuna! Help me!"

"What's wrong?"

"Shots! Compa is scary!"

"Shots?"

Curious to see what she meant, the young man turned his head to look over his shoulder. The first thing he saw was a sharp and pointy object heading straight towards him.

"Uwahhh!?" He yelled as he moved his head sideways to avoid the huge needle by inches, causing it to stab the can he was holding instead.

Pale as a sheet of paper, Kenji turned to look behind him again and saw Compa was standing behind him. She was carrying around a pink serynge almost as large as her if not larger. It looked like a harmless oversized toy, or at least it would if it weren't for the sharpened needle that, despite being made of plastic as well, was sharpened to the point of being able to pierce through a tin can almost effortlessly.

"Peashy, stop running! I have to give you your shot!"

"I don't wanna! Shots are scary!"

"Co-Compa!? What are you doing!?"

"Eh? I'm playing nurse with Peashy, but she doesn't want me to give her an injection" Said the Nurse in training with a confused expression

"I think I understand why..." Said the young man while sweat dropping and looking at the sharp needle on the end of the serynge, which still had the can stuck to it and its contents dripping out like blood "Either way, where did you get that giant serynge from?"

"Plutia gave it to me. She even sharpened the tip for me"

"Leave it to Plutia to turn a toy into a deadly tool (-_-;)"

"Why did she do that?" Asked Nepgear while looking at it

"She said that it wouldn't be fun unless it could stab things for real"

A moment of silence went by while everyone looked at Compa. Most were probably unsure of whetever they should have expected Plutia to say such a thing or feel worried that the little nurse in training actually said them like if they were the most natural thing in the world.

"Compa...I know it's weird to ask this, but haven't you ever thought of Plutia's HDD form as scary?"

"Plutia's HDD?" Asked the confused little girl "Not at all. In fact, I think it's really cool"

Another moment of silence took place after that honest and almost instantaneous answer. Everyone's minds were now leaning more towards the latter option.

"(I'm starting to get really worried about this kid's future...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

"Hey!"

Fortunately for everyone in the room, IF quickly jumped into the scene and broke the awkward silence. Although she seemed very upset about something.

"Stop being so noisy! You'll disturb Lady Plutia's sleep!"

"Lady Plutia?"

"That's right! Lady Plutia is sleeping right now and you're going to wake her up if you're so loud!"

Ever since that traumatic day, IF remained in a state of shock for some time. Somehow, she made an almost miraculous recovery after a few days and went back to her usual self. However, she acted very diferently around Plutia. The most notable change was the obvious terror she felt whenever the CPU touched her, got too close or saw her transforming. The other one would be that she started referring to her as "Lady Plutia" in a similar manner to the one most basilicom workers used, but they didn't notice any other significant difference besides from that. It did raised the doubt whetever the men and women working under the same roof as Plutia still served under her rule despite her painfully obvious lack of work ethic because of fear rather than faith and respect.

"Compa. I know you want to be a nurse, but you shouldn't run around with sharp objects..." Said the CPU candidate while walking closer to her

"Nor try to stab people with them..." Added the young man while looking at the sharp needle and sweat dropping "We're gonna have to file it or something latter. We can't let her keep running around with that..."

"I'll dealt with that later (-_-;)"

"Okay then..."

After sighing with slight relief, the young man placed the controller down on the ground and took a more relaxed position.

"Eh? You're not playing anymore?" Asked Neptune while turning her head to look at him

"No...It gets boring if you play too much. Besides, sitting down all day ain't really my thing" He said before getting up on his feet "Maybe I'll go out for a bit...see if I can find something to do"

"Then, how about we all go out together?"

"Ah, that sounds like fun!" Said Nepgear in agreement to her elder sister's suggestion

"Sure. the more the merrier, I guess..." Replied the young man calmly "But where do we go?"

"How about a park? The news said today would be sunny all day long"

"Oh!? I like that!" Said Neptune before looking now at the little trio "What do you say? Wanna go and play at the park?"

"Sure, I'm okay with that" Answered IF with a smile

"Yes! I want to have fun with everyone!"

"Park! I wanna play in the park!"

"Sounds like a plan to me..." Said the young man while looking at the small trio with a smile

"I should go wake up Plutia. I'm sure she'd like to go with us" Said Nepgear before turning around to look at Histoire "What about you, Histoire?"

"Sorry, but I still have some work pending. But please, try to have fun (^-^)"

After everyone agreed to Neptune's idea, Nepgear headed off to wake up Plutia and tell her about the plan to go out. Surely enough, it took some persistence to wake her up. But the drowsy CPU accepted without a second thought. Once there, everyone spread around to have their own fun. During the first few hours, Neptune and Peashy went around chasing squirrels while Nepgear and Plutia helped Compa make a sand castle.

"Hey, IF. Don't you wanna play with Compa or Peashy?"

"Not really..."

Unlike Compa and Peashy, IF spent her time sitting down in a bench next to Kenji while he looked at her. Seeing the little girl keeping her distance from the other two made him wonder if she really wanted to tag along after all. It was possible she merely agreed to follow the flow of the conversation or because she didn't want to stay alone at home. At least not after what happened the other day.

Upon closer inspection, the young man noticed she was very focused on writing in a book she had brought along. It was a brown journal decorated with stickers both on the front and the back and had a strap that worked as a way to lock it. Whatever it was that IF was writting down, she seemed very motivated. And it couldn't really be something bad, considering she was smiling while filling the blank pages.

"So what are you doing there?"

"I'm writting a story"

"A story? What's it about?"

"Take a look"

Without any restraint, IF handed the journal over to Kenji and allowed him to take it.

"Let's see..." He said while looking at one of the brightest and most prominent phrases in the page "By the ultimate forbidden power of my legendary darkness flame sword, I banish you to the secret...ancient realm of...eternal oblivion?"

A more careful reading made it clear for the young man what he was looking at. The story seemed to be mostly about a war between humans and demons that was controlled by a secret underground organization and a very flashy hero fighting against an equally flashy and extremely dramatic demon lord. Words relating to darkness and fire popped up at least two to three times every few lines or so. There also seemed to be a few crayon drawings kept inside some of the pages that depicted slightly similar things to those described in the story. Most probably illustrations.

"Cool, isn't it? I've been working on it with peashy. What do you think?"

Kenji turned his head to look at IF and saw both the smile and sparkling hope in her eyes. The story could really use some spelling correction and fantasy wasn't his favorite genre either, but it was obvious that she and Peashy put a lot of effort into it. Belittling it would crush her dreams to bits, and she had already received enough life-long psychological trauma as it is.

"I love it! I think it's great!"

"Really!?"

"Yeah! You have a lot of talent!" Said the young man while looking at her with a wide smile

Fortunately, It seemed as though Kenji managed to convince her since his answer seemed more than enough to make her incredibly happy.

"I write most of the story, and Peashy does most drawings. Sometimes we do both together, so we come up with lots of ideas!"

"Sounds like you two worked really hard on it"

"Yeah!" Replied IF cheerfully before looking at Kenji with a more casual expression "Say...What kind of stories do you like the most?"

"Hm...It's been a while since I read an entire story, or a story at all..." He said while placing one hand on his chin and raising his head with both eyes closed before lowering it to look at her again "But I guess I like science-fiction..."

"Science-fiction?"

"You know, space stuff like aliens, really flashy tech, stars, the moon and...well...space..."

"I see..."

IF seemed confused at first, but those were among Kenji's favorite subjects regarding the few literate works he ever bothered to read.

As a kid, he used to love things related to outer space. And even nowadays he had the tendency of staying awake until late at night to take a glance at the starry sky from time to time. But the one thing that he liked the most about space was without a doubt the moon. That large, pure white and perfectly round entity floating around the earth so peacefully without a single care in the world and always appearing as the biggest light in the sky, so mysterious as it is beautiful. Just thinking about it could make him get lost in his thoughts for hours on no end.

"Kenji...Kenji..." Called a voice before becoming suddenly louder "Kenji!"

"Eh?"

After snapping out of his own mental trip, the young man saw Nepgear standing in front of him.

"Kenji...are you okay?"

"Ah...sorry. I spaced out for a moment there"

"It's okay" Replied the CPU candidate with a more relieved expression

From Nepgear and IF's angle, Kenji probably looked like he was in a trance. That was nothing rare by now, but it was still concerning for those that didn't know what was inside his mind.

"Do you have any idea where big sister and Peashy are?"

"Beats me. I think they were chasing squirrels or something...why?"

"I haven't seen them around for a while now..."

"Want me to help you look around for them?"

"If it's possible..."

"Sure thing" He replied while getting up and turning around to look at the little girl "IF, how about you hang out with Compa and Plutia for a bit?"

"No. I want to help too"

More than lost, Neptune and Peashy were probably just fooling around somewhere else and completely lost track of their surroundings, but IF seemed to be taking this quite seriously. Just one look was enough to tell she was determined to help, and nothing he said would convince her at this point.

"Okay, you can tag along. But stay close"

The little girl simply replied with a nod and a smile. And with those conditions agreed on, the trio began searching for them.

At first they searched together as a group, but later decided to split up in order to cover more ground. IF went along with Nepgear while Kenji searched in the opposite direction. Eventually, he ended up walking into the same clusters of trees and vegetation where Peashy had ended up getting lost into all those years ago.

"(Man...They should really do a little gardening work over here already)" He thought to himself while looking around him and sweat dropping

Although the size and density of the vegetation around the area wasn't that different from how it was years ago, it was still easy to get lost. And with the large amount of trees, it was a given there would be at least a few squirrels around. The latter part was confirmed, as he saw one or two squirrels running around every now and then. But considernig how hard it was to find her last time, it would probably take time to find her. And that was if she was there to begin with.

"Squirrels! Squirrels!"

Fortunately, it seemed as though the young man got lucky this time around. Echoing through the forest, just a few feet away, he could hear Peashy's voice calling out to the small animals she was probably still chasing around while laughing.

"Peashy?"

He followed after it and almost inmediately managed to catch the little girl in the middle of her chase. She was running at top speed after two little squirrels, each of them carrying a nut.

"Hey, Peashy! Wait up" He said while making his way out of the bushes

Despite her small stature, Peashy was quite fast. So fast that even the squirrels had a hard time losing her. Kenji even had to step it up and go fast as well to avoid losing her from his sight, but finally managed to catch up to her around the edge of the forest.

"Got you!" She said happily as she managed to capture one of the fluffy little animals with her large gloves "I did it! I caught it!"

"(No wonder Neptune lost her...she's fast!)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

As he walked closer to her, the squirrel managed to slip out and run away.

"Ah! It ran away! Wait!"

"(Oh, not again!)"

Just as she was about to run after it again, a sudden crying sound stopped both of them. When looking further away, the young man saw she was looking at a little girl around her age. She was kneeling down on the floor while crying her eyes out, and one of her knees seemed to be bruised. At first Kenji thought she was a lost kid. But that was proven wrong after a young teenager approached her.

"What's wrong?"

"Big bro! It hurts!"

The young boy looked at the bruise on her leg and simply smiled at her.

"Come on, don't cry...it's okay" He said calmly before picking her up "I know. How about we go get some ice cream?"

"Ice cream?"

"Yeah!"

Being offered an ice cream seemed more than enough to stop the girl's crying, although she kept sobbing.

After watching the two siblings walking away, Kenji lowered his head to look at Peashy. She didn't look sad or anything else in particular, but she probably felt slight confusion about what happened.

"Hey, Peashy..."

"Ah! It's Kenny!" She said with a smile

"Where's Neptune?"

"I don't know. We were chasing squirrels"

"I-I see..."

Just as he thought initially, Neptune probably lost sight of her and was now wandering around in search of her.

"Well, I guess we have to find her now" He said before turning around "Stay close to me, okay?"

The little girl merely nodded and followed him through the forest. For a moment it seemed as though the walk would be quiet, but it didn't take long for Peashy to speak again.

"Kenny?"

"What?"

"What's a big brother?"

Kenji looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Although she initially acted as if that scene from earlier never happened, he had the feeling she would ask sooner or later.

"A big brother is...Like Nepgear"

"Nepgear?"

As someone who never had any siblings himself, the young man was hesitant at first and had a hard time figuring out which would be a good answer, but it didn't take long for his mind to recall the Planeptune siblings. The two sisters loved each other dearly and he had seen them expressing it to each other many times already.

"That's right. You know how Nepgear is always nice to you, Compa and IF and does lots of nice stuff for you?" Explained the young man while walking "A big brother is something like that, except that it has to be a boy that lives with you and that is older than you"

"Boy?"

After receiving an explanation, Peashy began thinking about it in the simplest way she could.

In other words, a big brother was someone who was nice to you, did lots of important things for you, played with you, lived with you, and most importantly, had to be a boy that was older than you.

It was with a little thinking that this line of thought eventually led her to one conclusion.

"Then...Kenny's a big brother?"

"Eh?"

The young man quickly turned his head to look at her with widened eyes and wondered how could she come to such a conclusion. For Peashy, on the other hand, it made perfect sense.

"No, no! I'm not a-" He quickly replied before noticing the look in her eyes

"Kenny's...not a big brother?" She asked while looking at him

The bundle of sparkling excitement in her eyes quickly turned into a mixture of sadness and dissapointment.

"(Why does she always has make the puppy eyes?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping with both eyes closed

Not only now, but even when she was still a baby, Peashy always made puppy eyes to Kenji at some point. It didn't happen very often, but she always made them when she wanted something from him, and it always worked. This time was no exception.

"Well...I guess I'm something close to that" He said while scratching his right cheek with his index finger

"A big brother?"

"Yes, a big brother..."

"Yay! Big brother Kenny!"

The young man turned his head and looked at Peashy one more time. Knowing that she had an elder brother as well made her very happy.

"It's fine and all, but don't call me that in front of everyone else. I don't even want to think what's Neptune going to nickname me if she finds out..." He said while sweat dropping

Of course, this could create some very awkward moments if the CPUs found out about and Neptune would definitely take full advantage of it.

"Big brother Kenny!"

"(She's not listening at all, is she?)" Thought Kenji while looking at her and eventually smiling "(Oh well...as long as it makes her happy)"

Even if it caused a minor uproar, it would only last for a few weeks at most. and judging by how happy Peashy was right now from the way she smiled while raising both hands up in the sky, it would be worth it.

*Meanwhile, somewhere else...*

"Erm...I-I guess the plan was a failure in the end..." Said Rei with her eyes closed and a saddened frown

"I think that's putting it lightly" Replied the hacker while resting both elbows on the table "I swear, it's going to take me ages to fix all these dents in my suit..."

"You two complain, but you didn't even get the worst part-chu"

Both Anonydeath and the civil right's activist turned their heads to look at Arfoire. Unlike her usual delinquent-like and rude attitude, she was smiling and acting quite happily. Of course, this was mostly because her mind was broken beyond repair. Besides from doing that ridiculously happy expression, she couldn't do much else. Even the ability to speak was taken away from her, leaving the witch with nothing more than senseless babbling and noise similar to that a baby made as a form of speech.

"I...I could have ended up like that?" Asked Mister Badd while breaking a cold sweat

Merely looking at her was enough to make three sages feel a strong relief about getting off lightly. Just the mere idea of being the ones to end up like that was already terrifying in itself.

Shortly after their master plan failed, the seven sages gathered back in their base to discuss this result. Or at least those who could make it did. As Copypaste got defeated by Lowee's CPU and was presumed to have been destroyed completely while Abness had yet to return after she left in a rage a few days earlier. Part of Rei felt worried about her safety, but she knew the little sage wasn't one to be taken down easily despite lacking any sort of fighting skill. One way or the other, she had no time to worry about her as there were more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

"I think we should focus on analizing our options right now" Said Anonydeath to break the silence

"Certainly...Out of the seven sages, one was defeated, the other is missing, and another one..." Said Mister Badd after regaining his composture and looking again at Arfoire "...Is not fit for fighting..."

"So...We're down to four..." Said Rei while looking down

"This is certainly not good...perhaps we should lay low for the time being?"

"I agree with the tin can-chu"

"Unfortunately, there's no other choice for the moment"

"Bu-But..."

"Just give it up. There's no way we can stand up against those broads with only the four of us-chu"

"Learning when to temporarily back down is an important skill in the business world as well..." Explained Mister Badd with his arms crossed

"I see...I guess there's no choice then..."

Although hard to accept, Rei had no other choice but to agree with the remaining sages. That last daring attempt to turn the tide against the CPUs ended up playing against them instead. Not only did their fighting power was cut by half, but the moral had fallen to the ground as well. With this huge disadvantage, it was a given the best option would be to simply back down and gather back the lost strength.

"Well...If we're over here, I'll be taking my leave then"

"Oh? You seem cheerful, despite all that's been happening"

"Of course. This situation is irritating, but I can use the chance to spend more time with my daughters" Said the Middle aged man with with an unusual smile on his face before turning around and heading to the doorway to leave "If there's any change in the situation, make sure to call me..."

Shortly afterwards, he left without saying another word.

"There he goes..."

"That love he's got for those bugs is really creepy-chu"

"Maybe he feels sympathy for them? You know, because they're somewhat similar?" Said Anonydeath jokingly

"I Think that's a bit too mean..." Replied Rei while sweat dropping with a weak smile.

"Oh well... I better get going too-chu"

And after Mister Badd, Warechu was the next to take his leave. This caused the room to fall in a short silence before Anonydeath turned his head to look at Rei again.

"Either way, Rei. There's something I've been meaning to ask you"

"Eh? Me?"

"That's right..." Said the hacker before leaning forward towards her "How exactly did you loose the kid you were taking along?"

"Eh!? Ah...er-erm...That's...!"

"It couldn't be you let her go, is it?"

"Tha-That's wrong! I'd never do something so dumb!" She quickly replied while nearly panicking "I-I got ambushed by monsters and had to run! That's right!"

Judging by the way Rei's voice constantly broke, along with her panicking tone and suspicious laughter, it was easy to tell that she was hiding something. And whetever it was an inmensely large screw up or a secret plan she set up herself, she definitely didn't want anyone else to know about it.

"Is that so?"

Anonydeath merely looked at her sweating like a fat man in a sauna from the extreme anxiety she felt at the moment before he finally decided to get up on his feet.

"Okay then. I suppose that's how it is..." He said before turning around and heading towards the doorway "I'll be taking a day or two to handle some loose ends here and there. So try not to get in any trouble, okay?"

"Yes?"

With the confused Rei looking at him, the hacker merely got out of the room and floated down the hallway before heading into his private room. There, he started searching for a certain object that would help him clear out his doubts. And Through a bit of research in his personal PC he managed to find out something quite interesting.

"(My dear Rei...you shouldn't try to lie to a professional liar)" Thought the hacker while looking at the images in the screen

"So, are you ready-nya?"

"I was born ready, honey" He replied before turning around to look at Devi "With that said, though...I'm surprised you could get this sort of information"

"I've got my own set of contacts-nya"

"It begs the question, though...Why help me now? You even went and helped us the other day too..."

"Does it matter-nya?"

"Nothing in life is free, dear. I'd rather know the price tag of that little helping hand now instead of later...And besides..." Said the hacker while leaning forwards towards her "Weren't you just stalling for time when you could've easily killed him back then?"

Devi looked at Anonydeath for a moment or two before closing her eyes and sighing. Out of all the sages, he was the most perceptive one. So much that he could become dangerous someday if not handled properly.

"I don't know what you're talking about-nya"

"I see.." Said the hacker with certain curiosity in his tone before getting up from his chair "Well...I better get ready"

It was as clear as day that the catgirl was hiding something, but it was probably better to leave it at that. Eagerly digging too deep into something without proper preparation or caution was a common mistake among amateur hackers and often led to terrible consequences. Anonydeath himself had seen it happening countless times and was not going to let it happen to him.

"In that case, I'm leaving for now..." Replied Devi as she headed towards the doorway, but not before turning around one more time to look at him "I'll give you a little advice, though-nya"

"Go ahead. I'm all ears..."

"Don't overstep your bounds. Challenging a god isn't the same as angering a Devil-nya"

With those warning words said, the catgirl faced forward once again and left as quietly as she entered. Leaving Anonydeath to wonder whetever she had merely given him a friendly advice or an eerie warning. Perhaps he wasn't the first one to try, and those before him met horrifying fates that only the cruelest minds could imagine.

"(A devil, huh?)" He tought for a moment or two in silence while looking at the doorway before giggling "(Sounds a bit dangerous for the moment...But I really want to know even more now!)"

Instead of scaring him, Devi's words merely fueled Anonydeath's desire to dig deeper into the business. But unless he wanted to be disposed of, he would have to play along with this devil's plan. For now, at least.

*Scene*

As it would have been expected after that day, Peashy developed a much deeper afinity towards Kenji. During the next couple of weeks, the two spent more and more time together. At first it was playing or eating pudding together, but soon they began doing more things like going to Lowee for pork bowls together and even tagging along to the colliseum with him. These new routines included some extra efforts, such as having to do his training and make sure to keep an eye on her at the same time, but they hardly felt difficult or bothersome. On the opposite, those daily and somewhat monotone activities became a lot more lively and enjoyable for the young man.

Not only did Peashy began to see him more and more like an elder brother, but Kenji himself became more attached to her. And at one point, he could almost think of her as a younger sister. Certainly, she was rowdy and loud all the time, but the idea of having a younger sibling to care for was something very satisfying. It gave him an odd feeling of fulfillment, perhaps even happiness.

"Today the pay was better than usual..." Said the young man with a smirk while counting the bundle of credits on his hands

Just like he did from two to three times every week, Kenji went back to the guild to do a few quests and get enough credits for the remainder of the month. And not only the number of hunting jobs was almost double the usual amount, but the rewards were quite hefty as well. In less than a couple of hours, he already had more than enough to cover his needs for nearly a month and half. Even after stashing most of it, he could take it easy for a while. But of course, an even better idea coursed through his mind.

"Look out, Lowee! Today, I'm going all out on the pork!"

Rather than save it and be conscious about his spending habits, Kenji preferred to simply go all out and enjoy the moment. But as he was about to make his way to Lowee, the young man happened to walk by a convenience store and had yet another idea.

Wondering if it had some left, Kenji went in and searched through the shelves until finally finding his desired item.

"Ah, here it is..." He said while crouching to take a closer look

From what he could remember, Neptune told him about a new brand of pudding that came out recently. The price was a bit high, but the incredibly good taste made the extra spent credits worth it. It was so popular that the stores would often run out of stock. Even the ones he found just now were the few remaining ones.

"Maybe Peashy will like it"

After eating it only once, the perky CPU loved it even more than the regular pudding. And if she liked it, then it was very likely for Peashy to like it as well. With this thought in mind, he went ahead and picked up a cluster of four. Two for him and Peashy while the other two would be for Neptune, who would definitely complain about not getting any, and Plutia. It was possible the drowsy CPU was napping right now, but better safe than sorry.

Calmly, but with notable cheerfulness in his steps, Kenji headed to the basilicom with the hopes of eating some pudding together with everyone. Little did he know, a happy scene was the last thing he would find there.

"Hey, I'm back!" He said while entering through the front door

It was only after a moment or two that he noticed something odd.

"(Hm? No headbutt?)"

Even after taking more than ten steps, he had yet to receive the P-ko greeting. And he usually received it before reaching four steps. At first he thought she might be still in school, but recalled today was saturday. His mind then leaned more towards the idea of her simply taking a nap with Plutia, but that thought was shot down after reaching the main room and seeing the scene taking place there.

Not only the three Planeptune CPUs, but also the others were present at the moment. Probably to visit like always. Histoire, IF and Compa were there as well, but Peashy was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey..."

"Kenji? (ó_ò)" Said the tome as she turned around to look at him standing in the doorway "You returned earlier today..."

"Yeah...I did..." He replied while looking at the people in front of him "Something happened?"

Among the first things he noticed, the most notable one was the gloomy expression on everyone's faces. Neptune was clearly the only one that seemed more upset than saddened, and it wasn't the casual or silly type of expression she had whenever something daily such as the pudding running out or defeat in a videogame happened. The perky CPU was utterly upset about something, and it couldn't be good if it made someone as carefree as her make such a serious expression.

"Hey, everyone...what's wrong?"

Despite asking twice, the young man received only silence again. This lack of answers only served to increase his growing unease.

"Kenji...It's Peashy..." Said Nepgear while looking at him

"Eh? Peashy? What's with her?" He said while looking around "Or rather, where is she?"

"It's about that" Replied The CPU candidate "She's gone..."

"Gone? What are you talking about now?"

Nepgear's answer did not help him understand at all. In fact, it only made him more confused.

"Come on, you girls. This isn't funny anymore. What happened here? Where's Peashy?"

"Kenji, Peashy's gone. Her father came by today to pick her up a few hours ago"

"...Eh?"

At that moment, everything seemed to stop. Almost as if time had been frozen solid. His mind couldn't process what he just heard from the tome. And that small word alone was the only thing he could say before finally being able to form a proper question.

"Peashy's...father?"

"That's right...Earlier this morning, a man came into the basilicom saying he was Peashy's father and that he wished to get his daugher back"

"Hey, wait a minute!"

As he listened to Histoire's attempt to explain to him what happened, Kenji finally managed to snap out of his trance and talk back.

"Are you telling me a random man walked into the place saying he was Peashy's dad, and you let him take her away just like that!?"

"I-I couldn't do anything about it...He had her birth certificate, and Peashy even recognized him as his father as well (ó_ò;)" Replied Histoire while floating backwards slightly

"That girl is eight years old! She can't even count to ten yet!" Snarled the young man while walking closer to the tome "Hell, she couldn't even walk when she last saw him!"

"I...I..."

The tome wished to say something, but she didn't know what. Mostly because Kenji was putting up a very valid point.

When Peashy was abandoned by her father, she was merely two or three years old. She hardly had self awareness or even basic understanding of anything other than her human basic needs. Being able to recognize her father after so many years should be next to impossible for her.

"Hey...Calm down, will you!?" Said Noire in an attempt to cool him down "You're not the only one that's upset about it!"

Good points aside, It was as clear as day that Kenji was starting to get angry. And it was common knowledge that angry people normally escalated into agressive people if not dealt with quick enough. And for a moment, it seemed like he would calm down. Unfortunately, someone slipped the tongue and set the fuse before Noire or anyone else could stop it.

"It's fine, ain't it!?"

"Eh? Big sister?" Said Nepgear while turning her head to look at Neptune

"That idiot chose that lame man who abandoned her over us, so she can stay with him if she wants!"

Everyone turned their heads to look at her this time. She couldn't have chosen a worst time to speak with anger and without thinking.

"Are...Are you kidding me!?"

"Uwahhh!?"

Before Neptune, or anyone at all, could react to her words, the young man grabbed her by the jacked and lifted her up as he snarled back at her with twice the amount of anger.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!? Are you really that much of an idiot!?" He said in a fit of rage while lifting her up as high as he could

"Only an idiot calls other people idiots!"

"Why, you little piece of-!"

It was only after seeing Kenji let one hand go and drawing it back with a clenched fist that the others decided to get involved.

"Kenji! Please calm down!"

"Hey, stop it!"

The CPUs quickly grabbed the young man and attempted to make him let go of Neptune, but it was a failed attempt. Not even Blanc, who was the one with the largest amount of physical strength among them, could do more than keep him from breaking the perky CPU's face in half. And judging by the rage in his gaze, there was no doubt he would punch her teeth off and probably most of her skull if allowed to. The united struggle of the CPUs was probably the only thing keeping him from doing so.

Unable to give in to rage, Kenji shook his arm free from the grip of the CPUs and got a hold of Neptune once again. This time to shake her hard as he asked the one and only thing he cared about right now.

"Where is she, Neptune!? Where's Peashy!? Tell me right now!"

"Kenji, please stop this already! You're scaring Compa and IF! (Ó_Ò)"

Hearing those two names caught Kenji's attention and made him look sideways. That was when he noticed it. Both little girls were looking at him with terror in their eyes. Compa was shivering on the spot and IF looked at him with the same fear she looked at Iris Heart during her rampages. Those terrified eyes were what made him snap out of it and come back to his senses. The anger was still there, but at least now his desire to break Neptune's face was gone.

"Damn it!"

In a split second, the young man let go of the CPU, causing her to fall down and hit the floor with her butt before turning around, freeing himself from the grapple of the other CPUs and running out of the room.

"Owie!"

"Ke-Kenji!? Where are you going now!?"

Despite the tome calling out to him, he hardly gave it a fraction of his attention.

"Should we go after him?"

"It's no use...I don't think he'll listen to any of us in his current state" Replied Leanbox's CPU to the tome's question while folding her arms and closing her eyes

While the CPUs looked at the doorway and soon turned around to look at Nepgear, who was checking out if Neptune was alright, Compa approached the paper bag Kenji brought with him. It slipped off his hands and fell down to the ground in the middle of all that chaos, allowing the cups of pudding stored inside of it to spill out. Two of them managed to survive the impact while the remaining couple broke on the top, allowing its contents to spill out on the floor. One of the broken pair had bent and spilled out part of the pudding while the other broke open completely and ended up nearly empty. At the same time, the young man got out of the basilicom and eventually headed into the streets in search of Peashy.

Something about all of this was shady. A little girl uncapable of even speaking full sentences properly being able to recognize a man she only saw back when she was merely two years old as her father without the slightest hesitation was strange. And even if that man really was Peashy's father, there was no way Kenji could bring himself to accept this. Not in a million years.

"(A guy who walks out on his two-year old daughter has no business trying to be a dad!)"

Red Hairpins, tiger stripes, oversized bear gloves, blond-ish hair. As long as it helped him find her, anything could do the trick. He kept running and running non-stop through the streets while looking all around him in search of one of these traits that he remembered so well about her. But it was to no avail.

"(Come on, Peashy! Where are you!?)"

Even after searching all around the place, there was no trace of Peashy at all. But he refused to give up and kept searching around. Before realizing it, the minutes became hours and with every moment that passed it only got worse. This constant and random movement ended up taking him from one place to the other until finally stopping due to exhaustion.

"(Where...is this?)" He thought while looking around him as he took deep breaths to regain his stamina

It took a moment or two, but he quickly managed to remember the trees around him. Somehow, he ended up going all the way to the outskirts of Planeptune and into the forest he once used as a training ground with Nepgear a few years earlier. As he slowly walked deeper and deeper into the clusters of trees, his mind began to wander. Still struggling to understand how things ended up in such a way.

Kenji did imagine the future would be filled with more hardships, mostly due to Devi and Yube's schemes, but this was beyond anything he could think of. One moment, everything was going fine. Once again they defeated the seven sages, saved the children, and he was even starting to get along with them. Not only that, but he was also starting to form as stronger bond with Peashy. Right down to the point where he saw her as something closer to a younger sibling than just a random kid he had to babysit.

"(She's gone...)"

Once his mind finally brought it up, she was put once again on the spotlight. And it was impossible to get her out of it. To him, it felt like a bad dream or joke. Part of him knew they'd end up leaving someday, but this was way too soon and unexpected.

"What the hell..." He said while his expression slowly changed into a more saddened one "If you were gonna leave, then what did you want a big brother for?"

This thought haunted his mind for a while longer before finally fading away. By that time, the young man was once again back to his calm and usual self. But even if he had finally calmed down, he couldn't go back to the basilicom and pretend nothing happened.

After staying in the forest a little longer, he went back to town and searched for an inn. It didn't take too long to find one, as this dimension's Planeptune was a common trading spot for travelling merchants and pretty popular among adventurers and members of the guild as well. He quickly booked a room and spent the night there. It wasn't very large, but it was comfortable.

Just like the time when Neptune was taken away, Kenji focused the next days to search for Peashy. But even with his persistence, there was no results to speak of. Going on a wild goose chase like last time ended up with the same result and no matter how much he asked, no one seemed to know anything either. Not even searching in the other nations yielded any results. Whoever Peashy's "father" was, he was extremely good at hiding away from others. Before even three whole weeks went by, he was forced to stop searching and slowly go back to his daily routine. But there was one small difference from before. Every day, he would go to the park and spend at least a few hours sitting on the bench. The climate or the hour didn't matter to him in the least, he always went there before or after training and sat down in the exact same bench for random amounts of time ranging from thirty or fourthy minutes to two or three hours. Sometimes he'd stare at the sky or the trees and others he'd just watch the people around him play or hang out until finally losing his sense of time. This new routine kept going on and on for some time before one day the young man caught sight of a most unexpected individual passing by.

"Ohhhhh, what should I do now?"

"Huh?"

Kenji, who at that moment was distracted with the clouds, lowered his head after hearing someone complaining and saw Rei walking in front of him. She had a somewhat sluggish walk and a very depressed expression.

"Hey..."

"Eh?"

The leader of the seven sages turned her head and saw him looking at her with a raised eyebrow. It took a moment of them staring at each other before she finally reacted

"U-Uwahhh!"

"Whoa!?"

Her sudden scream nearly made him jump off of his seat as his eyes widened.

"I-I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Calm down, calm down! I was just calling out to you!" He quickly said while putting both hands in front of him

"Eh? Re-Really?"

"Yeah...Really..."

"Oh..."

The two of them stared quietly at each other for a few seconds before Rei bowed her head. After a short but needless apology from her, the leader of the seven sages sat down on the bench next to him.

"So...what's with you?"

"Eh? Wi-with me?"

"Yeah, you're looking odd"

"No no no! I'm not worried at all!" She quickly replied while placing both hands in front of her the same way Kenji did before and closing her eyes

"(I never did say worried, though...)" He thought while sweat dropping

Just by looking at the way Rei broke a cold sweat, it was easy to tell she was lying. And her expression didn't do much to hide it either. It made the young man wonder just what could have her acting so worried.

"I'm just... Not having a good day..." She said before looking forward again and closing her eyes while sweat dropping

"I see..."

"Nothing I do works out. Maybe I shouldn't even try to begin with..."

Kenji looked at her on the corner of his eye once again. Besides from worry, there was a lingering despondency mixed up in her expression as well. Suddenly, he recalled the Rei from the Hyperdimension was the leader of a civil rights group. And things didn't go well at all for her either, so perhaps this one was having the same issue at the moment.

"Erm...can I ask you something?"

"Hm? Sure" He said after being cut off of his train of thought by her

"Why are you here by yourself?"

Kenji looked at Rei for a moment before looking forward again and leaning back on the bench's back. It was surprising how she figured out he was all by himself, or at least it would have been if it wasn't so easy to notice. After all, not one person on the park bothered to look at him even once and he seemed far too lax to be with a child at the moment.

"Beats me...I just feel like coming here every now and then"

She looked at him for a few more seconds in wait to see if he'd say anything else before speaking.

"I...I don't think you're doing it because of being random..."

"What do you mean?" He asked while turning his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow

Even though Kenji didn't look like it, Rei could tell there was a deeper reason to it. There was something about the way he spoke, or probably in his eyes, that made her realize it. It was something she herself had felt countless times during the earlier years of her life, something that even now she could still feel from time to time. And she couldn't be more right about it.

"Somehow...It feels like you're waiting for something..."

The young man's eyes widened slightly after hearing her thoughts. Even though he failed to notice it, it was now clear to him. All this time, all those hours and days he spent sitting on the same bench of the same park, he was always doing the same thing without realizing it. Just like it happened all those years ago at that very same spot when he lost her and miraculously recovered her, he was once again doing the same. He was waiting for Peashy to return.

After failing to find even the slightest trace of her, his mind slowly drifted back to this sopt and ended up dragging him there with the hope of finding her. The truth was that he didn't care whetever it was by her own methods or through the help of some random stranger, he only wanted to see her again.

"(Waiting, huh?)" He thought while looking forward again with a pensive look in his eyes

This realization caused him to realize another thing as well. Even after so many years, he was still no diferent from back then. Once again, he allowed the feeling of impotency and anger to get the better out of him, causing him not only to yell at Histoire but also to nearly attack one of the people he swore to protect with his life out of his own will.

For a moment or two, Kenji kept thinking about this before slowly got up from the bench and faced towards Planeptune's tower.

"Eh? You're leaving?"

"Yeah, I've got some stuff to do..."

"I-I see..." Said Rei while looking forward and down again

"Oh, and by the way..."

While she believed Kenji would quietly leave after saying that, he didn't. Instead, he spoke once again. This made her turn her head to look at him one more time.

"I don't think you should give up on whatever you're doing...I mean, shit happens. Right?"

The leader of the seven sage's expression changed to surprise this time. She didn't think he'd suddenly give her a pep talk.

"Yeah...I guess it does..."

Even if it was slightly hard to understand at first and it probably didn't sound as motivational as he intended it to, it was still one of the very few motivational boosts she received from someone else in many years. More years than even she herself could remember.

"Well, I should get going" He said before turning his head to look at Rei over his shoulder with a smile "See you later"

"See you later" She replied while making a shy smile

The yong man then walked away, leaving the now motivated Rei to think what to do. All without either of them even realizing how much they helped each other with just a few well-said words.

The walk back to the Basilicom was longer than usual, as he took on a slower pace to think. Most of those thoughts were focused on what to do once he'd get there. Even if returning without a request from any of the CPUs partly proved he admitted to his mistake, there was still the issue of how they'd react as well. After all, things did get a little too out of hand for a moment.

"(Hm...guess I'll just say sorry, or something like that...)"

The first idea that came to his mind was just giving a simple apology to help prove he was sorry about it, but whetever it'd work or not was a whole other thing. Then again, this was Neptune he was thinking about. She wasn't the type to hold a grudge against others, no matter the situation. Nepgear would definitely forgive him too, if she didn't already. And Plutia, well, Plutia was a sweet girl as well. She probably wasn't angry anymore either. Although a part of the young man felt like he could only pray her "other" self wouldn't come out and give him a little "lesson" on manners.

"(I'm probably just overthinking things)"

One way or the other, thinking too much about the problem was meaningless at this point. It would only fill his mind with more worries that will eventually feel like even more problems. Besides, he already did enough pensive thinking for the moment. And being so worried about something wasn't like him either. The only thing he could do right now was go, give them the most honest apology he could and see what happens.

After reaching the basilicom, he entered the through the front door in the same way he always did before calling out.

"Hey...I'm back..." He said after opening the door and looking inside "...Hello?"

After a moment of silence, Kenji calmly walked down the hallway before stopping just next to the doorway and slightly leaning forward to look through it. In there, he saw both Compa and IF. The two of them were sleeping on the table, with crayons and scribbled sheets of paper all around them. Some laying down on the floor while others on the same table they sleept on while using their arms as pillows. But besides from the two little artists, no one else was around.

"Man, what a mess..."

As he walked into the room while trying not to step on anything, the young man approached them quietly as to not to disturb their sleep. And once he got close enough, he crouched and checked the sheets around them. Most of them were doodles and most of them scribbled right down to the point where it was almost impossible to tell what they were. The two girls most likely did random drawings one after the other in the absence of the CPUs until finally falling asleep.

Although it wasn't very likely for them to catch a cold or anything of the sort, sleeping there still wasn't a good idea. With this in mind, he decided to take them back to their room and let them sleep there.

"Hold it right there!"

Just as he was about to pick up Compa, a sudden yelling coming from behind nearly made him jump up. And when turning around, he saw Abnes standing on the doorway while pointing at him.

"Huh?"

"You! How dare you try to kidnap innocent little girls!?"

"Wait, I wasn't-!"

"Save your excuses for the police, you kidnapper!"

Among her yelling, Abnes suddenly noticed something about the man she was pointing at.

"Wait...You're...that guy living here, right?" She said while looking more carefully at him.

"And you're...A...A..." Replied the young man while looking at him before putting one hand on his chin and raising an eyebrow "...Acne?"

"Abnes! I'm Abnes!"

Abnes, the self-proclaimed protector of all the world's little girls, never met with the young man again after their first meeting all those years ago. In fact, she hardly ever set foot in the basilicom after that day except for a few rare ocassions of which mostly he wasn't around. It wasn't really surprising that she needed a moment to recognize him and that he forgot her name so easily.

"Abnes! Don't be so loud! (ò_ó)"

Suddenly, Histoire floated towards the gothic little girl and appeared on the doorway as well.

"Histoire?"

"Kenji? (ô_ô)" Replied the tome while turning around and looking at him with a surprised expression "You're back?"

"Hm?"

This time, the three swapped their attention to the little girls, who seemed to have woken up due to all the yelling.

"Hey, look at what you did!"

"Me!? You're the one that's been yelling non-stop" Snarled the man while turning to look at her again

"Tha-That's not true!"

"It is...I could hear you all the way down the hallway (-_-;)"

"Kenji?"

After hearing his name, Kenji turned his head one more time to look at Compa, who was the first one of the two to see him right after waking up.

"He-Hey..."

It took a moment or two for her to be fully awake and realize he was really there, but both her and IF's expressions became cheerful the moment they did.

"Kenji! You're back!"

"Yeah, I am"

Both of them nearly jumped off of their chairs from the surprise as they got up to approach him. While Compa didn't hesitate to hug him, IF showed some slight concern. And she spelled it out after her friend let go off him.

"Hey, Kenji...You're not angry anymore, are you?"

The young man then looked at IF for a moment in silence. Truth to be told, part of what worried him was that they may fear him after what happened. But more than fear, there seemed to be worry in her young and big eyes. A worry quite similar to his own.

"About that..." He said while looking down "Sorry...I got a bit too carried away the other day"

It was a somewhat awkward apology, but easy to tell from his tone that he was honestly sorry. The apology was followed by a short silence before he finally received a reply.

"Well. If you're really sorry, then it's okay" Said IF with a smile

"That's right. If you feel bad about something, apologizing always helps" Added Compa after letting go of him

"I see..."

Despite being so young, or maybe because of that very reason, the two girls were capable of forgiving him without a second thought. It really gave the young man a proper idea of just how much these two were already starting to behave like their Hyperdimension counterparts, even if the ones looking after them were such a rowdy and sometimes crazy bunch.

"Hey...what's the deal here?" Asked Abnes while sweat dropping and turning her head to look at Histoire

"Well, you see..."

The tome went ahead and gave her a consise explanation. Of course, the result of doing this was not a good one.

"What!?" Replied with a mixture of shock and anger before pointing at Kenji once again "Hey, you!"

"What now?"

"How could you make these little girls see that sort of violent behavior!?"

"That's the thing I'm here to apologized about, you know?" He said while raising an eyebrow

"I don't care!" She snarled before walking towards him "I won't allow you to sully the minds of these little girls any-Uwah!"

But before the gothic loli could even finish her words, she accidentally stepped on one of the leftover crayons laying around and tripped. This caused her to fall face first on the floor. Everyone looked at her for a few seconds before Kenji raised his head to look at Histoire.

"So...How's it been lately?"

"Oh...Erm...Things have been going fine, I suppose (o_o;)" She replied while sweat dropping

"I see...Any news about that red-haired bastard or the cat either?"

"Don't ignore me! And don't swear in front of little girls!" Yelleed Abnes while quickly getting her upper body up with both arms

After Abnes got back up on her feet, the three now took both Compa and IF, who still seemed quite sleepy. Or rather, it was the gothic loli taking them to their room while Kenji and Histoire followed behind to keep an eye on her.

"Hey, are you sure about this?" Asked the young man while looking at the tome with a raised eyebrow

"What do you mean? (ô_ö)"

"That little girl...Wasn't she one of the seven sages?"

"I'm not with them anymore" Interrupted Abnes while turning her head to look at him over her shoulder "Also, don't call me a little girl!"

"It's okay, Kenji. Abnes did indeed leave the seven sages...And even if she still were with them, she would never do anything to harm Compa, IF or any other little girl. Not even if her life depended on it"

"If you say so..."

Kenji was not aware of it, but Abnes's dedication towards protecting little girls both physically and mentally was second to none. And after knowing about the kidnapping deeds of her fellow sages, she left the organization without a second thought.

"But that matter aside. Just where have you been all this time?"

"Got myself a room at that guild's inn a few blocks away...Pretty nice place for having such a cheap rent"

"I- I see... (-_-;)"

A few days after he left, Histoire imagined Kenji already left Planeptune and was either in an unknown area or in another nation during his search for Peashy. The idea of him being merely a few streets away all of this time didn't cross her mind at all, and this made her wonder why it didn't. But this train of thought was cut short after finally reaching the girl's room.

"Okay then, now I'll help both of you get changed" Said Abnes while letting both Compa and IF go into the room with a smile on her face and before turning around to stop Kenji right on his tracks with a more stern expression on her face "You're staying outside."

"What? Why?"

"What do you mean "why?"!? Two little girls are going to get chagned!"

"So?"

"So!? What kind of question is that!?"

"I did change their diaper a lot when they were little, you know..."

"That's completely different!"

"Kenji, just let her do it herself. I assure you she won't try anything (-_-;)"

"That's what you say now. And either way, I can't see what's the big deal any-"

The young man couldn't even finish his phrase nor take another step forward, as Abnes stopped him by placing her index on her chest and looking at him straight in the eye.

"STAY. RIGHT. HERE!"

Unlike her stern but easily irritable attitude from earlier, the gothic loli was acting completely different from before. Her tone was a lot more serious, right down to the point of even giving an opressive and nearly terrifying feeling. And even if just for a moment, the young man could swear he was seeing a dark aura forming around her.

"O-Okay, okay...I get it..." He said while placing one hand in front of him and sweat dropping

Without further ado, Abnes closed the door and left both Kenji and Histoire outside.

"(Women are scary...)"

Despite looking quite weak, Abnes proved she was capable of being certainly intimidating. More than enough to make even him back away.

"Hey, Histoire..."

"What is it?" She asked while turning sideways to look at him

Among the thoughts coursing through his mind, something suddenly popped up. Something that felt awfully obvious to think about, yet he failed to do so until now.

"I didn't think this until now...But why is she here?"

"To be honest with you, I was wondering why didn't you ask that sooner (ö_ô)"

"Also, where's everyone else?"

"They're out on a task right now...And it's actually related to Abnes's presence here in the basilicom"

"What do you mean by that?"

"I think it would be better if Abnes herself explained it to you"

Kenji didn't fully understand why receiving the answer from Abnes would be any better than from her, but agreed nonetheless and waited along with her. Once the gothic loli got out of the room to leave Compa and IF sleep peacefully, Histoire led everyone back to the main room where she asked of her to tell him the same thing she said to the CPUs earlier. Abnes then proceeded to tell the young man everything that she knew. She explained to him how the seven have been kidnapping children for years now without her knowledge of it, causing her to flip out and leave without a second thought after finding out about it. She also explained that due to her lack of power to stop them herself, she decided to ask for the help of the CPUs.

"Wait...There's one thing I don't get yet"

"What?"

"Why are they kidnapping so many children?"

One thing that confused Kenji out of all of this were the kidnappings themselves.

Normally, you kidnapp someone when you wish to get something useful out of them or want to get a ransom. But even after years, not one rescue note regarding said children was sent. And besides from money, there wasn't much else to gain out of it.

Acording to Abnes, the seven sages kidnapped quite a bunch of children too. This meant they'd have to not only watch over them constantly, but also keep them feed. This was a great loss of money which they could probably afford. But still, a loss is a loss.

"I'm not really sure, I didn't stay long enough to ask" She replied with a stern expression "But I did find out where they're keeping the children..."

"And that's why you asked them for help?"

"That's right...I don't like CPUs, but I'm not strong enough to help those little girls by myself either"

"I see..." He said before remaining silent for a moment or two "Say...Everyone in the seven sages hates CPUs, right?"

"Yeah, they all do"

"Then why do you work with those two?"

"Two?"

"You know, the smug redhead and the little girl with cat ears?"

"Ah, you mean them" Replied Abnes while her expression went from confusion to a more neutral one "I wasn't there when they first appeared, but I heard from the rat that they forced everyone to obey them by using force"

"All the sages!? (O_O)"

"If I remember right, he said the guy with red hair nearly killed the witch without even breaking a sweat. That's how he convinced Rei to give in"

The tome was surprised to say the least. The seven sages were an organization known for their powerful members and had been known as a force capable of holding their ground even against the might of all the nations combined. Knowing that two individuals alone were capable of forcing all six sages into submission in such a short amount of time. Neptune's kidnapping already gave Histoire an idea of how wicked they could be, but this proved they were far more threatening than she could imagine.

"(Rei?)"

After hearing that familiar name, yet another thought ran through his mind. But he decided to ignore this one for the moment and focused on the current theme at hand.

"Do you know anything else about them?"

"I do know that they're somehow involved with all the kidnappings, but not much more than that...They tend to pop up at random times and hardly talk to any of us on a regular basis except for Rei"

A moment or two went by without Kenji saying a single word while Histoire asked Abnes for some more information about the seven sages. It was during this time of silence that he recalled his confrontation with both Yuube and Devi.

These two individuals were not only CPUs as well, but were also quite powerful. And just like him, they didn't rely on a nation's shares to sustain their powers. If they were really involved with the kidnappings in some sort of way, then nothing good would come out of it.

"Hey, Abnes...one last thing"

"What now?" She asked while turning her head to look at him again

"Where are they keeping the children?"

"In an underground base around Lastation"

After getting her answer, the young man got up on his feet

"Are you planing to go?"

Kenji turned his head to look at Histoire this time.

"Yeah...Something about this whole deal gives me a really bad feeling"

"I see..."

Even though she was convinced that the combined strength of the CPUs wouldn't fail even against Yuube nor Devi, there was something to be said about a warrior's instincts. Kenji already fought against both of them, meaning that he probably had a better understanding of their powers and capabilities than anyone else on the ultradimension. His desire to go was understandable. And besides, having an extra fighter on the front line always was a welcome sight.

"Please, try to be careful...There's no telling what sort of tricks they may be keeping in store"

"Okay" Said the young man before turning around and heading to the front door

*Scene*

The seemingly endless cluster of white clouds went over him as the young man flew through the skies at full speed in his HDD form. Some were small and dispersed around the place while others were very large. But none of them managed to hide the sun for too long.

"Hm...It should be close by"

After receiving a more detailed description of where to find this underground base where all the children were suppossedly being kept hostage, Kenji wasted no time on heading there as fast as he could.

Histoire's faith in the CPUs was backed up by the many victories they gained over the course of the years, but those were mostly against enemies that relied purely on their brute force and numbers. Yuube and Devi were different. Not only did they have the full powers of HDD at their reach, but the capabilities of powers seemed to go beyond conventional means as well. Devi could easily summon an unknown number of monsters to serve her as a personal army and Yuube's sonic blasts were a force to be reckoned with. Also, both of them were highly skilled even without those special skills. They were not to be taken lightly under any circumstance.

The youg man's mind kept recalling the two of them while his body kept moving through the skies. It was after a moment or two that he finally reached the specific destination Abnes marked for him that he snapped back into reality.

"Okay, it has to be somewhere around here..." He muttered while looking at his surroundings in mid-air

His eyes kept searching through all the rocky formations in the vicinity until finally seeing a cave entrance. It didn't look particularily special or out of place at all, but that was part of what made it more likely to be the place he was looking for. It was well known that the easiest way to disguise something was to make it look like it belonged there.

He thought about going in to take a look. But after floating a few feet closer to it, Kenji felt a sharp feeling coming from behind him. Without the slightest hesitation he summoned his sword and held it with both hands before turning around just in time to block an incoming hammer aimed at him. A hammer that belonged to none other than Yuube, who was already in his HDD form.

"Top of the morning to you, bro!"

"You!?"

Before he could break out of the struggle, Kenji got kicked hard in the gut and sent a few steps backwards. The CPU of the beat then used this chance and aimed at him with one hand to released a beat wave. The young man tried placing both arms in front of him to act as a shield and nullify most of the damage, but the impact still sent him flying a few feet away.

"Urgh!"

There was no time to lose, though, as Yuube quickly flew towards him. But Kenji didn't lag behind either and charged forward as well right after regaining his balance. The two warriors then clashed their weapons and caused a loud shocwave equal to an explosion around them before starting new series of attacks. Sword and hammer clashed against each other at least a dozen times or so before finally entering another struggle.

"Didn't think I'd see your ugly mug again!"

"What!? Did'cha think I'd drop the mic after one beating!?" Said Yuube with a grin

"Never hurts to hope, does it!?" Replied the young man with a similar smirk

"No...But THIS will!"

After that short exchange of words, the two pushed each other away to gain some distance before Yuube shot another beat wave and Kenji used a moonlight slash. Both energy blasts crashed and exploded into a cloud of smoke from which both CPUs flew out of before quickly flying into again and clashing weapons, causing a shockwave that dissipated all the smoke within seconds.

"(Damn it, I don't have time for this!)" Thought Kenji with exasperation

"You're here for the brats, ain't you?"

Kenji didn't answer, but the look in his eyes was more than enough of an answer for the CPU of the beat, whose expression didn't seem very pleased about this.

"First those ho's and now you" Said the CPU of the beat after breaking free from a struggle and gaining some distance before clicking his tongue "I knew I should've snapped that brat's neck when I had the chance"

"Ho's? You mean the CPUs?"

"Yeah...If that's what you wanna call them"

"Where are they!?" Asked Kenji with a more stern expression while aiming at Yuube with his sword

"They went into that cave over there just a moment ago" Replied the CPU of the beat while aiming at the cave entrance with his thumb before making a grin "Wouldn't worry too much about it, though. There's a lil surprise waiting for them in there"

Kenji's eyes widened almost inmediately, and in just a split second he dashed towards the cave at full speed. But once again he was stopped by Yuube, who forced him into a struggle once again to keep him in place.

"Where do you think you're going, bro!?"

"Get out of my way!"

"Make me!"

Despite putting all of his strength into it, Kenji couldn't pull Yuube back. It was only after ten seconds of constantly struggling that he finally backed away.

"You wanna crash the party?" Said the CPU of the beat before making a hand gesture to bring it on "You gotta get through the DJ first!"

"Fine by me!"

The young man then focused his flames into the blade of his sword before charing towards Yuube once again.

While the two warriors kept going all out against each other, the CPUs walked deeper and deeper into the cave. All of them completely unaware of the raging battle taking place outside. With the echoes of it bouncing through the cave's walls as their only clue.

"Hey, hey...did you hear that?"

"Hm? Hear what?" Asked Noire while turning around to look at Plutia, who stopped walking to turn around and look back

"That...Can't you hear it?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't hear anything" Answered Nepgear

"It's kinda like a boom sound...but from very far away..."

Curious as to what the drowsy CPU meant, everyone stood quiet for a few moment and focused on hearing around them. It wasn't long before their ears caught the sound she was referring to. It was a low rumble that echoed all around them.

"Ah! I hear it now!" Said the CPU candidate with a surprised expression

"Certainly, it sounds similar to an explosion..." Added Leanbox's CPU

"I think it's coming from outside"

"Maybe it's the wind" Suggested Noire

"Or thunder..."

"So it's raining outside?"

"I hope it isn't...Walking around with drenched clothes is not pleasant at all..." Said Vert while clossing her eyes and thinking about having to make the whole trip back with her clothes completely wet from the rain

"Maybe not..." Interrupted Blanc "Lightning doesn't necessarily need rain. It's well known for storms of lightning alone to appear from time to time, sometimes without shedding a single drop of water..."

"That's amazing, Blanc...How did you know that?"

"I read it in a book about changing climates"

"I-I see..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

"Either way, we don't have time for that"

Although most of the group got suddenly caught up in the subject of the echoing sound, Noire didn't forget the reason they were there for.

"We have to find the children, remeber?"

"That's true...there's something we have to do..."

"Then let's keep moving. I'd rather get this over with quickly"

More than to save the children, Lastation's CPU merely didn't want to stay in that cave more than what they needed to. And she'd make sure to keep everyone focused on it.

After everyone agreed with her, the group ventured yet deeper into the cave. Deep enough for the sound to become unable to reach them anymore. Everyone seemed either calm or focused on the path in front of them. Everyone except for one person in particular.

"Nep-chan?"

Plutia couldn't help but notice it during the walk. That among everyone in the group, Neptune was the only one that had yet to say anything. And that was very worrying if you put into account how noisy she was on a regular basis. And not only that, but she wore a rather gloomy expression as well.

"Hey, Plutia...I've been kind of having this heavy feeling lately, and I don't know what it is..."

Ever since the day Peashy and Kenji left, a heavy mood lingered in the basilicom. Everyone went by with their daily lives while trying not to worry too much about it, but it didn't change the fact it was there. And the perky CPU was probably the most hurt of them all. She did her best to remain happy and cheerful to avoid worrying everyone else, but it didn't stop it from eating at her.

Neptune always valued friendship over anything else, even more so than pudding. So one could only imagine how bad this whole deal felt for her. Not only did she exchanged a lot of badly chosen words with Peashy before she was taken away in front of her but she also ended up arguing with Kenji, causing the latter to run away and leave without a trace for almost a month.

"Nep-chan...How about you apologize?"

"Eh?"

"I'm sure we'll see Peashy again someday and Ken-chan is probably feeling lonely by now, so he'll come back soon..." Explained Plutia with a smile "So when we see them again, you should try to apologize"

The drowsy CPU wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, but she could tell Neptune probably felt regret for what happened even if she had yet to even realize it herself. But Plutia didn't think of all of this as a complex issue or even as a problem. She honestly believed that this could be fixed by having both sides apologize to each other. And it was that honest belief what helped Neptune regain her cheerfulness.

"Yeah...that's right!" Said the once again perky CPU with a smile

"(Thank goodness...It looks like big sister will be okay)"

Nepgear as well managed to notice her older sister was in low spirits as well but had no idea of what to say to her. Fortunately Plutia managed to cheer her up, and that made the CPU candidate happy despite the feeling of being unable to do anything this time around somewhat dragging her mood down.

With that taken out of the way, the Planeptune sisters were now able to put their full focus on the task at hand. They, along with the rest of the group, kept going with a more lively pacing on their steps. This underground exploration lasted for a while longer before finally reaching the far end of the tunnels.

It was a large cavern with lakes of magma coursing around the areas they walked through and iluminating them with a bright orange light. There was also some varied rock formations along with the random piece of machinery lying around here and there, but the one thing everyone placed their focus on was the middle-aged man calmly standing around there as if it was the most common thing in the world.

"You!"

"Hm?" Said Mister Badd as he turned around and had his expression change into a shocked one after seeing the group "The CPUs!? What are you doing here!?"

"We're here for the children! Now hand them over!" Said Noire with a demanding tone

"The children...I didn't think that foolish girl would rely on the CPUs of all people"

A mixture of anger and dissapointment showed in the middle-aged man's stern face. He knew only the weak Abnes would stoop so low as to rely on the CPUs for help. This betrayal and lack of both principles and pride from the gothic loli caused him to feel a strong disgust and anger that mixed together. But this didn't last for long as his frown quickly changed into a confident smirk.

"And do you really think I'll tell you so easily?"

"I imagine we'll have to beat it out of you...But I have no problem with doing that..."

"If it isn't Lady Blanc...It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Don't call me that, you old fattass!" Replied Blanc with a louder tone than before and an angry expression

Lowee's CPU was not amused with seeing Mister Badd at all. It actually was the complete oppossite. Just having to see the face of the man that not only betrayed her but also tried to put her in a cage and take over her nation. It was no wonder the simple sight of him made her blood boil.

"I see that rude attitude of yours hasn't changed at all..."

"Just give it up! It's six against one!"

"Is that what you think?"

Mister Badd, despite being seemingly outnumbered, didn't show a single sign of worry about his current situation. And the reason became clear soon enough.

"Kyu?"

"Eh?"

Once again a sound echoed through the cave. But for the misfortune of the CPUs, it was a far more ominous and familiar sound than the one they heard before.

From behind Mister Badd's leg, a fishbug slowly walked out to be in plain sight.

"Kyu!"

"It's that thing again!" Yelled Neptune while pointing at it

And that wasn't the only one around. From behind boxes, machines and even rock formations, dozens of other fishbugs walked into view. All of them crawling closer towards them.

"Uwahhhh! They're everywhere!"

"CPUs...It was really rude of you to interrupt me while I was spending time with my daughters" Said Mister Badd before his daughters stood between him and the group as he summoned his power suit "It seems I'll have on choice but to get rid of you"

"Do you think this will be enough to win against us!?" Said Noire before transforming

Everyone followed her example and transformed as well. Both because it was time to fight and to feel lessen the psychological impact of seeing the sickening creatures.

In a split second the entire cavern became a raging battlefield just like outside. The CPUs all split up and dealt with their own share of trouble. This trouble came in the form of dozens of little fishbugs jumping and hitting them with their bodies as projectiles While Mister Badd jumped in with his power suit and handed out constant robotic jabs. Curiously enough, he didn't use his shoulder rocket launchers at all. But the battle was still difficult even without them.

Things went out mostly on equal ground with the group being on the defensive for nearly half the battle as they were forced to fend off the small creatures while dodging the incoming attacks from the giant power suit. But it slowly began taking a turn towards their favor when the endless waves seemed to slow down after Mister Badd's daughters falling down and being unable to fight due to the beating they received. Slowly but steadily the number of battle-ready fishbugs went down and down until he was the only one left, and even he was already beaten up quite a bit. It was at this moment that the fight truly got serious.

With her daughters no longer involved in the heat of battle, the middle-aged man didn't hesitate to unleash the full power of his power suit. Not only by attacking at a much faster rate and with greater strength but also by enabling his shoulder rocket launchers to see some proper use. Although he didn't go full cowboy with them like last time and showed some more caution, this was probably out of fear of getting the fishbugs caught in the blasts or of causing the cavern to colapse down on their heads and bury all of them alive.

Although this tactic was effective, it only worked for keeping the CPUs at bay. Now he was the one on the defensive and it didn't take long for that defense to crumble down. While he was focused trying to keep them at bay, both Green Heart and White Heart managed to break through either by dodging some of the missiles or simply by cutting them to pieces and letting the fragments explode behind them as they dashed closer to Mister Badd. And before he had any chance to gain any distance, Leanbox's CPU threw her spear towards the power suit's knee and caused it to kneel down and loose balance. This left the perfect opening for Lowee's CPU to give the finishing blow by using a downwards slash and hitting the robotic head, crushing it like an egg and cutting through until almost leaving it torn in half. Needless to say, the machine went haywire and released countless sparks before suddenly turning off and crumbling down.

"Uwhoaaaaahhhhh!" Yelled Mister Badd as he fell down to the ground "Nonsense...again!?"

"Hah! Serves you right, you pig!" Said White Heart while looking down at him with a smirk before reverting back to her human form

The other CPUs did the same thing as well and reverted back to their original forms to save energy for the moment.

"Game design rules! Re-used bosses get easier everytime!"

"Now then. Spill it out..." Said Noire again with a demanding tone "Where are the kidnapped children?"

The middle-aged man's expression didn't show anger or reluctance as many of the ones looking at him expected. He instead made a smirk and gave out a muffled laugh in response to their demands.

"What's so funny?"

"You still don't realize it, do you?" He said while slowly getting back up on his feet "The children you've been looking for have been right here in front of you all this time!"

"What's that supposed to mean? The only things here are you and those weird things"

Noire and pretty much the rest of the group was confused by the answer they received. Mister Badd said the children were right in front of them, but the only things in sight were him and the fishbugs. But this quickly led to one of them to wonder something about the current situation.

Even though they reached the deepest point of the cave, the only thing they found was a large area with a few left-over machinery and random boxes. But there was no sign of any holding cells nor the kids for that matter. Abnes seemed very confident about this being the right place and even one of the seven sages was here too. But even so, no sign of hostages anywhere.

"I'm sure you know about this already...If someone who isn't fitting ingests a CPU memory, they turn into a hideous monster"

"Wa-Wait a moment...You can't possibly mean..." Said Vert while her expression paled

"That's right!"

Mister Badd's explanation was the last piece of information needed for Noire, Vert and Blanc to solve the puzzle inside their heads.

"Hey, hey, Nep-chan...what is everyone talking about?"

"I don't know. I'm not good with tense moods, so I kinda stopped paying attention"

"Big sister..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

Some of the people among the group had yet to solve the puzzle. And unlike the three other CPUs, Nepgear didn't figure out what they understood yet. But at least she was trying. Neptune and Plutia, on the other hand, were struggling just to catch up with the conversation.

Nepgear didn't find this surprising, but it wasn't something she could take with a smile either.

"You don't get it?" Asked Noire while turning around to look at the trio "The monsters ARE the children!"

"Ohhhhh..."

The shocking revelation would be enough to leave anyone baffled, but it took a moment for it to sink into the minds of the trio due to their rather slow processing skills.

"Eh?" Said the perky CPU before finally understanding it "EHHHHHHHH!?"

Neptune, Plutia and even Nepgear gave out the same reaction in with an impresively good synch. The news were certainly shocking ones, even for the one who could normally break any tense mood and a girl that hardly had enough energy to keep herself awake most of the time.

"Then...all this time we've been fighting children?" Asked the CPU candidate while paling

"Hm..."

"You sick fucker! I should've killed you instead of letting you go!" Yelled Blanc before pulling out her hammer and making a murderous expression

"You...how coud you do such a thing!?" Asked Vert while looking at him with a mixture of anger and disgust

"You're gonna pay for this!"

"Hm...!"

"Stand back you two...This is my responsability, and I'll make sure to deal with it right now!"

"Go ahead and try if you want...My beloved daughters won't hesitate to get up and protect me!"

"Kyuhhh..."

True to Mister Badd's word, the fishbugs all got back up and stood between him and the CPUs.

"No way...they're still going to fight?"

"They may not look like it, but my daughters are very resilient girls"

"Kyu!"

"Hey, what do we do now!?" Asked Noire

"There's no doubt that we must capture him, but we can't hurt the children either..."

"Hm...!"

"Eh?" Said Nepgear while turning around and suddenly noticing Plutia's expression "Ah!"

The CPUs were trapped with the dilema of how to capture Mister Badd without hurting the fishbugs, but little did they know that there was a far deadlier threat looming right behind them.

"E-Everyone! There's an emergency!"

"We know! The children are-!"

"No, no, no! Not that!" Quickly replied the CPU candidate in a panic "It's Plutia!"

"Plutia? What about her?" Asked Noire while turning around

Her along with Vert and Blanc turned around as well, only to for their confused expressions to pale after seeing what Nepgear meant.

Right now, Plutia's expression had darkened beyond belief. Even though she was probably one of the most innocent members of the group in her human form, It was far darker than any expression she had ever made as Iris Heart before. There was a deep, deep anger boiling within her body that leaked through the murderous eyes rendered more evil by the shadows of her bangs, and that endless rage was ready to explode without any warning.

"Hey...This man did something really bad to those children, didn't he?"

"Wa-Wait a minute! Please calm down, Plutia!"

"Somehow...It makes me really, really, really, REALLY angry!"

"Awawawawa! Sadie's gonna explode!"

"Hey, This is really bad...If she goes on a rampage here, we're all gonna be goners" Said Blanc while breaking a cold sweat

Normally Iris Heart was a competent and very useful ally when tearing through enemy monsters was a need, but it was these explosive rages what made her so dangerous. Mostly because they completely erased the concept of ally and enemy, effectively turning her into a berserker whose only purpose was to destroy everything in sight.

"Everyone! We have to get out of here now!"

Everyone looked at Noire and quickly agreed with her idea. Having to allow Mister Badd to escape again and leaving the children as they were would leave a bad taste in their mouths, but allowing Iris Heart to go on a rampage and kill everyone in sight wasn't a solution either.

With no choice other than to retreat and live to see another day, the group quickly turned around and ran away as fast as they could until finally getting outside.

"Thank goodness...We made it..." Said Nepgear while taking deep breaths

"This is unbelievable! I can't accept this!"

As Noire spoke out her mind with an exasperated tone, Plutia quickly transformed into Iris Heart just before retorting to her.

"If that's the case, then why didn't you let me take care of it right there!?"

"Sh-She appeared!" Said both Planeptune sisters in perfect synch

"Noire-chan...my little, foolish, insignificant and weak Noire-chan..." Said Iris Heart while walking closer to her "You made us leave and let me with all this pent up anger...so now, you'll be the one helping me vent it off"

"Eh!?"

Lastation's CPU knew things were about to get horribly bad when Plutia used HDD, but she didn't imagine the one to pay the price would be her again.

"Wa-Wait a moment!"

"Oh!? So Noire's the one getting it again...We're saved" Said Neptune with relief

"You people! Stop idling around and do something!"

In this moment of desperation, it was a given she would seek help from the other CPUs. But there was very little they would do to aid her, at least against Iris Heart's wrath.

"Sorry, no can do" Said Vert before taking distance away

"We value your self-sacrifice...I wouldn't want to ruin that..."

"I'm really sorry, Noire!"

"See you later!"

"Wait! Don't leave me!"

Part of her knew they would all run away from this, but there was always that slight glimmer of hope. Although that glimmer was crushed to pieces once again.

"Ahhhh...Noire-chan, the way you shiver in fear is soooo adorable...It just makes me want to bully you even more"

"N-No...Noooo! Stay away!"

Noire could feel the very core of her body shivering in fear of the horrible trauma she was about to receive. But it was in the midst of that fear that she saw something coming towards them at an alarming speed.

"Eh? Hey, Plutia! Look out behind you!"

"Oh, Noire-chan...Do you really think I'll fall for something like that?" She said with a smirk before she felt something behind her "Hm?"

It was a given the sadistic CPU saw her victim's warning as an attempt to distract her, but she soon came to realize her words weren't so fake after hearing a buzzling sound growing louder. She quickly turned around to see a yellow blast of energy headed rigth towards her before having to mode sideways to avoid it. Allowing the blast to impact against a tree instead and blow it up to pieces.

"What was that!?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes

Despite nearly killing two of them in one hit, none of the CPUs had the slighest idea where it came from.

"Oh? Looks like someone wants to play..." Said Iris Heart while looking around her "Who was it!? Come out!"

"Awwww...I missed..."

"Don't worry. It's quite normal to fail without some proper practice"

"Hm...I don't really get it, but okay!"

"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Demanded Iris Heart

"Hey, auntie Kitty...I think that woman wants to talk to us"

"Then let's go and greet her, shall we?"

"Okay!"

The groups couldn't see them, but they could indeed hear two women talking to each other.

"There I go!" Said the younger and more child-like of the two voices before suddenly going into a panic "Uw-Uwaaahhhh...I can't control it!"

"Ah..."

At the start this conversation was confusing for everyone to say the least, but it didn't take long for the group to realize something. And it was something that hinted at them to seek safety by getting away from Noire.

"Eh? Why is everyone looking at me? Or rather, why is everyone walking away from me?"

"Uwaaahhhhh...I'm faaaaalling!"

"No way, this can't be happening, it can't be happening, not a third time, there's no way, no way at all, not at-"

The back of Noire's brain managed to quickly understand the route things were taking, and she could do nothing but mutter in a silent panic how badly she desired to be wrong. But fate wasn't kind enough to grant her wish, as a large object fell right on her with enough speed and power to cause an explosion.

"Owieeeee...I fell on my bum..." Said a childish female voice before lauging "But that was fun!"

Once the dust cleared out, everyone managed to see someone laying over Lastation CPU in a pose that left no room to the imagination. It was a blonde girl with orange eyes and very long clear bonde hair that went past her shoulders and was tied up in a ponytail with an odd white and blue piece.

She was wearing a white skintight bodysuit with blue and red accents both on her breasts and hips along with a choker, plain gloves that reached up to her elbows and thight-high boot.s She also had two massive bracers with three yellow claws on each wrist.

"Another CPU?" Asked Nepgear with a surprised expression

"Nepu! The character roster keeps growing by the chapter!" Said Neptune with widened eyes

"And this one doesn't seem to be very bright either..." Added Blanc

"But...you know...there's that..."

"Yeah...that..."

Both Planeptune sisteers weren't very clear with what they meant, but just one quick look at the blonde woman was more than enough for anyone to understand.

The most defining detail about this CPU wasn't her sudden intrusion nor the fact she proved to be very lacking in the brains department, but something much more noticeable. She had an absolutely massive chest. Far larger than even Vert's.

"They're huge!" Said Neptune with widened eyes

"My...My strongest character trait..." Said Vert, who had been too baffled to speak until now, with a pale expression

"Another bimbo...Those are way too big to be real" Muttered Lowee's CPU with a popping vein mark on her forehead after clicking her tongue

While Neptune and Nepgear gazed with amazement at the massive pair, Vert and Blanc felt everything but happyness from this. Lowee's CPU could hardly keep her mental sanity with the voluptuous CPU always bragging about her large chest, and the idea of having yet another one doing the same made her feel like she could lose her mind any second now. And Vert couldn't consider her blone hair as an unique trait since Kenji was blond as well, leaving her chest as her strongest selling point and only unique trait. This misterious girl not only broke that idea of unique, but also surpassed her in size by a wide margin. One could only imagine how devastating this was for Leanbox's CPU, who felt a near endless pride of her bountiful chest.

"Hey...Just how long are you going to keep sitting on me!?"

"Huh?" Said the extremely voluptuous CPU while looking down and noticing Noire "Uwah! A person came out of my bum!"

"No, I didn't!" Snarled Lastation's CPU while finally getting back up on her feet after her rider got off and got extremely exasperated "Why do you people keep falling on me!? Is this some sort of running gag or something!?"

"Hahaha! The bum girl is making a funny face!"

"Don't call me that!"

"I'm not sure why, but I get the feeling I heard a similar conversation somewhere before..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

"So I must assume you're the one that attacked me by the back just now?" Asked Iris Heart while walking closer to her

"Eh? Attack you?" Asked the confused blonde while turning to look at her "I did that?"

"Yes...you did..." She replied slowly

Despite her calm tone, it was easy to notice one of the sadistic CPU's eyebrows was twitching. And the way her tone grew lower meant this woman was really pssing her off. Not only did she attack her and interrupt her fun, but also ignored her and even forgot about doing it. This lack of respect was far beyond what anyone ever dared to do.

"Ah! That's right!" Said the voluptuous blone while smiling "Papa told me to fight the mean CPUs, so I came here to fight them"

"Oh? You're quite the obedient little daughter then, Aren't you?"

"Wait...You're CPUs!"

"You think so?"

"Eh? You aren't?"

That innocent yet absurd question caused Iris Heart's eyebrow to twitch even harder as a vein mark popped on her forehead. Her blood was probably boiling like lava at this very moment.

"Awawawa! This girl's making sadie even angrier!"

"This is bad! If she starts laughing, we're all goners!" said Nepgear while shivering in her place

"Are you trying to mock me?"

"Mock? What's that?"

There was seemingly no end to amount of dumb questions this person laid out on the table everytime Iris Heart said something. And it was literally throwing dry wood to the raging flame of wrath that could explode at any moment now.

"It seems to me like this conversation won't go anywhere unless it gets stopped now" Said a voice aboe

Everyone raised their heads to look up and saw yet another individual coming down from the skies. But this one managed to land with far more ease than the last one.

"Auntie Kitty!" Said the girl with a smile

Devi, who was in her HDD form, turned her head to look at the blonde girl.

"Say, dear. Aren't you forgetting about something?"

"Eh? Something?"

"That's right...You forgot to introduce yourself to them"

"Ah! You're right" She replied with widened eyes before turning around to look at the CPUs again "Hello! I'm...erm...what was it?"

The blonde CPU placed her index finger on her chin and tried as hard as she could to recall her own name.

"It's the same color as your claws, dear..."

"My claws?" She said while raising her arm to look at the golden claws coming out of her braces before her confused expression changed into a smile once again "I remembered! It's Golden Heart!"

"Yellow Heart...It's Yellow Heart, not Golden Heart" Said Devi while sweat dropping

"Yeah, that! I'm Yellow Heart!"

While most of the group sweat dropped while focusing on Yellow Heart, Vert and Blanc were focusing on Devi instead.

"It's an invasion...An invasion of tits..."

"Another rival appears..." Muttered Leanbox's CPU while analyzing the catgirl's endowed chest with a stern expression "They seem to about the same size as mine...At least I think so..."

"Is something the matter?" Asked Devi while turning her head to look at Vert

With the two piercing stares drilling holes in her chest, it was nearly impossible for her not to notice them.

"You...What's your bust size?"

"Why should it matter?"

"Just answer me!"

Devi simply looked at her in silence for a moment or two before calmly answering

"97cm..."

"She...She defeated me..." Said Vert while falling down on all four with teary eyes and a very depressed expression "Now I'm in third place?"

"Nepu! Vert is down before the loading screen even appeared!"

While Nepgear tried to cheer Leanbox's CPU up, the sound of explosions that could only be heard from far away up until now grew much closer than before.

"Hm...It seems those two are going at it already" Said Devi while turning her head to look at the direction from where the explosions were coming from "And they're coming over here too"

True to her words, both Yuube and Kenji's constant clashings through the sky caused them to drift back to where it started. Making both of them easy for the CPUs to see.

The two had a few bruises here and there, but were still going at each other's throat with as much intensity as they were at the start.

"Everyone! Look over there!" Said Nepgear while pointing at the two men fighting on the sky above the forest

"Is that...Kenji?"

While they looked at them fight, the two male CPUs had once again entered into a struggle. And it was at this moment that his eyes looked to the side and noticed them.

"(There they are!)"

"Where are ya looking, bro!?"

Yuube, who noticed his opponent's attention suddenly went elsewhere, put more strength into his weapon and forced back Kenji. But the young man managed to react by pushing the warhammer away. This caused both fighters to be wide open, and the CPU of the beat inmediately placed his hand forward in an attempt to use a quick sonic blast to push him away. Kenji quickly leaned sideways just in time to avoid the attack by mere inches and grabbed Yuube's arm before pulling him closer and kneeling him in the gut hard enough to make him bend.

"Guoh!"

The red-haired CPU's eyes widened as the air left his lungs. And before he could even react, Kenji grabbed his arm even tighter and made him spin around at least a dozen times or so before letting go of him. Yuube flew down towards the forest below them at the speed of a rocket and crashed like one, lifting up a cloud of dust as a few trees got torn to pieces and a crater was created on the ground by the impact.

"Hah! How's that feel!?" Said Kenji with a smirk while looking down

With Yuube momentarily unable to move, the young man took advantage of the moment to turn around and fly towards the CPUs.

"Heeeey! Everyone!" He said out loud before landing a short distance away from them and covering the rest by foot "Are you okay?"

"What are you doing here?"

The young man's face changed into a confused one after hearing Noire's rather straightforward question. "What do you mean "What?"? I'm here to help you"

"Well, we were doing just fine without you"

"Oh, come on. Don't be like that..."

Lastation's CPU simply answered to Kenji by crossing her arms and turning her head sideways

"(Is she still angry? Or rather, why is she the one that's angry?)" He thought while sweat dropping

The young man had the feeling his reunion with the CPUs wouldn't be a party of hugs and cheers, but it would be a lie to say he hoped for them to be at least slightly happy of of seeing him again.

"Where have you been? And how did you find us?"

"Histoire told me you were here"

Nepgear quickly threw questions at him by the second, but there were traces of happyness mixed up with the curiosity in her expression. And seeing that at least one of them was glad to see him again was comforting.

While looking at the CPU candidate, he couldn't help but notice Vert behind her. And that she was down on all four with a dark aura of depression around.

"By the way...What's up with Vert?" He asked while leaning sideways and looking at her

"Erm...Well..." Said Nepgear with a weak smile

She struggled for a moment or two to find the way to explain it before simply pointing with her finger to the side. Kenji followed it and turned his head to see first Devi, and then Yellow Heart. And it didn't take long for him to notice her most prominent feature.

"Whoa! They're huge!" He said with whidened eyes while taking a step back and sweat dropping "That has to be the biggest pair I've ever seen"

"Ke-Kenji! Don't say that in front of Vert!"

"Eh?"

Nepgear tried warning him, but it was too late. Kenji had gone and said it outloud.

"The biggest...They're the biggest ones...Even he can tell..."

He turned his head just in time to see the dark aura around Vert grow larger as her mood sunk even deeper. And if you looked close enough, there were tears forming on her eyes already.

"Vert! Please don't be so sad!" Said Nepgear while getting closer to her "I'm sure Kenji didn't mean it like that. Right, Kenji?"

"Ye-Yeah! That's right!" Quickly replied the young man in a panic "I mean. Sure, they're a lot bigger than yours. But size ain't everything"

"Bigger...A lot bigger...Ugh..." Muttered Vert while sobbing

"Kenji!"

"Uwah! So-Sorry!"

"I'm not sure what's worse...the depressed person, or the ones trying to cheer her up..." Said Blanc while sweat dropping

"That guy has no tact at all..."

"Well, Kenny's bad at pretty much everything that doesn't relate to fights... It can't be helped, really" Added Neptune with a weak smile as a reply to Noire's comment while sweat dropping

The whole tension from a moment ago went completely down the drain. Or at least it did until a loud explosion forced everyone to turn around. The first thing they saw was pieces of wood from tress flying all over the place along with a cloud of dust that hanged around for a bit longer before clearing out and showing Yuube standing on the edge of the forest.

He had a few more bruises on his head and some dirt on his clothes. His hair was messy and had a few leaves stuck to it along with a branch on the left side stuck to his ear processor. And his expression was that of extreme irritation.

"You're gonna pay for that, bro!"

"(Damn it...I'm actually kind of glad to see him)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

As bad as Yuube getting back up to fight could be, it was probably the only way to break through this awkward situation taking place right now. And that was more than enough to make Kenji feel glad, despite how odd it felt at the same time.

"I was wondering what was taking you so long..." Said Devi while crossing her arms

"Don't get all high and mighty with me, Devi!" Snarled the CPU of the beat while walking closer to her

"Hahahahaha! Yuu looks really funny!"

"You shut up!"

"Eeeek!"

"Hey, Yuube. You know you're not supposed to yell at her"

"Then how about you stop dicking around and help me!?" Snarled Yuube angrily once again while brushing the leaves off of his hair and fixing it up "Seriously...you ho's make ME do all the work..."

"Hey, Auntie Kitty...Is Yuu angry?"

"Don't worry, dear. This idiot is always angry for no reason"

"I have a reason now!"

"Hey...you people..."

Both Yuube and Devi turned their heads to look at Iris Heart.

"Just how much longer are you planning to fool around here?"

"That's right! That's right!" Added Neptune "We're already at 20,000 words here! The chapter's getting way too long!"

"Certainly. We're merely wasting time here..."

"You're the one that didn't do shit yet" Said Yuube while looking at Devi with a vein mark on his forehead

The feline CPU turned her head and looked at Yellow Heart once again.

"Hey, Yellow Heart. Do you remember why we're here?"

"Hm...because Papa said to beat up bad CPUs?"

"That's right..." Replied Devi with a smile before pointing at the group "And those people over there are the bad CPUs"

"Bad CPUs..."

The busty blonde looked at the CPUs once again before looking at her auntie one more time with a more stern expression.

"Then I only have to beat them up, right?"

"Precisely..."

"Okay! I'll beat all the mean CPUs!" Said Yellow Heart as she looked at the group again and raised bot braces into an assault stance

"So we're done talking..." Said Blanc before transforming "About damn time!"

Vert, who got back up on her feet earlier and already transformed, looked at the enemy with a very intense stare.

"Your very existence is a threat to this dimension's order" She said before summoning her spear and aiming at both Devi and Yellow Heart "For the sake of my nation, I'll make sure to strike you down!"

For a split second, most of the people present on the scene had the feeling her desire to fight had nothing to do with Leanbox. But that feeling was merely ignored as the remaining CPUs went into the HDD form and gave a start to the battle. In this all out war between deities, everyone split up into teams to deal with the sepparate threat. White and Green Heart went up against Devi while Iris Heart and Black Heart took care of giving Yellow Heart a beating. And last, but not least, Purple Sister, Purple Heart and Kenji went up against Yuube.

While the CPU of the Beat took things up into the skies, Yellow Heart and Devi remained at ground level. The blonde CPU fought head on against her two opponents by parrying both sword and whip with her claws while she also did her best to keep White and Green Heart at bay. This helped Devi to keep a safe distance to use constant barrages of spells, effectively becoming a long distance support. With some attacks being basic magic such as fireballs or gusts of wind while others were far more devastating. With one of the most powerful being arranging the sheets floating around all together like a wall, which would suddenly shine and act like a portal from which a random beast appeared to release a powerful attack. These beast ranged from a fire-breathing dragon's head to large creatures that tossed massive weapons. And those same sheets became a a hurricane of razor sharp blades if any CPU got too close for comfort.

The fight on the sky raged on with just as much intensity as it did on the ground. With Kenji and Purple Heart constanly clashing their weapons against Yuube while Purple Sister provided support fire with her gunblade. The red-haired CPU was constantly pressure by the attacks coming from three different sides, but nonetheless he managed to keep a strong defense by blowing one of them away with his sonic blasts while keeping the other at bay with his weapon. And despite her best attempts, Purple Sister couldn't land a single blast on him due to his constant movement.

"Take this!" Yelled Green Heart as she thrust her spear right towards her enemy and hit her direcrtly

"Uwaaaahhh!"

Even if Yuube managed to hold his ground, things didn't go that well for Yellow Heart. Even if she packed a strong punch, had some decent moves and was good at handling a beating, there was a notable lack of combat experience on her actions. It was a given she wouldn't be able to handle herself against four CPUs at the same time.

"Owie, Owie, Owieeeeee!"

"Hah! How's that!?" Said White Heart with a grin

"It kind of hurt..." Replied Yellow Heart with a frown before laughing and smiling once again as if nothing had happened "But this is really fun!"

"It had no effect!?" Said Black Heart with widened eyes

"Hey, hey. Are you even trying!?"

"Of course I am!" Replied Green Heart with a mixture of exasperation and shock in her tone "Every single attack was aimed with the purpose of ending her life!"

"Hm...Not bad for her first fight. She'll need some proper training, but there's potential there" Said Devi while lookin at Yellow Heart "Hey! Enough playing around! Finish them up already!"

"Eh? But I was having fun..." Said the busty blonde with a pouty face

"Playing around?"

"Are you kidding me!? We were going all out on her and she was playing around with us!?" Said White Heart with a shocked expression

"Don't complain now...If you be good, I'll get you a treat later"

"Hm...Okay!"

After agreeing with the feline CPU's request, Yellow Heart began charing up an energy attack powerful enough to make even the earth around her get filled with cracks.

"Hey! What's going on now!?"

"Yuube! It's time!" Said Devi while turning her head to look at Yuube, who was in the middle of a struggle with Purple Heart

"Huh! Took ya long enough!"

He quickly pushed Planeptune's CPU away and used a beat wave to send her flying away and back towards the other CPUs.

"Argh!"

"Big sister!"

"Neptune!"

Kenji flew towards Yuube and attacked him with a series of moonlight slashes, but he dodged them and flew past the young man. Right towards Nepgear. The CPU candidate attempted to fire a laser blast at him, but the CPU of the beat approached her too fast for it and instead she opted for a clash of weapons. Nonetheless, her attack was parried and left her wide open for him to hit her directly with his warhammer and send her flying away towards the same place as Purple Heart.

"Nepgear!"

There was no time for the young man to worry about the Planeptune sisters, though. As he was suddenly attacked by Yuube once again and forced into a struggle.

"Ooookay! Here I goooooo!" Said Yellow Heart with a very perky tone

Once all CPUs were within range, she released all the power she charged up and caused a massive explosion. A blinding light appeared on the battlefield and engulfed the entire group, leaving only their scream as the only thing for Kenji to hear.

"Bro!" Said the CPU of the beat with a smirk while holding his weapon like a staff with both hands "You're next!"

"(Oh crap!)"

"Subsonic armageddon!"

"Crescent Sapph-!" Yelled Kenji as well in an attempt to counter using his own energy blast

Before he could use his most powerful attack as well, the young man was stricken by a lightng bolt shot by Devi.

The feline CPU took the precaution to fly away from the blast radius and used the blinding light as cover to attack him by the back with a lighting bolt. This stunned for merely a few seconds, but it was more than enough to allow Yuube's ultimate attack to hit him directly.

"Arghhhh!"

The overwhelming shockwave sent Kenji flying away into the blast, which dissipated after a moment or two to show all the CPUs laying down on the ground. All of them were in their human form again, seemingly unconscious and quite beaten too. The young man was no exception to this.

"I did it! I won!" Said Yellow Heart while raising both arms high up into the sky

"Well done, Yellow Heart...I'll make sure to tell your father you did well"

"Yay!"

While Devi returned to Yellow Heart's side and informed her of her success, Yuube looked down at Kenji, who was laying face-down on the floor, with a frown and then at the handle of his weapon. The one light out of the tree that was on slowly became dim until finally fading away.

During their entire fight, Yuube only managed to feel enough rage to activate a strike on the moment when Kenji tossed him down into the forest. Due to this, his subsonic armaggedon's power was merely a fraction of the real deal and the young man managed to survive it.}

"Yuube! We're done here!" Said the feline CPU, who already ascended up quite a distance into the sky along with Yellow Heart, while turning her head to look at him

"I'll get you next time, ya lucky bastard..." Muttered Yuube after clicking his tongue and before turning around to follow after the two females

The three CPUs flew away until getting out of sight and left to return to their hidden base.

"Uwaaaaah...We lost..." Said Plutia with a saddened tone

"Whoever's alive, say something"

"Of course we're alive. There's no way that could be enough to kill us" Replied Noire to Neptune with a mildly annoyed tone

"Well...that could've gone worse..." Said the young man while raising his head

"I don't know you, but I think this went pretty badly"

"We're alive, aren't we?"

A moment of silence went by before Lastation's CPU spoke again.

"Let's just go back..."

Slowly but steadily, everyone got back up on their feet and headed back to Planeptune. No one could use HDD due to their wounds, which was why everyone had to walk back instead of flying.

"Hey...how much left until we're back?"

"Just a little more, Plutia..."

"Ugh...I'm tired..."

Hearing Plutia complain about long walks was normal on every trip. But this time everyone was tired as well, even if some were more reluctant to admit it.

"Hey...Ken-chan..."

"What?"

"Give me a piggy-back ride..."

"Why?"

"Pleaaaase!"

"I'm tired too, you know?"

"Pleaaaaaaaaaase!"

"No..."

"Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!"

"...Fine, just climb up" He said while pointing at his back with his thumb "If I try kneeling down, I'm not getting back up till tomorrow..."

"Yaaay.."

Plutia slowly approached the young man and streched out for a bit before reaching his shoulders. It took some effort on her part, but the drowsy CPU managed to climb up enough for Kenji to wrap his arms around her inner knees and carry her on a piggy back ride.

"Thank you, Ken-chan..."

The young man didn't answer, he simply lowered hish head and sweat dropped.

"Hey, wait a minute. Why does she get to have a ride home?"

"What? do you want a piggy-back ride too?" He asked while turning his head to look at Lastation's CPU

"Wh-Why would I want something like that from you!?"

"Is that so...?"

While Noire turned her head to look forward with a slight blush, Kenji turned his head to look at Nepgear this time.

"Hey, by the way. What happened with the kids?"

"About that..."

While some made more stern expressions, the CPU candidate told him about what happened inside the cave. About their encounter with Mister Badd and about the children's horrible fates.

"Th-That's messed up..." Said the young man with a shocked expression and slightly widened eyes

"Those seven sages...They're really went too far this time" Mentioned Noire with a stern expression

So far, the anti-CPU organization had piled up quite a long list of serious crimes against the nations. But this was the worst thing they did so far. Not only did it go beyond a mere crime, but it was also an inhumane act.

"Hey, Hey. Ken-chan..."

"Hm? What now?"

"Why did you come here?"

"Now that she mentions it, I was wondering that too..." Said Nepgear while turning her head to look at him

"I bet he was feeling all lonely heart and couldn't wait!"

"No, I didn't" Replied the young man with his eyes closed while facing forward

"See!? He's even acting like Noire!"

"Don't compare me to her! I don't get lonely!"

It was probably worth noting that Kenji was a terrible liar, even if he did his best to keep a calm attitude at first. And Neptune could see right through it.

"Hey, you two! Stop saying I'm lonely!" Snarled Lastation's CPU

"You're right...and he's even blushing..." Said a surprised Nepgear

"I'm not blushing! it's just my wounds acting up!"

"His manly pride probably won't let him admit he was lonely..."

First Neptune and now Blanc. One by one the CPUs managed to see through his lie and make spot on comments. Making it even harder for him to find how to answer back.

It wasn't precisely a tsundere attitude, but the perky CPU could tell Kenji probably felt at least a bit lonely all this time. And there was no way she wouldn't take the chance to tease him about it.

"For the last time, I wasn't lonely..." He said with a more composed tone this time "But...Neptune?"

"What, what? Can't hold the tsundere down anymore?"

"About what happened the other day...I'm sorry..."

A short moment of silence went by while she looked at him before answering with a smile.

"Don't worry! That's all pudding under the bridge already!"

"Isn't it supposed to be "water under the bridge"?" He asked while looking at her and sweat dropping

"Don't sweat over the small stuff, Kenny!" Replied Neptune with a smile "Hey...Let's all eat pudding when we go back!"

"Sure...I want to eat with everyone" Said Plutia with a smile

"Well...If everyone else wants to, then I guess it can't be helped" Answered Noire with one eye open and looking at the perky CPU

"Maybe we should buy some on the way there?" Asked Nepgear

"Then it's on Kenny today!"

"Fair enough" Said the young man while facing forward

"And he's giving me his share!"

"Don't push it..."

The conversation about buying pudding and eating it together with everyone went on and on for a while. And it was thanks to this cheerful mood built around it that helped everyone almost forget about their wounds for a moment. But that that pain reliever was only temporary, as the long path home had yet to be traveled, giving more than enough time for the full brunt of their injuries to fall down on them as hard as a bag of bricks again by the time they returned to the basilicom.

"Urgh...so much for a good mood..." Said Kenji with an exhausted look

"No more...I can't walk anymore..." Added the CPU candidate while her knees shivered

"This has to be the first time I walk into Planeptune without a skip in my step..."

"And you know what's worse? There's probably going to be Histoire with some more bad news when we go in..." Said Neptune while sweat dropping

Everyone hoped she was merely spewing nonsense again, but her predictions relating to plots tended to be spot on most of the time. And unfortunately, this one was no exception.

"We're back..." Said the Perky CPU with a not so perky tone

"Everyone, you're finally back!" Replied the tome quickly while flying towards them at full speed "It's an emergency! There's an emergency! (n)"

Not a single person answered. They simply stared at Histoire in silence.

"Is...Is something the matter? (o_o;)"

"No...It's nothing" Replied the CPU candidate "What's wrong?"

"Erm...right..."

Instead of explaining it to them, the tome guided everyone into the living room were Compa, IF and Abnes were staring at the TV.

"What are you looking at?" Asked the young man after putting Plutia down

"It's a broadcast that has been repeating for quite a few times now...And it seems to be on every channel as well"

The CPUs got closer to the electronic box and watched the broadcast. The first thing they saw was a woman with glasses and long blue hair giving a speech, but her stuttering made it somewhat hard to understand.

"E-E-Everyone! To-today I'm here to-to..."

"That's no good, Rei-chan...the people won't understand it if you speak like that" Said Anonydeath from behind the camera "Say it more clearly, and more loudly as well"

"Ah! It's that girl!" Said Kenji while pointing at the screen with widened eyes

"You know her?"

"Yeah, I just spoke with her in the park a few hours ago...Right before dropping by the basilicom..."

"According to the broadcast, she's the leader of the seven sages"

"Ohhhh...so that's why she seemed so flustered this morning" said the young man with a raised eyebrow while rubbing his chin with his left hand

"Wait a moment! You spoke with the leader of the seven sages!?" Asked Noire with a loud tone "didn't you say anything before!?"

"How was I supposed to know she was their leader!?"

"Wait...I think I've seen her too"

"Do you know her, Nepgear?"

"Yeah, but not here" Said the CPU candidate while looking at the tome "Back in our dimension, there's another version of her. She's called Rei Ryghts. And she's the leader of the group that's causing so many troubles"

"Everyone! Today I'm here to an-announce-"

"Oh, come on! Say it right already you dumb whore!"

"Eeeek! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"She ain't going to do it better if you keep yelling-nya"

From behind the camera, two more voices could be heard.

"Isn't that Yuube and Devi?"

"So that's why those two left so fast" Said Vert while focusing on the screen

"I knew I should've been the one doing the announcement..." Said Yuube with an annoyed tone before sounding much smoother again "With this godly charm of mine, something like this would be a cinch!"

Everyone in the room went silent for a moment and sweat dropped while looking at the TV.

"I can't believe I lost to that guy..." Muttered Kenji as he sweat dropped

"Well, at least he isn't laughing like those rich girls that appear a lot in anime" Said Neptune while sweat dropping as well with a weak smile

"Today I'm here to announce the founding of a new nation! A nation called Eden!"

"EHHHHHHH!?" Said everyone in unison

"A new nation!? Are you serious!?" Said Lastation's CPU with widened eyes

"Hey, Histoire! Can they even do that!?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at the tome

"Unfortunately, they can...Anyone with a number of inhabitants and a piece of land can found a nation, but you usually require a CPU to act as the leading deity (ó_ò)"

"Leading deity?"

"So those two are building a nation of their own now?"

"I highly doubt it...If that was their objective, then they would've done so a long time ago..." Said Blanc

Lowee's CPU had a point. If Yuube and Devi wished to build their own nations, then they would've done it years ago when they first arrived into the Ultradimension. But if neither of them was the leading deity, then someone else had to be taking that role.

"Wait...If those two are there, then maybe..." Said Vert

"Hey...You can't possibly think what I'm thinking...right?" Asked Lowee's CPU while sweat dropping

The thought running through the mind of both CPUs soon spread out to the rest of the group. And they shortly came to realize how right their prediction was.

"Now then...allow me to introduce you to our beloved leader and goddes. Lady Yellow Heart!"

After being announced, the blonde CPU walked into camera to take the place of Rei and presented herself to the whole world.

"Hello! I'm Yellow Heart!" She said while waving at the camera "Erm...Please visit our nation! Thank you!"

"I-I knew it!"

A collective scream spread througout the entire basilicom as everyone looked in shock at their new enemy.

With both Yuube and Devi as their allies, the seven sages finally had enough power to bring their ultimate plan into the light. Their own nation, with a goddess wielding overwhelming power under their command. Both Yellow Heart and her nation simbolized not only the start of a war between CPUs, but also one of the greatest challenges the nations would have to face.


	22. Family

**Note from the author: 14/04/17**

 **So, after quite a hefty amount of negative backslash and some thinking, I decided to edit the chapter to make Kenji more active in Peashy's recovery.**

 **Don't get too happy about it yet, though. This note isn't just to tell you that. It's also to tell you something I've been bottling up for a quite while now.**

 **Lately, I've been feeling like people are taking my fanfiction for granted and ignore the crazy amounts of effort needed to make these chapters (most fanfictions and chapters are usually between 7 to 10k long, while I write between 15 to 20k PER CHAPTER!), and honestly, I'm sick and tired of feeling like this.**

 **I agreed to edit this chapter because I also noticed how Kenji's lack of action in this important moment broke his character, but I also did it because you may not get anything more for some time.**

 **There are times when I spent entire days and even all-nighters to writte these chapters just to make sure they're good enough, only to receive little feedback, and in some cases, some incredibly negative reviews. Since I used to get positive reviews after every chapter, I put this aside and kept trying my best to write, but I already reached my limit this time.**

 **I'm physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted right now. And this probably sounds childish to some of you, but I honestly can't either blame you or feel bothered by it at this point.**

 **I will still re-make the early chapters like I promised, but you won't be getting any new ones, at least during this month. I need to focus more on my own health and academic life. So I apologize to those who support my fanfiction and actually love it, but I just can't do this anymore, not like this...**

* * *

As it would be expected of a new nation, Eden's popularity among the people broke through the rooftops and went straight into the skies like a rocket. It was mostly due to the new CPU's "charms".

The combination of her outrageous figure and child-like naiveness was mesmerizing for the population, which flocked like migrating birds towards her. But there was certain worth in mentioning those working in the background as well.

While Yellow Heart served as a head figure for the citizens, the seven sages took care of everything related to running the nation. With their underground connections, financial funding and rutless tatics, the criminal organization managed to create a self-sustaining economy, effectively becoming the rulers of Eden and masters of Yellow Heart, just like they had planned for so many years.

Even now, after ten years since it's birth, Eden was a flourishing nation with an even brighter future ahead of it.

"Okay, is there anything new to report?" Asked Anonydeath while placing both elbows on the table

"Erm...Aren't I the one supposed to say that?" Asked Rei while turning her head to look at him and sweat drop

"According to last month's charts, our stock values have risen up more than twice" Answered Mister Badd with a confident smirk "It's very likely they'll keep rising by 40 to 60 percent on average for the following months"

"Woop! Hehehehe..."

"It seems things are going better than we thought!"

"Boo! wahahahaha!"

"Hmph! It's a given shit would go this well" Said Yuube, who was sitting in a rather lax way on his personal chair with his eyes closed and making an arrogant smirk "After all, you bros got the help of me! The great god and CPU of the beat, Yu-"

"Woopy woop!"

A short moment of silence went by as the CPU of the beat kept his smirk before one of his eyebrows began twitching along with a popped vein mark appearing on his forehead.

"Boop!"

"Gaaahhhh! Shut the fuck up already you old whore!" Yelled the red-haired CPU as he nearly jumped off of his seat and turned to look at the witch with an enraged expression

"And there he goes again-chu" Said Warechu while looking at him from his own seat

"This is certainly getting repetitive..."

True to Mister Badd's words, this wasn't the first time a similar situation took place during the meetings.

Arfoire, whose brain had yet to recover, was hardly even aware of what was happening around her.

Her constant and somewhat odd gibberish has been her only way to communicate with those around her and quickly became one of the most common sounds echoing through the room where the seven sages gathered. Unfortunately for Yuube, these sounds the witch made were nothing short of annoying. She constantly made them every single day and always interrupted him when he was in the middle of his speeches. And for the CPU of the beat, who loved to boast and brag about his greatness, this was a terribly effective way to blow up his already short fuse.

"Now, now. There's no need to get so worked up, Yuubi..."

"I told you not to call me that, you pink bastard!" Yelled Yuube while turning his head to look at the pink hacker

It was easy to tell by his expression that Yuube was not amused at all with Anonydeath's naming sense, and saying he hated that cutesy version of his name was running short.

"I suppose some people just don't know how to appreciate good taste..." Said the hacker after sighing "Either way, you shouldn't even bother arguing with poor Arfy here...Her mental state is still rather delicate, as you can tell..."

"Then how about you put her on a goddamn mental asilum already!?"

"Bu-But the doctors said she could recover if we gave her enough time..." Said Rei, who sounded a bit nervous

"It's been ten years already!"

"Eeeek!"

"Pipe it down already, Yuube...You're even worse than the crazy hag right now-nya"

For a moment, it seemed as though Yuube would explode in anger once again, but instead he took a deep breath and regained his calm composture.

"Hmph...You're the crazy one here if you think I'm worse than this whore" He said while closing his eyes and speaking calmly

"Ah, he calmed down-chu"

"Those mood swings of his certainly are quite a thing, aren't they?" Asked the middle-aged man while sweat dropping

Even if many questions plagued their minds about this misterious duo, the most prominent doubt the seven sages always had was Yuube's tendency to go from explosive rage to cool and collected serenity within seconds so easily.

Calling it an odd personality trait wouldn't be too much of a stretch since it was common for most folk to have one, and CPUs were most peculiar when it came to these odd traits. Then again, there was also the chance it wasn't real anger and he was merely overreacting to things that irritated him, like most arrogant and narcissistic people usually did.

"If you really wanna solve the problem, just whack her on the head. That should fix her brain-nya"

"I like that idea..." Said Yuube before looking at Arfoire again with a grin, summoning his warhammer and raising it up into the air "stand back, bros. This is gonna get messy"

"Wa-wa-wait a moment!" Quickly interrupted Rei while getting up from her chair and standing between the red-haired CPU and the witch

"What? Can't you see I'm busy?"

"She'll definitely die if you hit her in the head with that!"

"Then at least she'll shut up"

"I'm telling you that you can't!"

"And I'm telling you I can!"

The leader of the seven sages kept doing her best to convince Yuube that splattering Arfoire's brains all over the room wasn't the way to solve the problem while the witch kept blabbering to herself.

"Boo...bo...Ah?"

Something seemed off, though. Not only was her tone different, but her words stopped being random childish sounds and began to sound like proper words.

"...Eh?" Said the witch as she shook her head and looked around her in confusion "Wha-What the hell...!?"

"Ah...she recovered-chu"

"That was quite a miraculous recovery"

"...And it was about to get good too" Said the CPU of the beat while looking away after clicking his tongue and resting his hammer over his right shoulder

"I get the feeling he didn't have much of an intention to cure her in the first place-chu"

"All that's well ends well, I suppose" Said Anonydeath "What truly matters is that Arfy is finally back to her normal self!"

"Hey! Stop talking about me as if wasn't here, damn it!" Snarled the witch while slamming her hand on the table "What the hell just happened!?"

Seeing the irritation on Arfoire, Anonydeath went ahead and explained to her the current situation. Mostly about how they created Yellow Heart, founded Eden and became able to dominate the most powerful nation on the Ultradimension from the background.

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"What the hell do you mean by "Yellow Heart"!?"

"Mama! Papa!"

Shortly after Arfoire mentioned her name, Yellow Heart ran into the meeting room and headed towards Rei.

"Mama! Papa! Let's play!"

"Yellow Heart, you know that you're not allowed to enter during our meetings" Said Anonydeath while turning his head to look at her

"But I wanna play!"

"Not right now...Later"

"...Fine..." Said Yellow Heart with a pouty face and puffed cheeks

"Hey! What's this about!?" Said the witch to call the hacker's attention "Why are we acting like we're obeying that CPU!? Wasn't our objective obtaining a CPU that would follow OUR orders instead!?"

"It can't be helped, really...In the public view, she's the leader of the nation, so we have to act like she's the one in charge"

"Who gave you the right to take that decision!?"

"It was something we all agreed on, actually..." He replied calmly "Even you agreed to it...Look"

Aware that this situation would happen eventually, Anonydeath prepared before-hand for it and showed the witch a recording where he asked the latter a few years ago if she was okay with carrying on with the plan, to which she cheerfully agreed to after a few silly laughs.

"Taking advantage of me while I was mentally unstable is playing dirty!"

"It may be, but it's not like we can change it now, can we?"

"Why you-!"

Filled with anger, Arfoire grabbed Anonydeath by the collarbone of his armor and was about to punch him in the face, or at least that was what she was about to do until Yellow Heart interrupted her.

"Ah! The purple hag is being mean to Papa!"

The witch then turned her head to see the blonde CPU raising both bracers, allowing the large and sharp golden claws to be clearly visible, and made an angry expression.

Although she had yet to see her fighting, Arfoire could tell Yellow Heart was strong, and with both Devi and Yuube on the scene, getting violent was not the best of ideas.

"Fine! Forget it!" She said in an angry tone while turning around and walking towards the exit "I'm done with you lot!"

"Ah! Arfoire, wait!"

Despite Rei calling out to her, the witch didn't pay the slightest attention to it as she left without saying another word. The leader of the seven sages thought about getting up and going after her, but that idea was quickly shot down.

"Don't even bother. I doubt she'll be coming back anytime soon-nya"

"Bu-But..."

"It's way better like this, if you ask me" Said Yuube before making a smirk "Without that whore to bother, I'll never be interrupted again!"

"So much for peace and quiet-nya"

"The hell's that supposed to mean!?"

Even without Arfoire's senseless babblings, the constant arguing between Yuube and Devi was assured to keep anyone from enjoying peace and quiet.

Rei tried in vain to stop the fight as usual while Mister Badd lowered his head and sighed. Anonydeath, on the other hand, seemed to find it quite amusing to see them engage into these constant quarrels, and Yellow Heart, who thought of it as a game, had a lot of fun watching as well. The only one ignoring this mess of a meeting was probably Warechu. All of his attention was still focused on the half-open door, or more precisely, on Arfoire.

"Hm..."

After that little incident, the rest of the day went on as usual and with little to no problem. The same could be said about the CPUs in the basilicom, who were none the wiser about the danger heading towards them right now.

At first everything was norma on their endl, but the worries soon began to setle in after IF suddenly dissapeared and didn't return to have dinner with them like she did everyday. This worry persisted for what little remained of that day along with next one, until they finally received an answer regarding her whereabouts in the form of a letter brought in by Compa.

It was made by gluing letters and words from various books and magazines to form words.

"If you wish to get your friend back safe and sound, then go to the location written down on the bottom of this note, and make sure not to be late. Otherwise she'll pay the price with her life" Said Kenji as he read the letter before moving it aside and turning his head to look at the CPUs "...Or so it says"

"Iffy-chan...!"

"Hey! What's with this development!?" Complained Neptune "Iffy got kidnapped again and she didn't even appear this time!?"

"What should we do, Histoire?" Asked Nepgear as she turned her head to look at the tome with worry

"I'm not completely sure...But for now, we need to excercise caution"

"She's right..." Said Noire, who was sitting calmly on the back along with the other two CPUs "As far as we know, it could be a trap set up by the seven sages"

"But what about Iffy!?"

Histoire then turned her head around and looked at Compa. She looked the most worried out of everyone in the room, and she could understand the reason why.

As childhood friends, the two of them had grown very close to each other, and just the idea of the other being in great peril was enough to make either of them get riled up.

While the tome tried to find words that would ease the nurse's worries, Kenji took a second look at the adress and the hour before placing the note on the table.

"Okay...Let's get going" He said while turning around and heading towards the font door

"Hey! Wait a minute!"

Before the young man could leave the basilicom, Lastation's CPU got up and called out to him, which made him turn around to look at her.

"What?"

"What do you mean "What?"!?" She asked while looking at him "Weren't you listening to what I said earlier!? It could be a trap!"

"If it is, then we'll just deal with it"

"Seriously now..." Said Noire while sweat dropping "Do you even know what a trap is?"

"Kenji, I understand your desire to help If, but walking right into a trap will only make things worse (ò_ó)"

"So you're saying I should just sit on my ass and do nothing?"

"That's not what I meant (ó_ò)" She replied while floating closer to him "I'm just saying we need to make a contingency plan...with the way things are going right now, we cannot allow for any losses or failures on our part"

After hearing her reasoning, Kenji looked at her for a moment in silence before sighing and resigning himself to accept she was right.

"Fine...We'll do it your way..."

Although he wanted to go straight to the dungeon where IF was being held hostage and help her, he decided to listen to Histoire for now. It was irritating in a way, but the tome cared about her just as much as everyone else in the room, and all she wanted was to make sure no one would get hurt or killed while saving IF.

"I'm glad you could understand (^u^)" She said with a smile "First of all, let's start by analyzing our options"

"Hold it right there!" Said Neptune while pointing at the two of them

"What now?"

"The readers don't want to hear us talking about planing and boring stuff like that! They want to see some some good ol' Nepping up session!"

"Big sister...I really don't think it's the time for that"

"You don't get it, Nepgear. It's always the time for humoring the reader! Especially in this franchise!"

"Why does it always come down to meta jokes with you?" Asked Noire while looking at Neptune and sweat dropping

"It's always meta jokes with her..." Replied Kenji while sweat dropping as well "Most of them are not even funny anymore"

"You're just jealous cause your only character traits are being the generic and edgy shounen character!"

At that moment, Kenji turned his head and looked at the perky CPU with an expression of silent anger. It was quite similar to the look Blanc gave her everytime she said something that angered her.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!"

"It seems there are things that even Kenji doesn't like being told" Said Nepgear with a weak smile

"People's traits can be unpleasant to themselves, but they're what makes us special..." Mentioned Blanc "Being generic isn't as bad as people think, though...It can always work as a good starting point for character development"

"You people...Stop fooling around already!"

"Eh?"

Everyone then turned their heads to look at Plutia before their expressions paled. Right now, the usually friendly and drowsy CPU had an expression most people believed she could only make while in HDD form, and the shadows made by her bangs didn't exactly help to lessen the psychological impact of this sight.

"Stop wasting time and get moving already!"

"Ye-Yes!"

"Well done, Plutia. A splendid show of domination (o_o;)"

"More like intimidation" Muttered the young man while sweat dropping

Although she was never able to approve of Iris Heart's violent and intimidating methods, she had to admit Plutia had developed quite an stunning ability to manipulate the other CPUs through pure fear and make them do her bidding just by giving the order. A trait more commonly seen in dictators than in democratic leaders, but something very useful indeed when running a nation.

"Well, guess we're going straight away after all"

"So much for contingency plans (=_=;)" Said the tome while sweat dropping

"Don't sweat it...We'll come up with something on the way there"

Due to Plutia's rather abrupt request, or demand, everyone had to toss away the idea of a detailed plan and make do with a hastily made plan along with their own luck, which has been running a bit too short as of late.

Since the dungeon was relatively close to Planeptune, the trip hardly took more than a few minutes, even though the group went on foot instead of walking just to save their strength for the oncoming fight. And just like them, the witch was getting ready as well.

"Hey...are you sure you want to do this-chu?"

"I told you already, I'm not going back"

"You're a really stubborn hag, you know-chu?"

"Why, you-!" Snarled the witch with an irritated expression "Just how long do you intend to keep insulting my age!?"

"Hey! You two!" Said IF, who was tied up just a few feet behind them "You better let me go now!"

"Oh? And what if I don't?" she asked while turning around to face the guild member this time with a condescending smirk

"Nepko and the others will be here and give you a lesson you won't forget!"

Arfoire merely scoffed at this threat. She wasn't scared in the least about the words of a girl who could hardly do more than bark at her captor.

"That's just what I'm expecting those fools to do...This time, they won't be as lucky as before!"

While looking at her speak with confidence about how she would defeat the CPUs, Warechu couldn't help but wonder just how could she be so confident after what happened last time.

Just for a moment, it made him ask himself if the trauma Arfoire experienced back then was so strong that her brain forgot about it on purpose just to keep her from having a breakdown.

"Iffy!"

Arfoire's speech was suddenly interrupted by Neptune's voice echoing through the cave. And shortly after that voice, the group ran into view after traversing through the tunnels and using the echo of the witch's and IF's voice to as the final hint to find them.

"Iffy-chan!"

"Nepko! Everyone!"

"Hmph, so you're finally here"

"You!?" Said Noire with widened eyes

"That's right!" Replied the witch with a smirk "Did you brats really think you'd see the last of me?"

"Oh man, her again!? I really thought we'd get one of those OC guys today!" Said Neptune with a frown before it quickly turned into a smile once again "Oh well. We're gonna get to fight one of them on the third scene anyway, so I'm cool with giving good ol' Arbore some more screen time"

"Ne-Neptune! We're not supposed to reveal what happens in the next scenes!"

"You really can't go a day without going with the meta jokes, can't you?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at Planeptune's CPU

"Hey! Don't ignore me!"

Despite Arfoire's effort to make a threatening and imposing villain-like return, Neptune once again managed to make any sort of tension she tried to build come crumbling down like a castle of cards being hit by a strong wind. And needless to say, this annoyed her to no end.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm here to get my payback on you brats for what happened last time!"

"I'm surprised you're still holding a grudge over that" Said Vert with her arms crossed

"I'm more surprised she's still sane after that" Mentioned Blanc while sweat dropping

It was indeed hard not to feel amazed by such a thing. After all, it wouldn't be weird for someone to end up mentally broken for their rest of their lives after that traumatic experience.

"Because of you, I spent the last ten years in such a pathetic state..." Said the witch with a frown "I won't forgive you, no matter how much you end up begging for mercy!"

"Hey...If that happened, it happened 'cause you were looking for it!" Snarled the young man while pointing at her

"Prattle all you like...It won't change the fact this dungeon will be where you all perish!"

"Arfoire...!"

After hearing the seemingly innocent, yet eerie voice calling out her name solwly, the witch's eyes diverted from the young man to the one standing next to him.

Plutia, who had remained quiet until now, was now wearing a smile that didn't do much to hide the massive amount of killing intent hidden behind it. And both of her eyes were closed along with having a shadow cast over them by her bangs. It was truly a face worthy of being called "terror incarnate". And this terror didn't waste a second to transform into an even greater incarnation of terror.

"It seems I went too easy on you last time" Said the sadistic CPU as she summoned her weapon "I'll make sure to be veeeeeery thorough with you this time"

"Eeeeeeeeeeeek!"

Merely looking at Iris Heart licking the handle of her sword after just saying a few words was more than enough to make an intense feeling of primordial fear course through every fiber of the witch's body, causing her to shriek and shiver in place.

"Wha-What's this!? Why can't I stop shivering!?"

Arfoire tried as hard as she could to hold back this overwhelming pressure, but it was a vain effort. Her body wouldn't listen to her any longer.

The battle she had so eagerly awaited for was over before it even had a chance to start.

"Oh my...What's wrong? Where did all that bravey from before go to?"

"Do-Do-Don't think...Don't think this will stop me!" Said Arfoire while trying her best to keep her eyes on Iris Heart

Those words were a mere bluff, and even that miserable attempt was pretty much the most she could do in her current state. The sadistic CPU knew it perfectly well, and she was enjoying every second of it.

Warechu, who had been quiet until now, simply closed his eyes and sighed. This was exactly what he feared would happen. He went as far as to follow the witch around and even warned her multiple times about it, but she still went and did it.

"I guess there's no choice but to do it-chu"

What was happening right now was no one's fault but her own, but even so, he couldn't just let her end up like she did before.

Instead, he decided to take a step forward and stand between her and the CPUs.

"Hey, what are you-?" Said the witch before being interrupted by the mouse.

"I'll try and keep them busy, so go ahead and make a run for it-chu"

"Run for it!? What kind of joke is that!?"

"Just get out of here already. There's no way you can fight them like that-chu"

"Why? Why are you going so far for me?" Asked the witch with a mixture of shock and confusion

"Why, you ask? Because even villains like us have formed bonds with each other-chu" He replied with a confident tone "That's what the power of friendship is capable of-chu!"

Arfoire's expression suddenly changed once again as Warechu's words left her speechless. Never in all her life did someone call himself her friend, and much less tried standing up for her in the way the mouse was doing right now.

"Tch...You better not die here, rat!"

She didn't want to leave. Her pride and strong desire to slay the CPUs yelled at her to just ignore Warechu and stay, but even so she did as the mouse said and turned around before running away. The overwhelming fear was partly to blame, but something else was involved in that decision. Some odd, yet warm feeling she couldn't seem to be able to explain.

Warechu kept his eyes focused on her as she ran out of sight and eventually left before closing his eyes and feeling somewhat relieved.

"And there she goes-chu" He said before opening his eyes again "Oh well...might as well use this chance to finally make my introduction-chu"

Knowing that this would probably be his best chance, the mouse then turned around and faced the group to finally get the proper introduction he deserved as a villain and member of the seven sages.

"Sorry for the wait...Now you'll be facing me, the third most popular mouse and most popular member of the seven sages, Warechu!"

As he posed after announcing his name, a heart symbol similar to the one on his chest appeared next to him along with a flying text of his name written below it.

This surprising act of bravery and rather amazing introduction managed to amaze everyone in the group, who never thought very highly of the mouse to begin with.

"Mouse...Bravo to you" Said Neptune with amazement

"It seems the mouse was braver than we thought..."

"I-I'm not tearing up because he mentioned the power of friendship or anything! Don't go getting the wrong idea!"

"Not bad, mouse...Didn't think you were this gutsy" Said the young man while speaking to the mouse more like an equal

"Honestly, I'm not even sure if I want to fight him anymore"

Neptune and Nepgear for one part were amazed, Vert and Blanc were surprised by this, Noire seemed to be tearing up for some reason, and even Kenji had to acknowledge he was feeling a slight sense of respect towards Warechu. This partly caused Planeptune's CPU candidate to hesitate for a moment. And truth to be told, everyone else was also hesitating about whetever they should fight him or just let him go.

"(Okay...It looks like I may be able to get out of here without having to fight-chu)"

"Oh, Mister mouse...If you wanted to get hurt, then all you needed to do was ask"

"Chu?"

Although most of the group was surprisingly moved at the moment, Iris Heart was unwavered.

"I was planning to have my fun with her...But since you went and let her run away, I'll have you take her place instead"

"Chu!?"

"(She didn't give two shits about what happened just now, did she?)" wondered Kenji while looking at her and sweat dropping before approaching her "He-Hey, Plutia...You sure about that?"

"Of course I'm sure...And not only that, but all of you will be joining me as well"

A short moment of silence fell over the group before Neptune broke the silence.

"Well, can't really say no to Sadie at this point" She said before transforming

"Can't be helped, I guess..." Said Noire before transforming as well

After those two, everyone followed suit and activated their HDD forms. Things would definitely end bad for Warechu now.

"Wa-Wait a moment, you people! Weren't we having a good moment just now-chu!?"

"That certainly was a memorable show of will, mister mouse...And that's why we're gonna go all-out on you" Replied Iris Heart with her usual condescending look "Unless, of course, you're actually just a cowardly and miserable rat that tried to speak his way out of this one..."

"Urgh...That's a low blow-chu" Muttered the mouse while sweat dropping

While it was true that part of him expected to slip his way out of this one, the things he said weren't just a lie he made up. He honestly meant them.

"I guess this is the only way after all-chu" He said before taking an assault stance "All right! Here I go-chu!"

"(Seriously!? He's gonna against all of us!?)" Thought Kenji with widened eyes and sweat dropping

For a moment, the young man wasn't sure whetever the mouse was being either reckless or crazy, but a part of him actually wondered if this version of Warechu had some sort of secret trick or power.

"CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Yelled the mouse as he jumped forward towards Iris Heart and spun around to use his tail as a whip

Decided to win, he wen't all out on the CPUs from the get-go. But that blazing willforce was quickly put out as the mouse got beaten to a pulp and knocked unconscious within less than a minute by the overwhelming power of the CPUs. And even after falling down, the sadistic CPU kept tortuing it for a while longer before releasing IF and going back home.

Once back in the basilicom, Warechu was left in the care of Compa, who then took care of patching him up the best she could. With her careful nursing and medical expertise, the mouse managed to regain consciousnes just a few hours after his brutal beating.

"Chuuuuu..."

"Ah, he's waking up!"

"Eh?" Said the mouse after regaining his senses and seeing the nurse looking at him with a smile "Whe-where am I-chu?"

"You're in Planeptune's basilicom" Replied Compa before speaking with relief "But thank goodness! I was really worried you wouldn't wake up!"

Just the mere sight of Compa beaming at him cause Warechu to feel a sudden surge of warmth in his chest.

"(Wha-What is this feeling!? Is this what they call love-chu!?)"

"Seriously now! You all went too hard on him!" Complained the nurse while turning around to look at everyone else

"Don't blame me on this one, it was Plutia's idea" Said Kenji, who was laying down on the couch

"I didn't hurt him that badly!" Replied the drowsy CPU with a somewhat annoyed expression

"She says that, but she kept torturing him for nearly half an hour after he fell unconscious" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping

"Now, now...what matters is that everything went well in the end (^u^)"

"With said, though. We didn't help you just to be kind" Said Noire with her arms crossed "We want some answers out of you, mostly regarding Eden's CPU"

"Should've thought it was something like that-chu" Replied the mouse before crossing his arms and looking away "Don't even think about it. This mouse has his pride in keeping secrets, and you won't convince me anytime soon-chu"

That answer wasn't unexpected, but it still annoyed Lastation's CPU. Even even if he got beat up quite badly, they went through the trouble of patching him up instead of just leaving him there to become a monster snack.

"Please, mister mouse! We really need your help!" Said Compa with pleading eyes

"Just leave it to me! There's nothing this mouse doesn't know about the seven sages-chu!"

"Well that was easy" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"Okay then. First of all, just where does that CPU's power come from?" Asked Noire, who ignored Warechu's sudden change of heart

"Now that she mentions it, I'm curious too" Said Vert "Even when she had yet to build her own nation, the amounts of shares she posessed were astounding"

There were many things everyone wanted to know about the seven sages, but the main focus right now was the mistery behind Yellow Heart's inmense amounts of power. A power so inmense that it was capable of making her the indisputable winner for an entire decade.

"That's because of the share machine-chu"

*Scene*

With some patience and a lot of Compa's requests, the CPUs managed to properly interrogate Warechu and get as much information as they could from him. It wasn't much for the moment, but they did indeed find out about some very interesting details. With the most intriguing one being about the share machine created by Anonydeath. The details given by the mouse were scarce as he himself knew little of it due to the hacker's secrecy regarding the issue, but he was capable of figuring out some details, if not most of them.

First and foremost, it was somehow capable of producing massive amounts of shares, probably a whole nation's worth if not more. Second, Anonydeath came up with it some time after the arrival of Yuube and Devi, which led him to believe they could be related to it somehow. And third, the machine was hidden somewhere deep within Lastation's boundaries. In an abandoned factory, to be more precise. And after being given the location of the factory by Warechu, the group made haste to it and began their search.

"Hm...It should be somewhere around here..." Said Vert while looking at her surroundings before turning around to look at Nepgear "Did you find anything?"

Unfortunately for the CPUs, things weren't going very well at the moment. Despite searching for quite a while now, they had yet to find anything. This was indeed starting to annoy some among the group, especially Noire, who was specialy skeptic about Warechu's information.

"It better be...Or I'll skewer that rat when we go back" Mentioned Noire with a rather sour frown

"Technically, he's a mouse" Replied Kenji while turning his head to look at her

"Same thing!"

"Ah!"

"What's wrong, Nepgear?"

"I found something!" Replied the CPU candidate

Inmediately after Nepgear's response, everyone stopped their own search and approached her to see her findings. Hidden behind a few well-placed sheets of metal and leftover materials, there was a hidden door that led to a corridor going deeper into another section. And judging by how both the door and corridor seemed relatively newer and better cared for than the rest of the place, it was probably built long after the factory was abandoned.

"Looks like a secret entrance" Said the young man before turning his head to look at Nepgear "Well done, Nepgear"

"It's nothing really...I was just lucky"

"Don't be so humble, Nepgear. You're a very reliable girl" Said Neptune while smiling at her and before puffing her chest with pride "You're my baby sister after all!"

"Yeah, suprisingly so" Said Kenji while looking at both of them

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?"

"You figure it out" He replied while turning his head to face forward and venturing into the corridor

"Hey!"

"Ah! Neptune, wait for me!"

Shortly after the young man entered, Neptune chased after him with an irritated expression while Nepgear followed behind her.

"Those three just can't take anything seriously, can they?" Asked Noire while sweat dropping

"At least it helps keep the tension low, don't you think?" Said Vert, who found their random and sometimes childish quarrels to be a great way to relieve stress

"Whatever, let's just go already!"

Without wanting to waste any more time, the remaining CPUs walked into the corridor and followed after the other three before catching up with them after a moment or two. All of them kept moving forward with utmost confidence, and fully unaware that their arrival was already known to the one person on the room at the end of said corridor.

"Oh my, it seems like my little hideout has been discovered" Said Anonydeath to himself while looking at the group using the hidden cameras he installed all around the corridor

For one part, the hacker thought about leaving as soon as he could, but abandoning the share machine just like that was not a choice.

It was a primordial part of their scheme and pretty much what helped the sages keep their current superiority over the last ten years. And besides from having taken an awfully large amount of time and effort to build, just stepping aside and letting the CPUs destroy it without putting up a fight would leave a sour taste in his mouth.

"Maybe it's time to call for a bit of help" He said while pressing a series of buttons on the panel in front of him

Through this process of pressing the countless buttons he already knew almost by instinct, Anonydeath made a quick call to one of his fellow sages to request for assistance.

"Hm?" Said Mister Badd before he saw the hacker on the monitor "Oh, it's you...What do you want?"

"Say, Baddie. I need a little help over here"

"Why?"

"Well, you see..."

Anonydeath gave the middle-aged man a quick explanation of his situation, to which he listened to from start to end with his full attention before speaking again.

"I see...It makes sense you would call me for help"

"Then, In that case-"

"Sorry, no can do" Interrupted Mister Badd

"Wait a moment! I'm in a serious problem here, you know!"

"I understand that, but I can't allow my daughters to be involved in any more fighting"

"Your daughters?" Asked Anonydeath with a slightly confused expression "You mean the baby bugs?"

"That's right" Replied the middle-aged man with his arms crossed "So I'm sorry, but I can't help you"

And with that apology, Mister Badd cut off the communication without even giving the hacker a chance to say anything in retort.

He then kept looking at the pitch black screen for a moment or two before lowering his head and sighing.

"I suppose I'll have to handle this one myself" He muttered to himself before getting up from his seat "For now, I guess I'll find somewhere to hide"

Unfortunately for Anonydeath, Mister Badd's love towards his daughters caused him to keep them away from battles as much as he could. This time was no different for him, and it pretty much left him to fend off by himself. Mainly because he had no way to contact Rei, Yellow Heart probably didn't even know how to answer a call and the other two CPUs weren't exactly very open with how to communicate with them either.

This train of thought made the hacker suddenly realize that, on hindsight, he could've asked Mister Badd to send them instead of him. But it was already far too late for this idea, as the CPUs had already stepped into the lab shortly after he found a good hiding spot.

"Here we are..." Said Blanc while walking in

"Man, that was an oddly long corridor" Said the young man while sweat dropping and looking behind him

Once everyone stepped inside, they took a look at the scenery around them.

Just as it would be expected of a secret lab-like room, there were many machines all over the place. Mostly a couple of consoles and monitors here and there along with a few mid to small-sized generators placed around the place, all of them connected to each other by a complex set of thick cables that ran all over the place. But the most notable detail about this room was the large machine placed right in the center. Unlike the other devices, this one was slightly larger in size and bore a somewhat similar appearance to a reactor from a science fiction movie.

"The heck is that thing?"

"I'm not sure" Replied Nepgear while looking at the mechanical contraption "I've never seen a machine like that one before"

While Planeptune's CPU candidate approached it to take a closer look, Anonydeath watched the CPUs from his hiding spot before accidentally bumping his elbow against a small table, which caused a wrench to fall off of the edge and make a rather loud sound after hiting the floor.

"Who's there!?" Said Noire as she quickly turned around with her weapon unsheated

"Whoops...It seems I've been discovered" He muttered to himself

"Come out now!"

At first the hacker thought about making a run for it while everyone was distracted, but that plan was no longer an option. That is, unless he wished to get choped to pieces while trying. Instead, he chose to comply with the demands of Lastation's CPU for the moment.

"Okay, okay...you found me" He said while walking out of hiding with his hands raised up to face-level in a somewhat lax manner

"I should've known we'd find you here"

"Come on now, honey. There's no need to looks so serious"

"Don't call me that!"

To this angered snarl, the hacker merely lowered his head and sighed.

"Oh, Noire, you're always so cold when talking to me...Then again, that's part of your charm" He said while lowering his hands and placing one of them on his hip "But putting that aside, I'm surprised you found this place..."

"We have our ways" Said Vert with a confident smirk and her arms crossed

"Is that so?" Replied the hacker with a hint of curiosity in his tone "At the very least you could have told me you were coming... I didn't even have time to prepare anything"

"Like I'd even give you the chance" Replied Noire with a confident smirk "We came here right away just for that very reason"

"Noire, guys don't like girls that come too fast"

For a moment, Lastation's CPU seemed curious, even fascinated by the advice Anonydeath just gave to her.

"So...If I take my time, then guys will..." She said as if speaking to herself rather than to others before suddenly realizing the hidden innuendo behind the hacker's words and blushing like crazy "Hey! Ju-Just what the heck are you making me say!?"

"Ohhhh!? What's wrong, Noire? What did that pervy little mind of yours think up whne saying that?" Asked Neptune, who had a slight blush along with a mischievous smirk

"Nothing! Nothing at all!"

"Hm...I never imagined this was the type of things you thought about" Said Vert with a smirk similar to Neptune's

"Perversion isn't too far fetched when you consider her odd hobbies..."

"I told you it's not that!"

"Hey, hey...What is everyone talking about" Asked a confused Plutia

"I'm not really sure..." Replied Nepgear, who was just as confused as the drowsy CPU, before turning her head to look at Kenji "Hey, Kenji...what do you think they're talking about?"

"You don't wanna know" He said with a somewhat vague tone while sweat dropping

At first she was even more confused by this answer, but it didn't seem like she would get an answer out of him.

In truth, the young man was merely trying to skirt the issue, as he knew Neptune and the others would begin teasing him instead if he went and said the wrong thing, or just anything about that at all. And in trying to keep his mind away from it, he then remembered the reason they were all there in the first place.

"Hey, pink guy"

"Hm? Are you talking to me?" Asked the hacker while looking now at him

"Do you see someone else dressed in pink from head to toe around here?" Asked Kenji this time with a frown

"Fair enough..." He replied while shrugging "but I'd really like it if you gave me a cuter nickname than that"

The young man then looked at Anonydeath for a moment or two before sweat dropping. There was indeed something very uncomfortable about this guy, although he couldn't exactly pinpoint it.

"A-Anyway...Putting Noire's pervy mind aside..."

"I don't have a pervy mind!" Snarled Lastation's CPU while turning around to face him instead

"...Just what the heck is this thing?" He asked while pointing at the large machine standing on the center of the room with his thumb

"That? That's a little project of mine...one I'm quite proud of, actually"

The CPUs then turned their heads to look at it again. Judging by Anonydeath's vague response, he didn't want to be too detailed about this machine's purpose, which led to the conclusion that this was indeed the thing they were looking for.

"So this is the share machine..."

"Oh? Quite a clever man you are" Said Anonydeath, who seemed surprised by Kenji's conclussion "And here I thought you were just another meathead"

"Hey! Kenny ain't an idiot!" Snarled Neptune while pointing at the hacker

"(Neptune...?)" Thought the young man with surprise

"I mean, he's totally generic and edgy and does act like an idiot sometimes, but he's not an idiot!"

"Neptune..."

"Eh?"

After hearing her name being said slowly and with a seemingly angered tone, Planeptune's CPU turned around and saw the young man with not only a popped vein mark on his forehead, but quite an irritated expression as well.

"Why, you little...!"

"Nepu!"

Although she inteded for it to be a joke, Kenji didn't take it too kindly. And he didn't hesitate to grab Planeptune's CPU by the cheeks and streched her face like if it were made out of rubber.

"Ughaaa! Ke-Kennee! Shtaaap!"

"Come on! Try calling me generic again! Try calling me edgy again!" He said with a vein mark popping on his head "I dare you, you lazy panty-flasher!"

"Nephegea, Plaats!Haaaalph!" Said Neptune the best she could while struggling to break free

In comply to her sister's pleas for help, Nepgear tried to convince the young man to let go of her, but it didn't do much to stop him.

"It seems like those two get along quite well" Said the hacker, who seemed rather amused by this show taking place right now before looking at Noire "Kind of like us! Don't you think, Noire?"

"You stay quiet!" She snarled while turning around to face him again, still with her sword pointed at his face "For now, we'll be taking you into custody, so surrender quietly and we won't hurt you"

"And what about my machine?"

"We'll destroy it, of course"

"I see..." Replied the hacker with a sterner tone than before "I'm afraid I can't let you do that, sweetheart"

With this statement of defiance given, Anonydeath raised his hand up to face-level once again and snapped his fingers. This caused a few piles of scrap metal to shiver before bit robots suddenly flew out into plain view and towards the CPUs.

"Everyone! Look out!"

Everyone quickly reacted to Noire's warning and jumped out of the way to avoid the incoming machine monsters. There was no time to rest, though, as even more of them popped out of hiding while the enemies behind them circled around once more and repeated their attack. The CPUs then transformed and tried their best to retailiate, but the bits constantly flew from one spot to the other, making it quite difficult to land a hit on them.

"(Alright...time to take my leave)" thought Anonydeath while turning around and heading towards the exit

The hacker didn't intend for those machines to be more than a distraction to let him escape.

Of course, he wasn't happy knowing that the share machine he worked so hard to build would be destroyed, but most of his weaponry was either under maintainance or left behind in Eden, and the little firepower he currently had on him would be of little use, at least against seven HDD users. Besides, he could always just build another one.

Unfortunately for him, the CPUs caught notice of this fleeing attempt.

"You're not going anywhere!" Said Black Heart before slashing the bit in front of her in half and quickly dashing towards the hacker

Lastation's CPU raised her sword to slice Anonydeath in half, but one of the bits quickly got in front of her and pushed her back right before she could get close enough.

"Urgh!"

"Sorry, sweetie! Maybe another time!" Replied the hacker as he turned around and looked at the exit once again

"Hold it right there!"

While Black Heart dealt with the bits blocking her way, Anonydeath made his way for the exit once again. And this time, Iris Heart was the one to notice it. But instead of dashing towards him like her friend did, she looked around her and saw her felow party members fighting the machine monsters before coming up with an idea. She then extended her whip blade and caught the closest bit, enveloping it with her whip before releasing a powerful thunderbolt that fried all the machine's insides and caused it to malfunction along with releasing countless sparks.

"If Noire-chan says hold it...!" Said the sadistic CPU as she quickly turned around to face the hacker "You stay put!"

Using the momentum of her quick spin, Iris Heart tossed the monster right towards Anonydeath, causing it to hit him right in the back before bouncing off and exploding.

"Urgh!" Said the hacker as he was hit by the explosion and knocked into the ground "Ow...that was rather rude, don't you think?"

He tried getting back up, but stopped after raising his head and having the tip of Black Heart's blade as the first thing he saw.

"Stay right there..." She said with an irritated expression

"...Otherwise we'll have to hurt you" Added the sadistic CPU "On second thought, go ahead and try if you want...It'll be more fun that way"

While Lastation's CPU and Iris Heart kept him on the ground, the rest of the group took care of the remaining bits.

"Well, that was a waste of our time..." Said Green Heart

"Hey, Noire...Tha-That was just..you know" Said Anonydeath while trying to come up with an excuse

"I'm not hearing it!"

In the end, his little distraction tactic didn't help at all. In fact, it did nothing more than play against him.

"Let's just tear this thing appart already" Said the young man while pointing at the machine

"Certainly, there's little point in delaying it any further" Replied Purple Heart

"Erm...Big sis?"

"What's wrong, Nepgear?"

Planeptune's CPU turned around to face her younger sister, who was looking at her with puppy eyes.

"I know this machine is trouble for us, but can I just give it a tiny little checkup first?" She said with puppy eyes "I-I mean, there could be some really rare hardware inside, and maybe we could use it later!"

"No, it's too dangerous" Replied Purple Heart while trying to sound stern "The dismantled parts could be of some use, but it's a better idea to destroy it completely"

"Awww...You're always so strict it this form!" Complained Purple sister

"She would still say no in her normal form, though" Said Kenji while turning his head to look at the CPU candidate "She'd probably say "No way, Nepgear! You're gonna make my room stink like an oil rig!" or something like that"

"Ah, that sounded exactly like her!"

Purple Sister was honestly surprised by this imitation and somewhat amused by it. It wasn't perfect, but the young man sounded almost identical to Neptune.

"(Do...Do I really sound like that)" Thought Purple Heart while sweat dropping

Although the CPU candidate kept complaining a bit at first, she eventually came to agree with the others after this little distraction and even helped them destroy it until nothing more than shattered fragments remained. All while the hacker sighed as he saw it from his first-row seat on the floor.

"And there goes that..." He said with certain reluctance before raising both hands again in a sarcastic manner "I suppose now I'm getting arrested, aren't I?"

"Arrested? Did you really think I would go that easy on you?"

"Eh?"

"Not only did you humiliate me and invaded my privacy, but you even went and built that machine" She said with a stern and somewhat scary tone "There's no way we can let you live now!"

"Wa-Wait a moment! There's no need to go that far!" Said Anonydeath, who sounded more worried than before "I'll never build one of those again! I swear!"

"Hmph...Like I'd believe anything you'd say" Replied Black Heart before raising her sword high up "Die!"

Lastation CPU wouldn't hear anymore of it, and convincing Iris heart was a lost cause either. There was no way out for Anonydeath, and all he could do was watch the two CPUs around him as they got ready to chop him into little pieces.

"And it was just about to get interesting too!"

"Papa!"

The hacker's death seemed unavoidable, but luck favored him yet again as someone quickly got in the way of the CPUs and blocked their attacks.

"Wha-!?"

After he raised his head to see his savior, Anonydeath saw the CPU of Eden standing between him and her captors.

"Yellow Heart?"

"Papa! Are you okay!?" Asked the blonde while looking at him over her shoulder

"Yeah, I am...but why are you here?" He replied before adding the question "Did Mister Badd send you?"

"Eh? I just felt like you were in trouble, so I came here..."

"Just from that?" Asked Purple Heart with widened eyes

For one part, it was somewhat ridiculous, But Anonydeath couldn't be more glad about those ridiculously sharp instincs of hers right now.

"Oh, Yellow Heart! Your head may not be too good, but thank goodness your animal instincts are so sharp!"

"Yay! Papa praised me!"

"That did not sound like a praise to me..." Said the young man while sweat dropping

"I don't think she really cares about details" Mentioned Purple Sister while sweat dropping as well with a weak smile

"You sure have some nerve to get in our way again" Said Green Heart with a smirk "But you won't be so lucky this time"

Eden's CPU looked at Leanbox's for a moment with a confused expression before speaking to her.

"Huh? Who are you, granny?"

"Gra-Granny!?"

True to Anonydeath's words, Yellow Heart's head wasn't very good at retaining information. This meant that she could easily forget a lot of things with ease, and unfortunately for Green Heart, she had already forgotten about her, which lead her into using the first word that came to her mind.

"Granny..." Said Purple Heart while trying to contain the urge to laugh

And Planeptune's CPU wasn't the only one trying to contain it. Purple Sister found that description funny as well, but she did her best to contain it just to avoid offending her. White Heart didn't seem that eager to contain it, although the one with most trouble holding it in was Kenji. Right after hearing her, he almost let out a laugher, but quickly placed his hand on his mouth to hold it in, allowing only a slight spittap sound to be heard.

"Do-don't you dare call me that again, or I'll use foul language! I swear I will!"

"Hey, dear...Would you be kind and do something about these people?" Asked the hacker while pointing at the group

"Those people?"

"Yeah...those people were really mean to me, you see..."

Yellow Heart then turned her head once again to look at the CPUs with a rather unfriendly frown.

"I'll beat up anyone who's mean to Papa!" She said with an agressive tone while raising both bracers

"Here she comes! Get ready!" Said Purple Heart while guarding with her weapon

As fast as a lightining bolt, the blonde CPU dashed forward and attacked the group. Most of them managed to get out of the way, but some weren't so lucky and had to block.

Even by herself, Yellow Heart was a powerful enemy. Her kicks and punches had not only speed, but also strength beyond belief. Every single attack was like a cannonball, and her bracers served not only as weapons, but also as shields to protect her from the weapons of the CPUs whenever they tried to attack her. And even the attacks that landed on her hardly made her falter on her seemingly endless rampage.

At the start it seemed as though this battle would end up like all the others, but that was the keyword here. This fight was different from the earlier ones.

"Wha-What's this? I don't feel okay..." Said Yellow Heart while taking deep breaths

Despite her amazing strength and natural endurance, it didn't change the fact the share machine got destroyed before she could arrive. Without it, her overwhelming advantage in shares was now gone.

As the battle progressed and she kept getting hit, her stamina began to drop, causing her to grow weaker by the moment.

"Not doing so good without your little cheat tool, ain't ya?" Asked White Heart with a smirk

Weary and unable to keep going, the CPU fell down on the floor before a light suddenly engulfed her.

"Ah! She's reverting back!" Said Purple Sister

"At long last, we'll get to see how you truly look like!" Added Green Heart with an unusual amount of seriousness in her tone "Now, show us your true form and let's see who's truly the superior one here once and for all!"

"(She really takes the whole "biggest boobs" thing seriously, doesn't she?)" Thought the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

Despite this seemingly lighthearted train of thought, things grew rather gloomy after the light engulfing Yellow Heart banished and allowed everyone to look at it.

"Owie! That hurt a lot!" Said Peashy while rubbing her head "Huh? My boobs are gone..."

"P-ko!?"

"What the hell!?"

This was indeed a shocking revelation to the CPUs, so much that it took a moment before one of them could even talk.

"Wait, P-ko! What's this all about!?"

"P-ko? Who's that?" Asked the confused little girl "And who are you?"

"What!?"

Peashy's answer just now was completely baffling. Despite all the time they spent together, despite once calling each other friends and even family, she just treated the CPUs like complete strangers.

Not one of them could understand what was happening. But the hacker, on the other hand, knew perfectly well why and how this was happening, and he enjoyed it to no end.

"That's it! Those are the faces I wanted to see!" He said between laughter

"What the hell did you do to her!?" Asked the young man with a fierce expression

"Me? Nothing at all..." Replied the hacker with a mischievous tone "Just a bit of mind control"

"Mind control!?"

Not wanting to give up so easily, Purple Heart reverted back to her human form and spoke to Peashy again.

"Come on, P-ko! We're friends! Don't you remember!?"

"We're not friends! I don't know you!"

"Dang it, kid! I know we had a bad moment back then, but I was only saying stuff that I thought sounded cool!"

"I said I don't know you!"

"Now, now. There'll be another time for this...For now, we'll be taking our leave"

"What makes you think we'll let you go!?" Asked Black Heart

"I'm not really telling you to leave, honey, but staying wouldn't be a good idea either" Said Anonydeath while floating slightly backwards and touching a button on the console "After all, this whole place will blow up in two minutes"

"What!?"

Right after touching that one button, a large clock appeared on the monitor and began counting down from two minutes. This was followed by a secret door sliding open.

"Well then..." Said the hacker as he turned around and went through the doorway "I'll be seeing you later"

"Ah! Papa, wait for me!" Said Peashy as she turned around and ran towards Anonydeath

"Peashy! Wait!"

Both Kenji and Neptune ran towards her, but the door closed as soon as the little girl went through.

"Damn it! Open up!" Yelled the young man as he banged on the door

"Hey, you two! We have to leave now!" Said Noire while approaching them

"But P-ko is...!"

The young man kept banging on the door with all his might and even tried stabbing through it with his sword, but it was no use. Whatever metal it was made off, it was a strong one.

"Neptune, Kenji! We're running out of time!" Said Nepgear, who was starting to panic

After hearing her calling out to him and Planeptune's CPU, Kenji turned his head and quickly glanced at the counter. one minute already passed, and there were no signs of it stopping.

He wanted to keep trying, he wanted to break the door down and go after her, but that wouldn't be possible. Right now, there was no other choice than to leave. And with this in mind, he quickly picked up Neptune by the waist and ran out of the lab with Nepgear, who was waiting for them to go with her.

"Wait, Kenny! P-Ko is still there!" She said while looking up at him and before looking again at the door "P-ko! P-ko!"

Using the one minute they had left, the CPUs ran at full throttle and didn't stop nor look back until finally leaving the factory. Shortly after that, a loud explosion echoed from within, followed by a column of smoke coming out from the other side of the building.

"Is everyone okay!?"

"Ye-Yeah...I'm okay..." Said Nepgear, who was catching her breath after franatically running

After barely making it out in time to avoid the explosion, the group looked back at the factory for a while longer before heading back to Planeptune with a mortifying sense of defeat in their step.

*Scene*

Knowing the enemy that made your life impossible for ten years straight used to be one of your close friend wasn't an easy thing to swallow, especially if that friend was one you were close enough to call family.

Because of this, a somewhat gloomy atmosphere fell over Planeptune's basilicom after the CPUs returned, but it quickly faded after a couple of days.A surprising feat, considering what happened so far.

"Hey, Ploots! Let's play a game!"

"Sure..." Replied the drowsy CPU with a smile

"Seriously, you two...all you ever do is laze around" Said Noire with her arms crossed "No wonder this nation is doing so poorly"

"I know it's true, but i'd appreciate it if you were a bit less harsh about it (-_-;)"

"I bet you're just jealous 'cause I didn't ask you to play with us!"

"Wh-Why would I be jealous of that!?" Snarled the tsundere CPU "It's not like I ever wanted to play with you or anything like that!"

"And there's the daily serving of tsundere for our readers out there!"

"Why, you-!"

"Nepu!"

Knowing she was in for it now, Planeptune's CPU quickly got back up on her feet and rand away from Noire, who didn't hesitate to give chase.

"Come back here, Neptune!"

The two CPUs ran all over the room until the nurse finally decided to get up and stop them.

"Nep-Nep, Noire! You're not supposed to run around inside the house!" She Said while scolding her

"Sorry Compa" Replied the CPU with a smile

"Sh-She started it!"

"Those two certainly are energetic today" Said Vert while lookng at them with a smile on her face

"I think noisy would describe it better..."

Nepgear simply let out a forced laugh while smiling weakly as she watched things unfolding, but this light-hearted atmosphere didn't last long.

"You people! Just what's wrong with you!?"

Everyone then suddenly turned their heads and looked at IF after she suddenly shouted.

"Iffy?"

"How can you people laze around like this when Peashy is out there with those guys!?"

Unlike the CPUs, the guild member was unable to accept the way they were reacting to this situation. She couldn't bring herself to believe how they were just laying around instead of going to help Peashy, who could easily be in peril right about now.

"We know that already! We're just getting ready!"

Surprisingly enough, the one to give her an answer was Neptune.

"Eh?"

"We're already aware of what's happening, but we can't just charge into the enemy base in a fit of rage, Iffy" Explained Vert with a soft and understanding tone "Otherwise Peashy would end up getting scared of us, don't you think?"

This answer caused IF to stop for a second to think about it. On hindsight, they were right.

"I...I didn't really think of it like that"

"Of course you wouldn't be able to figure out with the way this idiot acts" Said Noire with her eyes closed

"So with that said, don't go getting so serious, Iffy!" Added Neptune with a smile "Otherwise, you may end up peeing yourself in front of everyone like when you were a kid!"

"Pe-Peeing myself!? I peed myself!?"

"Really?" Said Lastation's CPU while trying to recall it "I don't really remember that happening"

"It happened! It happened right in this room!"

After being reminded of this embarassing childhood memory caused the guild member to remain right where she stood, shivering as her mind imagined that moment.

"I peed myself...in front of everyone...in front of Lady Plutia..."

"Ah...! You shouldn't do that, Nep-chan!" Said Plutia with concern for IF

"That's right, Neptune! You promised not talk about it too!"

While the drowsy CPU and the CPU candidate tried to help lessen the psychological impact IF was suffering right now, Neptune simply placed her hand behind her head and smiled.

"Sorry, sorry...! I kinda forgot about that!" She said as an attempt to an apology "Anyway, you don't need to be so gloomy, Iffy!"

"That's right..." Added Noire before pointing at the couch with her thumb "We already have enough of that with him"

Shortly after Lastation's CPU pointed at him, everyone turned their heads to look at Kenji.

Unlike the rest of the group, who was moving about and as lively as always, he was laying down on the couch, slightly curled up and giving his back to everyone.

And he didn't even bother saying a single word, despite all the ruckus taking place around him.

"What is he doing?" Asked IF

"I'm not really sure, but he hasn't really moved from there at all since this morning..." Replied Nepgear, who just happened to recall seeing him already laying down on the couch earlier when she got up to prepare breakfast for everyone "Also, he hasn't said a word to anyone yet"

"I bet he's probably just edging out or something!" Said Neptune as she let her 4th wall-breaking imagination run wild again "You know, shounen guy stuff!"

"Just let him be, he'll get over it eventually" Said Lastation's CPU while looking away from him

"Noire-chan...You're always so cold with Ken-chan" Said Plutia, who turned her head to look at her

As always, Noire gave Kenji's emotional issues the cold shoulder.

It happened every time the young man showed signs of sulking around or distancing himself from others whenever he felt sad or concerned about something in particular.

"I bet she's actually really worried about him and just doesn't want to show it!"

"I-I'm not worried about him! Why would I be worried about HIM of all people!?" Snarled Lastation's CPU while turning her head to look at the perky CPU

"I mean..." Said Neptune with a mischievous smirk "You've been glancing at him almost every minute since you arrived"

"Tha-Tha-That's just because I...I.." Snareld Lastation's CPU while struggling to come up with an excuse "I want to sit on the couch!"

"The couch?"

"That's right! I don't like stting on the floor because it's cold and hard, but that idiot's been taking the couch since this morning so I've been checking to see if he'll ever move!" She quickly replied while pointing at the CPU "So don't go getting the wrong idea!"

"There you go again with the tsundere lines!"

"Erm...everyone?"

Before Noire had the chance to strangle Neptune, everyone's attention was caught by Compa who, out of a mixture of curiosity and worry, approached Kenji while everyone was arguing and discovered something unexpected.

"He's not edging out..." She said while looking at the CPUs over her shoulder "I think he's sleeping"

"Eh?"

At that moment, the nurse placed her hand over the young man's shoulder and shook him around a bit.

"Kenji...Kenji! Wake up!" She said as she shook him back and forth

It took a little effort, but the young man eventually opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her.

"Hm...?" He mumbled as his blurred vision cleared out and saw Compa looking back at him "Compa?"

Slowly, he sat up and yawned before placing his hand over his face as the drowsyness began to go away.

"What's wrong?"

"We were talking about Iffy peeing herself when she was a kid!" Quickly said Neptune while walking closer

"IF peeing herself?" He said while looking at the CPU and before turning his head to look at the guild member "What? Did she do it again?"

"I-I didn't pee myself! How would I pee myself at this age!?" Quickly snarled IF with a strong blush before looking at Neptune again "Stop bringing it up already, Nepko!"

"Sorry, sorry...!"

"Kenji...didn't you sleep last night?"

It was a sudden question that seemed somewhat random, but it made sense if some thought was placed into it.

The young man did lay down to nap on the couch every now and then, but it was usually just for an hour or two. This time, though, he slept there like a log since early in the morning and wasn't even bothered by the noise taking place around him. This sort of deep sleep meant his exhaustion was the result of a lack of recent sleep.

"Not really..."

"What were you doing?"

"I told you! He was edging out!" Yelled Neptune while pointing at him

"I couldn't sleep last night because a certain pair of idiots was making a ruckus right next to my room all night long!" Replied the young man with his eyes closed and a vein mark popped on his forehead

"So Neptune...and probably Plutia"

"Definitely Neptune"

"No doubt there..."

"Hey! Why am I the first one you gals think about when Kenny said idiot!?" Snarled Planeptune's CPU while looking at the CPUs of the other nations

"That's because you're the only idiot here" Said Noire with her arms crossed

"Rude!"

Neptune was indeed offended by this, but Plutia didn't seem to mind it that much. Nepgear, on the other hand, was more focused on what Kenji said after her mind recalled last night.

"Now that he mention it, Neptune and Plutia were shuffling around some of our old stuff last night" She said before turning her head to look at her elder sister "Just what were you doing?"

"That's part of our secret plan!"

"Plan?"

"That's right!" Said Planeptune's CPU while pointing at the young man "A fool-proof plan to get P-ko back to us!"

This caught everyone's curiosity. Mostly due to the fact that Neptune came up with a plan when the most she could do with her brain was remember a brand of pudding or the last game she played, and parly because Plutia was an accomplice to that plan as well. But Kenji was more interested in what this meant rather than in the plan itself.

"So we're going, then?" He asked while looking at her

"Yup!"

With the okay of the CPU, the young man got up from the couch and walked towards them. But before the group could leave, they were stopped once again by IF.

"Everyone, wait!"

"What's wrong, Iffy?" Asked Neptune while turning around to look at her

"We want to go with you!"

"Okay, let's go" Replied the young man calmly

"I know it's dangerous, but we..." Said the guild member with a stern tone and determined expression before realizing her request was already answered "Eh? Just like that?"

"Why not?"

"I-I mean...I had a whole speech prepared to convince you"

"You can tell us about it on the way to Eden if you want" Said kenji before turning around and heading towards the door "Now come on, let's get going already"

"I guess all that thinking was for nothing" Muttered IF with her eyes closed while sweat dropping

"Cheer up, Iffy!" Said Compa in an attempt to put

The guild member felt slightly dissapointed about not giving the whole speech she prepared before-hand, but she and Compa were allowed to go along with the CPUs either way, so she quickly got over it.

The group decided not to waste a single moment and flew all the way to Eden. During the period of time between their departure from Planeptune to their arrival to Eden, IF noticed something about Kenji. At first he seemed a bit too calm for someone who was usually hot-blooded and prone to be reckless, but the guild member soon realized his "calm" wasn't what she thought of at first. It seemed as thought something was bothering him. Most likely, he was worried about Peashy, but he also seemed to be worried about something else as well.

"Everyone, get ready!" Said Purple Heart "We're almost there!"

True to her words, the island nation was already within sight.

In less than a minute, everyone landed safely on the outskirts and then headed to a hidden cave located on the north.

If the mouse didn't lie, then there should be an entrance to their main base located in that place. And certainly enough, they found it. The dirt and rock was replaced by steel and technology as they ventured deeper and found the entrance. But they weren't able to keep this steady pace, as the path ahead was blocked by none other than one of the remaining sages.

"CPUs...so you finally arrived..." Said Mister Badd

"You again?" Asked Noire, who was already growing tired of seeing him

"Hey! What's with this regular enemy fight!?" Complained Neptune "I promised the readers a fight against the enemy OCs! My credibility as the main character will drop if they don't show up!"

It wasn't unexpected for the CPUs to show this reaction. After all, Mister Badd was by far one of the most regular enemies they had to deal with on a daily basis. And the worst part was the could never win against them, not even be close to attaining victory. This caused him to be perceived as quite the dull enemy.

"Even though you keep losing to us, you still don't get it?" Said Blanc "It's just gonna end like last time..."

"If you think I'm the same man as before, then you're greatly mistaken!" Replied the middle aged man with a stern tone and somewhat surprising force of will "A renewed will, a renewed spirit, a renewed goal! I am a completely renewed man!"

"He seems to be very obessed with being renewed for some reason..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping "But something does feel different about him..."

Although in terms of appearance he looked the same, there was indeed something different about Mister Badd. The feeling of malice and greed that once plagued him were no longer there, instead, there was a suprisingly familiar feeling.

But the CPUs hardly had any time to focus on this, as the young man summoned his sword and walked towards the middle-aged man.

"We don't have time to deal with you!" He said before pointing his sword at Mister Badd "Get out of the way!"

"And there goes the edge mode" Said Neptune while sweat dropping

"It seems he couldn't hold his calmed state any longer..." Added Blanc while looking at him "It's not really surprising, though...edgyness isn't a trait that can be supressed easily"

Kenji thought about the idea of turning around and giving the CPUs a piece of his mind in the form of stretching their faces until they remained sore for a week, but there were other things to take care of. The face-stretching could wait for now.

"I'm only gonna say it one more time" He said with a stern tone "Move!"

"If you wish to go past this point, you'll have to defeat me!" Replied the middle aged man

When faced with this declaration of a challenge, he simply looked at Mister Badd in the eye for a moment before pulling his sword back and getting ready to stab him right in the face, but this attack was stopped mid-way through as the young man suddenly felt a strong prescence.

In a split second, Yuube jumped from behind Mister Badd and swung his hammer to fall down on Kenji's head like a guillotine, but he quickly jumped back and avoided the attack.

"Damn it! I missed!" He said with an irritated tone before getting up on his feet "Oh, whatever...I'll just have to try again"

"There we go! That's the OCvsOC fight we promised!" Said Neptune before smiling and sighing with relief "Man, for a moment there I really thought the writer would leave me hanging!"

"Great...just what we needed..."

"What? Did you bros really think I wouldn't take the chance to kick your asses one last time?"

"You! Why are you here?"

Mister Badd was surprised by the CPU of the beat's sudden interruption. He didn't expect him to help, as he and Devi didn't even bother showing up yesterday to discuss about the destruction of the share machine, or at least not to discuss it with him and Rei.

"Don't go getting any homo ideas there, fattass..." Replied Yuube before aiming his warhammer at Kenji "I'm here to deal with that bro over there"

"Even now, you're still as impertinent as always..." Said Mister Badd "Oh, well...As long as you help"

While Yuube got into an assault stance, the middle aged man activated the device on his wrist and summoned his power suit for what he decided would be his final fight against the CPUs.

Fully equipped and ready to fight, he dashed towards the group, who quickly moved out of the way to dodge the metal fists before going HDD. And Yuube didn't slack off as well, as he quickly went into HDD mode and moved towards Kenji to attack him. The young man responded to this by blocking the war hammer, but the momentum of the impact was strong enough to push him back a few feet. The two warriors then engaged into a fierce battle against each-other as their weapons clashed endless times while Mister Badd went all out against the CPUs, keeping them too busy to give the young man a helping hand.

"Just don't know when to give up, do you bro!?" Said Yuube after he and Kenji entered a struggle

"Like you're one to talk!" Replied the young man while pushing forward

"At least I won't have to see those ugly garbs of yours after I kill you today!"

"Says the guy dressed like a washed-up raver from the 90s!"

"Don't you DARE insult my godly style!" Yelled the CPU of the beat with a popping vein mark

Both male CPUs broke out of the struggle and jumped back to gain some distance. At that moment Yuube put his free hand forward and aimed at Kenji before releasing a beat wave, but the young man quickly ran to the left in order to avoid it along with the ones that followed as he ran around the CPU of the beat and he kept shooting blasts of sonic waves at him.

Right around the sixth one, the young man's sword got infused in flames before he used a moonlight slash to counter the last beat wave, causing both energy attacks to crash and explode. This gave Kenji the chance to retaliate and launch a barrage of moonlight slashes at Yuube, who quickly grabbed his weapon with both hands and spun it like a windmill at a speed that caused the hammer head to become blurry as it deflected every single slash of energy aimed at him.

"(Tch...persistent bastard!)" Thought the red-haired CPU while looking at his weapon

Out of the tree lights, one was already fully turned on, and the second was getting close. But a fully charged Subsonic Armageddon wasn't a good idea. The massive blast radius would end up either blowing everyone into pieces or cause the entire place to collapse, crushing everyone to death, him included.

The fight was pretty even at the moment, but Yuube had a clue how to tip the scales on his favor, and he decided to apply it as soon as he and Kenji dashed forward and clashed into a struggle once again.

"Say, do you know how we turned that lil' girl to our side?"

Upon hearing this, the young man's expression showed certain interest. the CPU of the beat knew he had his attention now.

"Not too sure about the nitty gritty of that science crap, but I heard the pink weirdo used some mind control on her" He said with a smirk "But not the second-hand stuff you see on TV. The crazy bastard went and pierced her with needless and wires all the way into that empty brain of hers"

The young man's eyes widened as he heard this. But Yuube didn't stop there. Instead, he kept going and pushing it further.

"And damn, it must have hurt a lot...So much that she pissed herself the first time"

At that moment, a huge shock ran through the young man, and it was quite noticeable from his expression.

"Honestly...I don't give two shits about the girl or the sages" Said Yuube, who noticed the way the young man was gripping on his weapon tighter "But it sure makes bros like you lower their guard!"

In a split second, the red-haired CPU pushed Kenji's sword aside and placed his palm on his chest before releasing a beat wave. This caused the young man to be pushed back and crash against a wall as his sword slipped off of his grip and dissipated before Yuube held his warhammer with both hands and dashed towards him, aiming right at his head.

"You're done for!"

With full confidence that he stunned his opponent, Yuube attacked without any restrains. Little did he imagine, things were about to get ugly for him.

As the hammer fell down upon Kenji's head, he used his forearm to block, causing it to take the full brunt of the impact. And yet, this didn't make him even flinch. Instead, he turned his forearm around to grip the head of the warhammer and slowly push it away.

It was only after he raised his head to look at Yuube in the eye that the CPU of the beat came to see the boiling rage within them. But he hardly had any time to react, as the young man quickly raised his other hand and punched Yuube right in the face, causing him to be sent flying away a few feet and fall to the floor before quickly regaining his footing. But even then he could hardly react, as Kenji was already in front of him with his weapon summoned once again by the time Yuube looked forward and delivered a barrage of sword attacks, which he could only block. This brutal barrage lasted for dozens of attacks until the last sword attack caused the CPU of the beat to be pushed back once again and hit a wall this time, which was followed by Kenji delivering a brutally powerful knee to his gut, bending the metal wall behind Yuube due to the extreme amount of raw strength.

Looking back behind him, the young man noticed the fight between the CPUs and Mister Badd was reaching a conclusion as well, and it seemed as though the middle-agged man was already on the verge of defeat. He then decided to put an end to this fight by grabbing Yuube by the shirt and, by using all of his strength, tossed him at Mister Badd.

"What!?" He said after noticing the CPU of the beat flying right towards him

The middle-aged man placed both mechanic arms in front of him to shield himself, but Yuube ended up crashing against the power suit's head instead and caused it to malfunction.

Once the safety device placed within it was activated, the seat ejected Mister Badd away from it before the power suit exploded into millions of bits.

"Uooooooahhhh!" He said as he fell down to the ground "I...I lost again..."

"Told ya it would happen..." Said White Heart while placing the sharp edge of her axe over the middle aged man to keep him down

"(How the hell? How is this possible!?)" Thought the CPU of the beat while trying to figure out just how did things take such a sudden turn

But before he could get up, something forced him back into the ground. Or to be more precise, Kenji's foot pressing on his back forced him back to the ground.

"So...tell me something..." He said with a stern tone "...did you piss yourself already?"

This condescending question caused the CPU of the beat to boil in rage.

"Why, you son of a-!" Snarled Yuube as he tried aiming at the young man with his palm, but the young man quickly reacted by stabbing him in the hand "AAAAAAARGHHHHHHH! Shit! You motherfucker!"

"Ke-Kenji!?"

Yuube struggled to remove his hand from the blade for a moment before the young man finally pulled his blade back without saying another word. And while the CPU of the beat held his own hand in an attempt to ease the burning pain of the stab, Kenji held his sword like a stabbing knifed and raised it up into the sky, fully intent on stabbing Yuube in the back of the head.

"Kenny, wait!"

Despite Purple Heart calling out to him, Kenji was fully intent to kill Yuube.

Unfortunately, he was stopped right before reaching the nape of the red-haired CPU. Not by Purple Heart's voice, but by a green sigil that stopped his blade right at the last second. And after looking forward, the young man saw a ball of fire headed right towards him, forcing him to block with his sword at the last second.

"Enemy reinforcements!?" She said while taking an assault stance once again

Once they looked forward, the group saw Devi walking into view. She was in her human form, but that magic blast just now was indeed her doing.

"Hey, Yuube...Get up already, you're looking even worse than usual" said the catgirl while looking at his beat up ally

"Devi?" Asked Yuube as he raised his head to look at her "The hell are you doing here?"

As far as the CPU of the beat knew, Devi left yesterday to report about what happened with the share machine to Ibiem. He thought she wouldn't return for at least a few days.

"Well, whatever...better late than ever" he said while getting back on his feet and turning to face Kenji once again "Come on, hurry it up and go HDD! We have to beat these bros to a-!"

"We're leaving..."

That sudden claim caused Yuube to remain silent for a moment or two before finally being able to speak again.

"...What?"

"You heard me, we have to leave now" She said calmly

"You gotta be shitting me!" He snarled angrily before showing her the stab wound on his hand "Look at what that fucker did! I'm not leaving without beating the shit out of that bro first!"

"So you want to disobey Master Ibiem?" She asked with a more stern tone, almost as if trying to warn him of an impending danger "You want to challenge his orders?"

"Ma-Master Ibiem?"

After hearing Ibiem's name, Yuube's agression seemed to instantly fade away as his expression paled. Just the mere idea itself was capable of making him lose all anger.

"N-No...I just..."

Whatever it meant to disobey Ibiem, it had to be something that bore terrible, terrible consequences.

"You'll have another chance for payback...but right now we need to leave" Said Devi

When faced with this information, Yuube remained silent for a moment as he struggled to remain calm before clicking his tongue.

"Tch...fine!" He said before reverting back to his human form "You win this time, bros! But it ain't over yet!"

The CPU of the beat then walked closer to Devi, who rummaged through her dress's pocket before pulling out a crystal with a white power symbol on the core.

"A CPU memory?" Said purple Sister as she recognized the artifact

Nonetheless, something felt different about it. It looked similar to a CPU memory and bore a similar power, but it felt somehow different. It gave off the same aura as Histoire or Croire, rather than the aura of a CPU.

"Well...We'll be taking our leave now" said the catgirl

"Like I'd let you!"

Kenji wasn't just going to leave, and he tried to prevent it by dashing towards the two CPUs, but he and everyone else were blinded by a sudden light that emerged from the crystal Devi was holding on her hand.

Once the light dissipated and everyone was able to see, the two vanished from the scene.

"They're...gone?" Asked Purple Sister, who was unable to understand what just happened

"Damn it!"

"It can't be helped, we'll have to deal with them another day" Said Purple Heart before looking at Mister Badd "For now, we need to deal with him"

The only problem remaining was Mister Badd, and everyone wondered how to deal with him now after reverting back to human form.

"So my time has arrived, hasn't it?" Said the middle aged man

"Actually, we're not gonna kill you" Replied Neptune

Of course, Kenji seemed to ignore Neptune's words once again, as he walked towards Mister Badd and grabbed him by the neck to get him on his feet before aiming his sword at it.

"Gurgh!"

"Ke-Kenji!?"

"Wait, wait! Didn't you hear me just now!?" Said Neptune in a panick

With Yuube gone, the young man focused on Mister Badd again, making sure the tip of his blade was well aimed for the incoming stab.

"If I must die here, then so be it. But at the very least, listen to my last request!"

"I told you we're not going to do it!"

"You'll ignore a dying man's last wishes!?" Said the middle agged man with tears running down his cheeks "You're horrible!"

"Like you're one to talk!" Snarled Lowee's CPU

"Well, if you girls don't mind..."

"Wait, Kenji! Stop!"

Despite the words of the CPUs, the young man pulled his sword back and thrust forward to stab Mister Badd in the throat.

"Stop! Don't kill dad!"

After hearing a child's voice, Kenji stopped right before going for the kill, leaving the tip of his sword and the neck it was aimed at mere inches away from each other.

"Oh, what now!?" He said while turning his head

Once everyone looked at the source of the voice, they saw a very familiar couple of creatures.

"The fishbugs?" Said Nepgear with a surprised expression

"Please, don't kill our dad!"

"Like I said! We're not gonna kill him!" Replied Neptune "Why can't you people listen to me!?"

"So-sorry!"

A short moment of silence fell among the group before they came to realize something. The fishbugs just spoke in human language, and it was loud and clear.

"Eh?" Everyone said before finally being able to fully react "EHHHHHHHH!?"

"Eeeeeek!

"Hey! Don't scare my daughters!"

"Wait, wait! What the Nep is going on in here!?" Asked Planeptune's CPU in a panic "Since when can you guys talk!?"

"Erm...I think I can explain it" Said the other fishbugs, who remained quiet until now "It was because our dad taught us how to do it...it was really difficult at first, but he kept trying and eventually we managed to speak again"

The explanation was a relatively short one, but there was something that confused the CPUs about it. And it was the way they constantly referred to Mister Badd as dad.

When they heard it from him, of course it could be assumed to be a one-sided way of thinking. But hearing it from the "little girls" themselves was a whole other story.

"Hey...by dad you mean Mister Badd, right?"

"That's right..."

"But why call him dad?"

"I bet it's cause he had some sort of fetish about it" Said Neptune while sweat dropping

"Fetish?"

"I don't have a fetish! And don't go saying words like those in front of my daughters!"

"Or maybe he used things like drugs or hypnosis!"

"Could it be...Torture!?" Said Plutia with a sparkling smile

"Erm...Plutia? That's not something you should be saying with a smile" Replied Nepgear while sweat dropping

"Wait a moment...Don't you hate him for what he did to you?" Asked Noire while looking again at the little girls

"Of course we did..." Replied the first fishbug "At the start we were orphans living on the streets, but then we got kidnapped by them and turned into these things..."

"We didn't want to raise unwanted attention, so we picked those who wouldn't be noticed even if they went missing" Added Mister Badd

"At first we hated them a lot, but our dad acted different from the others" She explained "He was always nice to us, played with us, gave us presents on our birthdays, told us bedtime stories and even slept on our beds when we were too scared to sleep alone!"

"Yeah...definitely a fetish..."

"Drop it with the fetish thing already!"

"Hey..." Said the young man, who had remained quiet until now "Why are you trying to be their dad? What's in it for you?"

"Nothing material, if that's what you mean..." Said Mister Badd while turning his head to look at him "It's more of an attempt to fulfill an old wish"

"Old wish?"

When faced with that question, the sage's expression changed. As if recalled a memory from a long time ago.

"My wife and I wished to have children quite a lot during our youth, but illness took her life before we were given the chance have any..." He explained with a melancholic expression "The desire to be a father remained in me, but it hardly had any meaning without her...Or at least that's what I thought until I met these girls"

The middle aged man then looked at Kenji, whose sword was already lowered, in the eye and kept going.

"I can't correct my mistakes, but at the very least I want my daughters to lead normal human lives...That's why I've been investing on researching how to undo te effects of the CPU memories"

"There's a way to reverse it!?"

"I've been trying to find it, but my knowledge about the subject is less than mediocre" He said "That's why I wished to ask of you to continue my research"

"If that's the case, then just take your daughters to Lastation" Said Noire Bluntly

"Lastation?"

"That's right! My nation has the most advanced research labs, after all!" She replied with an air of pride "Finding a way to revert the effects of the CPU memories should be far easier with my help"

"You would really do this for me?"

"I'm doing it for them, rather than for you..."

"That's fine with me! As long as they're cured, I'll do whatever it takes!"

Noire's suggestion was earnestly accepted by the middle-aged man, and the other CPUs agreed to let him go.

Kenji, of course, wasn't too sure about this decision, but it was already a majority vote and the tense mood was pretty much gone among the sappy stories and Neptune's comments about fetishes. Besides, there were more important things to deal with.

With the threat now taken care of, the group kept moving forward while Lastation's CPU made sure to call the basilicom of her nation and tell them before-hand that Mister Badd and a whole pack of his daughters were headed there as guests.

While they walked deeper into the base, Kenji thought about the fishbugs and the way they showed so much care for the middle-aged man. Something about that unconditional love made the young man feel more at ease with his decision of not killing Mister Badd. This feeling of relief was also able to cool down his boiling blood and helped him think more clearly, which was a good thing, considering he didn't wish to face Peashy while bearing feelings of anger that could scare her. He already went and did a mistake that terrified two of the three girls he helped raise, and it wasn't a mistake he would commit again.

"Look, over there!" Said Purple Sister while pointing forward

Just a few feet away from them, Yellow Heart stood in the middle of the way. She had her eyes closed and seemed extremely calm, despite meeting face to face against the CPUs once again. Of course, the group didn't hesitate to go into HDD mode, but even that seemed unable to make her flinch.

"Hey, Peashy! It's us, IF and Compa!"

"Peashy! Please, come back with us!"

Despite IF and Compa's yelling, Peashy still didn't react in the least even after waiting for a moment or two.

"Peashy-chan...ignoring someone is quite mean, you know?" Said Iris Heart "I may have to punish you for this, after all"

And still nothing. Not even the imposing threat of Iris Heart and her punishments made her react. Needless to say, this was more than enough to make the sadistic CPU have a popped vein mark on her forehead along with a twitching eyebrow.

"Why isn't she saying anything?" Asked Purple Heart with a confused expression

"I'm not sure...but I think she's mumbling something" Replied Purple Sister with an equally confused expression

"Huh?" Said Compa before approaching Yellow Heart without any restraints

"Wait, Compa! Don't get so close to her in that form!" Said Kenji as she saw her walking towards Eden's CPU

The nurse didn't listen to his warning and stood in front of her. Once she took a closer look and even heard some of her mumblings, she came to realize the blonde CPU wasn't focusing nor ignoring them.

"She's...sleeping?"

"Eh!?"

"Are you Serious!?" Asked Purple Heart with widened eyes

These was a surprising discovery for the group. Both the fact she was sleeping instead of giving them the silent treatment and that she was doing while standing up.

"(What is she, a giraffe?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping "How does a human even fall asleep while standing up?"

"Neptune does it a lot too" Mentioned Purple Sister

"Seriously!?"

"Hmhmhmhm...Hahahahahaha!"

Peashy's ability to sleep while standing up didn't remain as the focus for too long, though, as everyone's attention soon diverted to Iris Heart's terrifying laughter before their expressions paled.

In a normal situation and with a normal individual, laugh would be a good thing as it was a sign of happiness. But the sadistic CPU wasn't exactly your average woman. Her attitude was usually a calm but condescending one that only showed strong emotion whenever her blood boiled from anger. And laughter, out of all the strong shows of emotion, was without a doubt the clearest mark of that anger reaching levels that were yet to be seen.

"Hey...the laugher can't be a good thing, can it?" Asked the young man while breaking a cold sweat

"I'm not sure...Right now we're way beyond ventured territory!"

"Hm...Hm?" Mumbled Yellow Heart before slowly opening her eyes "...Huh?"

"Ah, she woke up"

"I doubt anyone could sleep through that laugh" Said White Heart while sweat dropping

The blonde CPU remained drowsy for a moment or two before finally being fully awake and noticing the prescence of the CPUs.

"Ah! That's right!" She said with widened eyes "Papa told me to keep the mean CPUs from coming through here!"

"We're not mean CPUs"

"You are!" Snarled the CPU of Eden "You were mean to papa, so you're mean CPUs!"

She then raised both bracers up to face-level and took a fighting stance. It was clear as day that she wouldn't be doing any talking.

"So, Neptune. What was that plan of yours again?" Asked the young man

"First we must bring her into submission, otherwise it won't work" Replied Purple Heart while taking an assault stance

"Oh, welll...I just happen to be veeeery good at making others get down on their knees" Said the sadistic CPU while stretching her whip with a rather sinister smirk

Kenji was slightly worried that Iris Heart may end up going too far, but tried not to pay too much attention to it and took an assault stance as well.

"No choice but to do it, I guess..."

"Wait a moment, you three! That's Peashy!" Said Compa, who grew worried after seeing them getting ready to attack her

"It's the only choice we have, Compa. Peashy will never listen to us in her current state"

Compa still felt this wasn't the best choice, but decided not to get in the way of the CPUs, who took a fighting stance one after the other and got ready for what would be the final fight against Eden's CPU.

"Here I go!"

Everyone dashed forward, and so did Yellow Heart.

Even without the boost of the share machine and faced against seven enemies at once, the blonde CPU managed to dodge most of the attacks and block the remaining ones while delivering powerful punches and kicks in return, sometimes delivering them in quick succession as barrages capable of tossing the CPUs around.

"Damn! She's a tough brat!" Said White Heart shortly after being sent a few feet back from a kick that she barely managed to block with her axe

"Keep putting pressure! She'll tire out eventually!"

Following Purple Heart's strategy, the CPUs remained on the offensive and kept attacking her from all sides.

It took persistence and constant attacks, but they eventually managed to tire her out through their combined efforts and push her to the limit.

"Again...My body feels heavy" She said while taking deep breaths "No...I don't wanna lose!"

In one last effort, Yellow Heart dashed towards the CPU once again. As she moved around her enemies, the CPU of Eden chose to aim for the young man, who was closest to her, and attacked him with a roundhouse kick. Kenji tried to block it with his forearm, but that same forearm was already injured from taking on Yuube's warhammer early. This made him unable to withstand the impact and be sent flying by the kick before sliding on the floor a few feet.

"Kenny!"

"(Damn it! My arm had to go numb NOW!?)" He thought before getting back up

Right after he got on his feet, the young man faced Yellow Heart again and saw her heading towards him to launch a barrage of attacks.

He did his best to dodge or block with his blade, but it proved difficult with only one arm while the other was useless for blocking the powerful kicks and punches. This process of being pushed back kept going for at least a dozen more punches before he blocked one set of claws with his sword and managed to grab Peashy's other bracer with his free arm.

Unfortunately, this struggle wasn't favoring Kenji. The sword was able to keep the claws at bay, but his other arm hardly had any strength left in it.

"I...I won't let the mean people hurt papa!" She said while pushing with all of her might

"You...dumb brat!" Said Kenji while using every inch of strength he had left to push her arms aside "Knock it off with the papa bullshit already!"

In a split second, the young man leaned forward and headbutted the blonde CPU right in the forehead, effectively pushing her back and causing her to fall down on her rear.

Due to all the damage she suffered and her drained stamina, Peashy could no longer keep her HDD form on and reverted to human, giving the CPUs the victory on this battle.

"Owowowow! My head hurts!"

"We did it!" Said Purple Sister, who although tired, was happy they won

"It's not over yet, Nepgear"

"Eh? What do you mean, Neptune?"

"We managed to kick her ass, but we still have to make her remember us" Explained White Heart

"Oh, that's right..."

For a moment, Purple Sister forgot about this tiny and inconvinient detail. But nonetheless, she received a smile from her elder sister.

"Don't worry, Nepgear. I told you already..." Said Purple Heart with a confident smile before reverting back to her human form "Because we have the perfect plan!"

"I suppose the punishment will have to wait" Added Iris Heart before reverting back to her drowsy and less deadly human form

Once reverted back to their human forms, the two of them rummaged through a brown bag they brought with them and pulled out something that, despite being quite worn out do to the passage of time, was still recognizable.

"Here you go, Compa!" Said Neptune while giving it to here

"Huh? My old syringe?" She asked while grabbing it "Why did you bring this here?"

"Listen Compa! we need you to chase Peashy around with it!"

"Eeeek! a syringe!?"

The nurse was obviously confused by this sudden request, but she trusted Neptune and complied with her request. Of course, the sight of a giant syringe aimed at her was more than enough to send Peashy into a panic, causing her to run away in fear.

"I don't wanna! Shots are scary!"

This little chase lasted a few moments before the perky CPU rummaged through the bag one more time and pulled yet another object. This time it was a brown journal filled with stickers. The yellow-ish coloring on the pages showed this object was subject to the decay of time as well.

"(Is that...?)" Thought the young man, who had vague memories of having seen such a book before

"Here, IF! Read any part of this out loud!" Said Neptune while giving it to IF

"What? Oh...erm...sure" She replied with certain confusion while grabbing the journal, opening it at a random page and reading the first line she found "And the the mystic hero raised his weapon and...Eh?"

It took a moment, but the guild member suddenly remembered where she saw this story before. And it also helped Kenji realize what Neptune and Plutia's plan was.

They were trying to make Peashy remember everyone by reliving the experiences she had with both Compa and IF, her two best and closest friends.

"He-Hey! Wait a moment, Nepko!" Said IF with widened eyes before turning her head to look at Neptune "Isn't this the story i wrotte when I was a kid!?"

"That's right!"

"You and Peasy-chan put a lot of effort into it...so we wanted to bring it along" Said Plutia

"Wait, wait! I can't read this in front of everyone!"

"Of course you can!"

"You can do it, Iffy-chan!"

"Iffy, this is for Peashy's! I know you can!"

After receiving motivation from Neptune, Plutia and even Compa, there was no way she could refuse at this point. She took a deep breath and looked at the page once again before reading it out loud.

"B-By the ultimate for-forbidden power of..."

"Come on, Iffy! Louder!" Said Neptune

"By- By the ultimate forbidden power of my legendary darkness flame sword, I banish you to the secret ancient realm of eternal oblivion!"

With every word, IF's face became redder as the embarassment overwhelmed her. Not only from having to read such a thing out loud, but from having to share an old creation of her imagination that she wished to leave hidden away forever in her past to everyone. Although it seemed to accomplish the objective.

"Ohhhh! What's that!?" Asked Peashy, who heard the guild member's every word with sparkling eyes.

"It's a story you and Iffy wrote together, P-ko! Back when we all lived together!"

"Liar! P-ko didn't live with you! P-ko always lived with mama and papa!"

"Hah! You just called yourself P-ko in third person!" Pointed out the perky CPU

"Eh? I did?"

At that moment, the young man realized their plan was working.

"Come on, Peashy! We all used to live together as friends!" Said Compa in an effort to make her remember "Just try to remember!"

"No, I didn't!"

It was working, but it seememd as though it still wasn't enough to spark back the memories. And it was then that Kenji decided to step forward and lend his own share.

"Hey, Peashy" He said while walking closer to her "Do you know who taught you how to fight?"

"Eh?"

"I did"

"You did?"

Words didn't seem to take it anywhere, so Kenji decided to follow Neptune and Plutia's example and use actions instead.

He raised both arms in a boxing position and began throwing dozens of jabs into the air, combined with kicks. Despite the bleeding wounds on his limbs and the numbness plaguing his arms and legs, the young man beared through it and kept his barrage of melee attacks at enough speed to make wooshing sounds, making constant combinations of jabs, back punches, frontal and even roundhouse kicks. All movements Peashy used during the battle, and all in an almost similar way.

"Ohhhh! That's cool!" Said the little girl with sparkly eyes again after seeing that

"Yeah, you always loved it" Replied the young man shortly after stopping to look at her "That's why I taught you how to do it...We even trained together everyday"

"But...papa and mama-"

"Damn it, Peashy! Use that brain of yours and remember us already!" He said with an irritated expression "They're not your family, we're your family! Even you shouldn't be dumb enough to forget that completely!"

"Uh...ughh!"

After she heard Compa and Neptune, and now even Kenji telling her about her life with them, P-ko began to act as if she had a severe headache and even placed her hands over her head.

The little girl was utterly bewildered at the moment. She was convinced that her parents are and always were Anonydeath and Rei, but after everything the group did and showed to her, Peashy was starting to recall things. These were old memories, memories that didn't have her papa or mama, memores were the CPUs were with her.

"P-ko! Come on!"

"Peashy-chan!"

"I...I'm!"

Although she seemed to be in pain, it was indeed a sign that her memories were trying to resurface from the depths of her consciousness. Everyone's voices were finally reaching her. Or at least it seemed to be so until she fell completely silent.

"P-ko?"

For a moment, worry about her mental condition spread among the CPUs. But those fears faded away as soon as the little girl suddenly dashed forward and headbutted the perky CPU right in the solar plexus.

"Urgh!" Said Neptune as she fell down to the floor "Thi-this familiar feeling...P-ko?"

"Neptunia, Neptunia! It's Neptunia!" Said the little girl as she rubbed her head against the perky CPU

"P-ko! You're back!"

"Peashy-chan!" Said Plutia as she hugged Peashy and broke into tears "Uwaaaaaahhh! Thank goodness!"

While the three CPUs engeaged into an emotive reunion consisting of hugs, the rest of the group looked at them with bright smiles after reverting back to their human forms. This scene made everyone feel filled with a sense of victory after so many years of nothing but defeat.

They finally got Peashy back, they finally recovered their missing family.

Although this would have been enough to count as a victory for them, the CPUs still had to find the remaning sages and put them behind bars. But even after going to the deepest chambers and searching every spot, they didn't find anyone. After a while of searching in vain, everyone decided to call it a day and go back with Peashy, coming to the conclusion that the remaining sages used the fight betweem them and the little girl as their chance to slip away.

Anonydeath dissapeared without a trace, which was one of his talents, and hid under the radar while Rei, who was left with Croire as her only ally, wandered through Eden for a day or two before finally trying to head to Planeptune on the following day with the intention to surrender herself.

"Huh? Whe-Where is this?" She said while looking around her

Unfortunately for the ex-leader of the seven sages, her bad luck came into play and caused her to get lost in a forest on the way to the nation of purple progress. And Croire didn't really serve of any help. In fact, she was probably the complete opposite of that right now.

"Hey, hey...you sure about this?"

"Yeah, I'm sure" Replied Rei with the best amount of confidence she could muster "I tried doing my best with the seven sages, but in the end I only did more bad than good...It's time I pay for it"

The tome wasn't okay with this in the least, as it was too much of a pacific and dull outcome for her. But she wouldn't let that discourage her. Rei was decided to put an end to this, and she would.

"Oh, come on! That's way too boring!"

"Certainly...it's quite a dull decision to take" Said a rugged and manly voice coming from behind them "Especially for a "goddess" such as you..."

Upon hearing it, both Rei and Croire turned around to see a towering figure standing behind them. It covered in a torn and worn out black cloak, with his head covered by a hood and face by an eerie mask resembling a manequin or perhaps even a human face.

"U-Uwaaah! I-I-Ibiem!?" Said Croire as she quickly glided away with a terrified expression

"Ibiem!?" Asked Rei as she took some distance away from him as well "Yo-You mean, the leader of the oracles!?"

"In the flesh and bone" Replied the cloaked man

Seeing the terror in the tome's expression and that he just referred to her as a CPU was enough for her to know this was indeed the man she heard about, both from her and from the two CPUs.

"S-So...what can I help you with today, Mister Ibiem?" Said Croire with a nervous tone while breaking a cold sweat

"Nothing much, I just happened to feel like paying this dimension a visit" He said before turning his head to look at the CPU "And since I was here, may as well drop by and thank her for helping my oracles with their mission"

"N-No, it was nothing, really" She said while making a weak smile

"But now it seems you want to surrender yourself to them...A reasonable choice, considering you hardly have anything other than the flesh on your bones left"

"That's right..."

"Now you see, there's a slight problem with that decision" Said the cloacked figure "It's not yours to make yet"

"Eh?"

The man's words seemed to be ramblings at first, but she just realized now that he was onto something here. And it couldn't be anything good.

"Despite losing your organization and your influence over this world, you are still of use to me...Or rather, the real you is still of use to me"

"The...real me?" Asked the confused Rei before realizing what he meant "Yo-You can't possibly mean...!"

"That's right, Rei Ryghts..." Said Ibiem before leaning closer to her "Or should I call you by your CPU name, Lady Blue Heart?"

"That's wrong! That's not me anymore!" Denied the ex-leader of the seven sages

"The regrets of your past, the folly of your present and the failures of your future...All of them things that one has to live with..." Said Ibiem while walking closer to her "Yet, you choose the path of the coward and keep running away"

"I...I..."

"Despite being one of the few chosen to stand above all others, you rejected your fate and sought shelter in your own weakness" He said before moving one of his hands out of the cloack and revealing a CPU memory engulfed in a dark aura "It's time for that to change"

After seeing the dark CPU memory, Rei knew what would happen. But she didn't want to become that, not again.

"N-No..." She said while taking a step back and turning around to run away "Nooooooo!"

The CPU kept running as fast and hard as she could, but ended up tripping on her own feet and fell down to the floor. This caused her glasess to slip off and fall a few steps in front of her.

"(My glasses! I can't see without them!)" She thought while looking touching the floor around her "(I have to hurry! I can't let him turn me into that!)"

She kept looking around and touching her surroundings before finally touching something. But it didn't feel like her glasses or a rock. Instead, it felt like a boot. She then turned her head and saw a large black blur in front of her before raising her head to see it. Even with her vision blurred, she could tell it was Ibiem.

"(Ho-How did he get in front of me so fast?)" She thought with utter confusion

"Well then...Let's get this over with, shall we?"

"Wa-Wait, please! Please don't do it!" Begged Rei while moving away from him "Please, I'm begging you! Don't make me turn into that! I don't want to become that again!"

"You still don't get it, do you?" Said Ibiem with a stern voice this time "The moment you forsook the duty destiny gave to you...That was the moment when you lost the privilege of choice"

"No...Nooooo!" She said as the dark CPU memory got closer and closer to her "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

After that, the forest echoed with Rei's shrill screams as a pilar of dark energy emerged and raised high up into the skies, announcing the rebirth of an ancient and evil being of madness.


	23. The CPU of Tari, Rei Ryghts!

**Note from the author: 30/04/17**

 **Hey everyone, I'm finally back! I just wanted to thank all of you for waiting for this chapter, and also specially thank those who sent me supportive DMs and reviews. It really helped me recover my muse for writing.**

 **Technically April is not over yet, but I thought I could publish it since I managed to finish it early.**

 **Now I'm not saying chapters will be delivered much earlier. I've still got collegue and work to take care of, so my available time for writing isn't as large as it used to be when I started.**

 **Either way, I just hope you can enjoy this chapter even if it has a few flaws here and there. And once again, thanks to everyone who sent me DMs over the last few days. You really made me feel like all my effort means something.**

* * *

With its CPU gone, Eden fell appart shortly after as the citizens quickly left the nation in bulk and spread all around the continent. As a result of that, the criminal organization that once ruled it suffered a similar fate as almost all of their member joined one of the nations for personal reasons and the few that remained left.

This time, the seven sages were defeated for good. And it was very unlikely for them to ever reform, at least not as a threat to the CPUs or to anyone else in Gamindustry as for that matter.

"Okay! Are you ready, everyone!?" Said the perky CPU while raising a cup filled with orange juice before everyone followed suit and raised theirs as well "Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Said everone at the same time as their cups touched in one big cheer

With the fall of their rival nation, the complete defeat of their greatest enemies, and even Peashy's return, it was only natural that the group would want to celebrate this victory. And they just did as such by holding a party in Planeptune's basilicom. There wasn't too much party-themed decoration around the place, but Compa and Nepgear made sure there would be just about enough food and drinks for everyone, and even prepared a cake, which she was already serving to.

"Here you go, Kenji" Said The nurse as she gave a slice of cake on a plastic dish and plastic spoon to the young man with a smile

"Thanks..." Replied the young man while taking the dish

While Kenji began eating on his slice, Compa and Nepgear kept serving one slice to each person before taking their own slices and sitting down to eat with everyone else.

"Oh, wow...this cake is good!" Said IF, who was amazed by the well-balanced mixture of taste within the slice

"I'm glad you like it. Gear-Gear and I worked really hard on it" Replied Coma with a cheerful expression

"I did read a few recipe books about pastries back home, and I thought everyone would like it" Added Nepgear, who felt happy with the positive results of her efforts "But Compa did most of the work this time"

"This was certainly well-made. Your cooking skills have improved greatly over the years, Compa (^-^)"

"Thank you!"

It was indeed a cheerful celebration, but it wasn't the only reason for Noire, Blanc and Vert to visit.

Now that their sworn enemy was defeated and nothing stood against them, the CPUs could gather and focus on the future course of their nations, along with some pressing matters. Something which they did after they were done eating.

"Well, should we get started?" Asked Noire while looking at the other two, who nodded in agreement "Okay...First of all, we should figure out how to deal with the citizens coming from Eden"

"Certainly..." Replied Blanc after recalling a document she read earlier "There have been waves of people migrating into the other nations, but some of them seem to be having trouble finding jobs..."

"If that's the case, then focusing on increasing demand could widen the amount of available jobs" Suggested Vert

"Okay! I'm getting another slice!" Said Neptune while serving herself another piece of cake on the other side of the room

"Another good idea would be to stimulate the production of smaller businesses...perhaps that would in turn create new ones"

"Me too, Nep-chan! I want another one too!"

A short moment of silence fell between the three CPUs. While they were talking about quite a serious subject that was related to all the nations, Neptune, Plutia and Peashy were still gulping down on what remained of the cake without a single care in the world.

"...I'm sorry" Said Nepgear, who seemed slightly embarassed about what was happening

"Ah! No fair!" Complained the little girl with both arms raised up "P-ko wants cake too!"

"Sure..." Said Plutia before giving her a slice "Here you go..."

"Yay! Cake, cake!"

"Ah...! That's no good, Peashy-chan...you shouldn't eat so fast!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry!"

At this point, the CPU candidate couldn't do much but lower her head and apologize as much as she could. It was partly understandable, but not really necessary from her exactly.

This scene could easily make one think of a matter apologizing to other adults for the mischievous behavior of her children.

"Hey, don't go eating too much cake now! Otherwise It'll start pouring out your eyes and ears!"

"What's that!? Scary!"

Seeing her elder sister wouldn't notice the awkward silence or piercing stares of the other CPUs, Nepgear decided to try and make her aware of it.

"Hey, big sister! We're trying to have a serious conversation over here!"

"Ehhhh!? Why the serious stuff!?" Said Planeptune's CPU with a frown before smiling again "This is a party! We're supposed to be having fun!"

"You too, Plutia! You're the CPU!"

"I don't really get all that complicated stuff, so I try not to worry..." Replied the drowsy CPU with a smile

"Plutia, that's a very irresponsible thing to say as this nation's CPU (ò_ó)" Said the tome while flying closer to her and eventually turning her stare to Neptune "And you as well, Neptune! Even if your duties don't apply on this dimension, you should still try to show some diligence as a CPU!"

"Uwaaaaaah...! Histy scolded us again!"

"It's the return of Pisty!"

While the two CPUs of Planeptune were scolded once again by Histoire, Peashy looked at the people around her with widened eyes and a cold sweat

"Hey...Is the cake really going to pour out of my eyes?"

"I-It's okay, Peashy. There's no way something like that could happen!" Said Nepgear in an attempt to ease the little girl's worries before turning her head to look at Kenji for confirmation "Right, Kenji?"

"No...It couldn't..."

The CPU candidate did receive an answer, but something seemed odd about the monotone tone Kenji used to answer, and that he didn't even bother turning at least his head around to do it. But she hardly had a chance to do so as Neptune quickly caught Peashy's attention once again after slipping away from Histoire's lecture.

"Hey, P-ko. How's your memory?"

"Memory?"

"Yeah! How much do you remember!?" Replied the perky CPU before pointing at herself "Do you remember me?"

"You're Neptuna!" Said the little girl with a bright smile

"Correct!"

"Hey, hey...What about me?" Asked Plutia while approaching Peashy as well

"Plutia!"

"That's right! Good job, Peashy-chan" Said the drowsy CPU with a big smile

"Hey...Do you remember me?"

This time, the one to ask was Noire, who got interested after seeing Neptune and Plutia asking and was cuirous to know if Peashy was able to remember her. And she probably wasn't the only one, judging by the way the other CPUs looked at her.

"Hm..." Thought the little girl for a moment while looking at her "No...Nowear?"

"No-Nowear!?"

"B-Bwahahahahaha! Nowear! She just called you Nowear!"

"He-Heyy! What are you laughing about!?" Snarled Lastation's CPU while turning her head to look at Planeptune's CPU with an irritated expression "Neptune!"

"Eh? I got it wrong?"

"Well...It's not exactly that, but close enough" Said Nepgear to the little girl with a weak smile while sweat dropping

"Do you remember me?" Asked Blanc this time with a mixture of curiosity and hesitation

"Hm...Red and white..." Muttered Peashy while trying to recall the name of the girl in front of her "Looks like a cake...Buranc!"

"She remembered my name because my clothes look similar to a cake?" Said Lowee's CPU with a surprised expression before it changed into relief "Oh, well...At least it's better than what Noire got"

"Hey, hey...And what about me? I'm sure you remember me, right?" Asked Vert with enthusiasm to hear the answer

"Hm...Hm..."

The little girl looked at Leanbox's CPU, but seemed to have a really hard time coming up with the answer. This, in a way, made Vert worry for a moment.

"E-Eh? Co-could it be she doesn't remember me?"

"It can't be helped. You never really spent too much time with her to begin with" Said the tome in an attempt to justify Peashy's lack of an answer

"Ver...Ver..." Mumbled the little girl as she slowly began recalling a name she heard quite a few times

"Yes? Ver what?" Asked once again Leanbox's CPU while looking again at her with certain excitement

"Ver...Beru-Beru!" Replied Peashy with a bright smile as she said the first thing that came to her mind

"Beru-Beru!?"

"Oh? Well, isn't that a cute name?" Said Noire in a mocking manner with a smirk

Needless to say, the name she was caled just now was more than enough to make her eyes widen like plates, but it didn't stop there, as her eyes began getting teary as well.

"Be-Beru...she calle me Beru..." Said Leanbox's CPU before she beggan sobbing

"Whoa!? Vert is crying!?" Quickly said Neptune with a shocked expression "It was super effective!"

"Ah! I'm sorry! Don't cry, Beru!"

After seeing her tearing up, Peashy worried that she may have hurt Vert's feelings. But what the little girl or anyone else on the room had yet to realize was that those tears were formed from everything but sadness.

"I...I've never had anyone giving me such an adorable name!" Said Leanbox's CPU before wrapping Peashy into a thight hug "You're...you're really...a blessed child!"

"Gugh...! Beru, you're crushing me!"

Vert, who was always perceived as the oldest and therefore most mature out of the CPUs, never truly received any pampering or affection that emphasized her cuteness. This was the very first time someone called her using such a cute name, and it made her feel an overwelming amount of happyness to the point of breaking into tears.

Unfortunately for the little girl, this meant her head was being pressed thightly against Vert's breast, which were known for being good at preventing any head that got caught in between them to breath properly, if at all.

"Wa-wait, Vert! You're suffocating her!"

Love and affection aside, this hug could quickly turn into a rather dangerous thing unless something was done. And the CPU candidate didn't hesitate to take action.

It took a lot of convincing and some tugging, but Nepgear managed to convince Vert to let go of Peashy, who was already getting purple from the lack of oxigen.

"Hey, Vert! You almost gave P-ko the game over!" Complained Neptune

"I-I'm sorry,I went a little overboard..." Said Leanbox's CPU while sweat dropping with a weak smile

After complaining with Vert, Neptune turned her head to look at Peasy, but her eyes soon caught notice of Kenji. Although he was quiet, the young man glanced at the little girl every now and then. Seeing this suddenly made her realize there was one more person for her to mention.

"Hey, P-ko! You remembered everyone, right?" Said Planeptune's CPU before pointing at the young man "So what about him?"

"Him?" Asked the little girl before turning around to look at Kenji, who was facing sideways at the moment

"That's righ! What's his name!?"

"Hm..."

Once again, Peashy tried her best to remember, but once again she was forced to try and force the answer out of her brain. Unlike before, the results weren't as promising, thought. Or rather, there were no results at all.

Despite focusing as hard as she could and trying her hardest, the little girl just couldn't remember anything at all about him. Not even a vague idea like with Vert. Her mind was literally a blank slate, and she just couldn't seem to get an answer.

The young man didn't seem too concerned about it, though. In fact, the only thing he did in response to this was close his eyes and turn his face to look forward after giving a short glance at Peashy.

"The name's Kenji" He said with the same dull tone as before "No need to wrack your brains for that, kiddo"

"Ken...ji?"

"Hey, Kenny! that's cheating!" Complained Neptune "P-ko had to remember by herself!"

"That's righ!" Added Compa "Peashy needs to try by herself, otherwise she won't be able to remember!"

Kenji didn't reply to Neptune and Compa's complaints and remained silent, which was really out of place if you considered Kenji was the type of guy that rarely knew how to shut up when arguing with someone about anything in general or when wanting to give someone a piece of his mind. Even so, he didn't say anything to argue against them and remained quiet for a moment before suddenly getting up from the floor and walking towards the exit.

"Eh? Where are you going?"

"On a walk..."

"You running away!?"

Neptune's obvious attempt to incite some irritation into Kenji was a complete failure as he ignored it and kept walking until going into the hallway and away from everyone's sight.

"Ken-chan..."

"Seriously, just what's with him?" Asked Noire with an expression that showed she was more confused than irritated "First he was always sulking because Peashy wasn't around, and now that she's here with us, he acts like that..."

True to the words of Lastation's CPU, the young man's behavior became different ever since peashy returned to Planeptune.

While everyone became more cheerful and lively because of it, Kenji showed the exact opposite change shortly afterwards. Even though he seemed to be as happy as everyone else when she regained her memories, he became more quiet and expressed less emotion than before, which was completely different from his usual self and more like he used to be before. But besides from this, the most notable change everyone could notice was the way he acted towards Peashy herself.

Instead of being even closer to her and spending all the time time he could with her, the young man hardly paid any attention to Peashy. He constantly ignored her and if he had to talk to her, he did it in such a monotone and down to the point type of way that some could even say it was downright cold. Needless to say, this was concerning for the CPUs, who had yet to understand the reason behind this sudden change in behavior.

"Maybe he's upset because Peashy can't remember him?" Said Nepgear as she hypotesized the reasons for this

"Even if that were the case, he shouldn't be like that with her!" Replied IF, who did seem notably irritated by this

"But putting that aside, why can't Peashy remember Kenji?" Asked Compa while turning her head to look at Histoire "She already remembers everyone, but she doesn't seem able to remember anything at all about him"

"I can't say for sure...I'm afraid I have very little knowledge about the effects of amnesia (ó_ò)"

While most of the group discussed about the subject at hand, Neptune kept looking at the doorway in silence for a moment or two before turning once again to look at everyone else with a smile.

"Sorry, everyone! I have to go do something!"

"Eh? Do what, big sister?" Asked Nepgear, who was rather surprised by her elder sister's sudden words

"Oh, you know! Main character's stuff!" She replied before turning around and heading out "Well, see ya gals later!"

"Ah! Wait, big sister!"

The CPU candidate was about to go after Neptune, but she ran out and left before anyone could even react. Causing a short moment of silence to fall among the group.

"What the goddess did Neptune mean by that?" Asked Nepgear with a confused and worried expression

"It's okay, Gear-chan..." Said Plutia with a smile while everyone turned to look at her, CPU candidate included "I'm sure Nep-chan will find a way to solve this...so let's trust in her"

At first the drowsy CPU's words didn't do much to ease her worries, but Nepgear soon came to understand they were true.

Most likely, Neptune would try to talk with Kenji and figure out what's wrong with him. And the perky CPU was without a doubt the best one to try this, as she and the young man shared a strong trust to each other, even if it didn't show up very often.

"I see..." Said Nepgear with a somewhat more relieved tone this time "You're right, Plutia..."

Although she wished to do something, the CPU candidate decided to trust on Neptune this time and let her handle it.

While this conversation among the CPUs unfolded, the young man walked down the streets without much of a destination nor a goal other than to simply stretch his legs and clear out his mind a little. Unfortunately, it didn't really help as much as he hoped it would. If anything, it only made him think even harder about it.

After a moment or two, Kenji decided to stop walking and stood still before searching within his vest for something.

"A wild Kenny has appeared!" Yelled Neptune cheerfully

Right after hearing the perky CPU yelling his name behind him, the young man nearly jumped up as he almost let the object he was going to pull out of his vest slip, but nonetheless managed to keep a steady hold of it and quickly put it back before she could notice.

"Damn it, Neptune! What did I tell you about suddenly yelling behind me!?" He said while turning around to look at her with an irritated expression

"Not to do it!" She said with a smile

The young man looked for a moment with an annoyed expression before closing his eyes and letting out a small sigh while sweat dropping.

No matter how much you said it or even yelled it, there were just some things about Neptune that would never change. And one of them was that custom of hers to suddenly yell behind people.

"But seriously, you're causing a total havoc on the reviews section here!" Said Planeptune's CPU with annoyed expression, which caught his attention "What's the deal with you and P-ko all of a sudden, anyway!?"

When hearing this question, Kenj's expression turned into slight surprise at first before reverting back to what it was back at the basilicom as he looked sideways. But this expression of his was one Neptune had seen much, much before Peashy's return. Or rather, a similar expression to one she had seen before.

That expression was similar to the phlegmatic mug he always used to have when they met, and persisted until after the defeat of the deity of sin. But unlike before, this time it was different. Back then it was a completely natural state of mind for him, and he always retained a calm disposition even if his anger got the better out of him sometimes. But now, it felt more forced than anything else. It was almost as if he was trying to force himself to be indiferent and pretend that he didn't care, but the CPU could notice there was a hint of guilt mixed in as well just by looking at his eyes.

"(So there was something bothering him after all...)" She thought while looking at him with slight worry

Among the things Neptune had learned about Kenji that few knew of, one was that his eyes were incredibly expressive. This was a good thing in itself as it usually helped her figure out how the young man was really feeling or if he was trying to hide something. Unfortunately, this was hard to do sometimes as well since he had the custom of closing them or avoiding eye-contact.

Whetever this custom was a subconscious impulse or something he did on purpose was yet to be known.

"Hey...Kenny..." Said Neptune with a more friendly tone while looking at him with an understanding smile

At first there was no reaction from the young man, but it didn't take long for him to look at the CPU again and speaking.

"You do realize we'll have to leave someday, don't you?" He asked with stern tone

That question took Neptune by surprise. Not because it was anything shocking or extremely plot-twisting, but rather because it was something she forgot about.

Because of everything that happened so far over the last years and even because of Peahy's return, the perky CPU's mind focused so much on the happyness of the here and now that it slowly drifted away from the issue. This caused her to, even if just for a short while, to forget about the Hyperdimension and the issue taking place over there with the civil rights group. And even though the young man seemed to have forgotten for some time as well, he remembered it and was probably part of the reason behind his current change of mood.

But even so, it still didn't answer the real question. Just how was that related to the way he acted towards peashy?

The perky CPU was about to ask this question, but their conversation was cut short after the young man's attention was suddenly cut short by the feeling of being pulled backwards.

"(Wha-?)" Thought the young man before turning his head to look over his shoulder

Behind him, there was someone pulling on the hood of his vest, probably in an attempt to call his attention. But what really surprised the young man wasn't that someone was pulling on his clothes, but rather the person pulling on them.

It was a young woman with purple hair worn in very long twin braids and blue eyes. She was dressed in a black and purple bathing suit, fully equipped with a set of processors.

"Ne-Neptune!?" He said as his eyes widened as plates

"Hm? What?" Asked Planeptune's CPU, who couldn't see the woman due to Kenji being in the way

"No, I mean her" Replied the young man while turning his head to look at Neptune and pointing at Purple Heart

This answer confused the perky CPU, who then decided to walk a few steps and stand next to the young man so she could see the woman he was pointing at.

Needless to say, she was quite surprised after seeing her. Although not exactly for the same reason as him.

"Ohhh!? Who is this elegant-looking lady!?" She asked with sparkly eyes

"It's...It's Neptune..." Said Kenji with a slight sense of bewilderment in his tone

"Ehhhh!? She's got the same name as me!?"

"No, I mean she's the HDD you..." Quickly said the young man to clear out her misunderstanding "Can't you tell just by looking at her?"

"Not really, I never have time to check myself in the mirror when transforming" She answered before looking again at her HDD self with quite a proud expression "But I've gotta say, I look pretty hot! I approve of me!"

Kenji looked at her and sweat dropped. He had the odd feeling Neptune was missing out on the crucial point of this situation once again, but that thought wouldn't last too long as his mind would quickly focus on something else.

After suddenly feeling something touching him, the young man quickly looked forward and saw the second Purple Heart softly placed both of her hands on his chest. And before he could even react, she moved in closer and rested her head against it while pressing her body against his.

"...Eh?" Said both the young man and Planeptune's CPU with with blank expressions before suddenly reacting to what was happening "EHHHHHHH!?"

Needless to say, this sudden and unexpected action took both of them by surprise. And saying surprise was probably cutting it short.

"Wa-wa-wa-wait a moment! What the Nep is going on in here!?"

"How am I supposed to know!?"

"Could it be, the writter is tossing out some random fanservice for the readers!?" She said with shock and a blush "Or maybe he's trying to foretell a possible shipping here!?"

"Knock it off with the meta jokes and help me, you idiot!" Said the young man in a panic while looking at her with a strong blush

Right at this moment, the young man was in quite a tight spot. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to end with just that, as Purple Heart pressed her body even closer to his. This, in turn, caused him to perceive certain things a lot more clearly than before. One of them being the surprisingly good smell of her hair, which had a fragance that reminded him of recently picked up wild flowers or to one of those shampoo products most women used to keep their hair clean. Another, and clearly obvious, detail would be her body.

Although it wasn't as large as Green Heart's in certain areas, Purple Heart had quite a voluptuous figure as well. And not only that, but her's felt even softer. And for some reason, the warmth of her body made his heart beat much faster than with Leanbox's CPU, although he couldn't really fathom why besides from the obvious reason taking place right now.

"(Wha-What the heck is going on in here!?)" Thought the young man while trying to keep his mind away from the thoughts related to the things he could sense at the moment "(Why is there another Neptune here!? And why is she leaning on me like this!?)"

When he left the basilicom at first, Kenji hoped to find something to keep his mind away from the things that were bothering him, but little did he imagine something like this would happen.

Although the ridiculousness of this situation didn't last much longer, as he suddenly felt a cold shiver running down his spine to signal him of the incoming danger. And once he looked at the woman again, he saw her holding onto her sword, ready to stab him in the stomach. But fortunately, he managed to react in time and quickly grab onto the blade, leaving the sharp tip of the large katana and his flesh mere inches away from each other.

"Nepu!?" Yelled Neptune in surprise as she was caught off-guard by this.

"Shit!"

The young man held tightly onto the blade and tried to pull it away while placing the other hand on her shoulder, but the fake CPU had quite an astounding amount of brute strength, probably even more than the original.

This struggle kept lasting as the blade went a few inches back and fort, with the sharp side of the blade cutting into the skin of his hand and causing blood to drench his fingers as it dripped into the floor.

"Get...the fuck...off of me!" He yelled before suddenly raising his leg and kicking the fake Purple Heart in the gut to push her away from him.

After that, he managed to get some distance away from the CPU, which was stunned for a short moment after receiving that strong impact.

"Hey, Kenny! Are you okay!?" Asked Neptune while looking at him with worry

"Yeah" Replied the young man while taking a deep breath and then looking at his hand "Just a scratch"

That struggle just now left a bleeding cut on his palm, but he knew it could've been a lot worse.

There wasn't much time to focus on the wound, though, as the fake Purple Heart quickly took an assault stance and dashed forward once again. But this time both CPUs managed to dodge the attack by moving aside and didn't waste a second to go into their HDD forms and get ready to strike back.

"Kenji...before we start the battle, there's something I have to make sure of..." Said the original Purple Heart while looking at the young man, who then turned his head to look at her "You ARE able to distinguish which one of us is the real one, right?"

"Of course I do!" He replied while looking at her for a moment before looking at the fake Purple Heart and then at the original one again "...It's...The one that doesn't attack me..."

To this answer, Planeptune's CPU sweat dropped. This was somewhat annoying to the young man, who was usually the one giving her that look.

He couldn't really be blamed on this one, though. Both women didn't only look the same, but even their shares were exactly similar. So therefore, the young man couldn't use much other than that as a way to tell them appart.

"I seriously think we should address this issue before the battle starts" She said with certain worry about her own well-being

"Okay, okay...just give me a second" Said Kenji while trying to figure out a solution for this before something suddenly popped in his mind "Oh, wait! I know!"

"Hm?"

The young man then proceeded to search in his pockets while Purple Heart looked at him with curiosity before he pulled out a black marker and approached the CPU.

"Okay, stay put for a moment"

"Wait, what are you-?" Asked the CPU before Kenji placed his hand on her face to keep her still and pressed the marker against her cheek to draw an X on it "Kyah!?"

"There...I'll call you "Nep-X" till the battle is over!"

"You...you have to be kidding me..."

Purple Heart had a hard time believing this was the young man's plan, but there wasn't much time dwell on it as the fake CPU seemed to get tired of waiting and dashed forward to attack them. This time, though, the two quickly moved out of the way once again before moving in to strike back.

Just as it would be expected, the fake Purple Heart didn't only have the same appearance and shares as Planeptune's CPU, but she was just as skilled as her, if not more. Her speed wasn't much to notice, but the strength of her attacks was much stronger than that of the original, and she certainly didn't hesitate to prove it despite being outnumbered.

On the bright side, though. The civilians that were walking through the streets just moments ago quickly took notice of the battle and ran away. That, and the fact Kenji was able to tell which Purple Heart was the original one thanks to the X gave both CPUs the chance to go all out without concern for the bystanders. And that was absolutely needed, especially against this enemy.

The swords clashed dozens of times as the fake switched between attacking Purple Heart and Kenji, but the two didn't lag behind remained on the offensive as well. With everytime that a clash ended and a struggle took place, one would keep her in place while the other moved in to attack. This constant repeat lasted for what seemed like almost an hour before the fake finally showed signs of weakening.

"She's starting to weaken!" Pointed out Purple Heart "Just a little more!"

With her strength already failing to her, the fake Purple Heart decided to go all out and clash swords against Planeptune's CPU one more time. Just like all the others it ended with a struggle that broke off shortly after, but now there was a little issue. Kenji couldn't recognize which one was the real Purple Heart.

Due to the intense battle, the X he put on the cheek of Planeptune's CPU slowly faded away and was even harder to see from this angle, and the two spun around for a bit during their clash of weapons, causing the young man to lose track of the real one for a moment.

Fortunately, though, he managed to find one detail that helped him identify the fake. That detail being the blood of his hand staining the end of her blade.

"Got you now!" He said while dashing forward with his blade coated in flames "Coldfire Edge!"

As she noticed him moving towards her, the fake quickly tried to block, but the young man's attack sent her weapon flying away. This, in turn, gave Purple Heart the chance to move in and deal the finishing blow.

"Victory slash!" She yelled as she dealt the final attcak

With all of her strength depleted, the fake CPU fell down to the floor before her body suddenly conbusted into black flames as it faded away. All while Planeptune's CPU and the young man looked at it happening.

"And that's that..." Said Kenji before reverting back to human

"Whatever she was, she was even stronger than me" admitted Purple Heart "It was a challenge to defeat her even with the two of us..."

"Yeah..."

At that moment, silence fell between the two of them.

The battle was already over, that was for certain. But there was still one unsolved issue.

"Hey, Kenny...About P-"

"We should get back and tell the others about this" He quickly interrupted "If one of these poped out of nowhere like this, then more may come at any time"

Purple Heart tried to bring back up the issue about Peashy, but the young man instantly skirted the issue using what just happened as an excuse.

"Ye-yeah...we should..." She said with certain hesitation in her tone

While he turned around and headed back towards the basilicom, Purple Heart followed after him still wondering just what was going on with him.

*Scene*

At first it was hard to imagine such a thing could be true, but the other CPUs quickly decided to believe Kenji and Neptune's words about a fake Purple Heart attacking them after several reports of said battle were delivered to the basilicom. The question about who would be capable of creating such a thing lingered around for a while, but everyone quickly reached the conclusion that it had to be related to the leader of the seven sages, who had yet to be captured.

Peashy didn't seem all too pleased with the CPUs thinking of Rei as an evil boss, as she described her as a nice but clumsy mother. This raised certain doubts within the group, but nonetheless kept her as the primary subject. After all, her "clumsy" nature could easily be just a facade to hide her true personality and very few individuals out there could be capable of creating such a thing.

"What's Rei like?" Asked Mister Badd after receiving the same question from Noire

Unfortunately for the CPUs, these questions were too many and the information available too little to answer by themselves. This led them to use a fairly simple but effective tactic, which was asking the once-sages and former allies of Rei about her.

With this idea in mind, they decided to gather them in Lastation's basilicom and ask the question there.

"Hm...If I had to describe her in one word, I'd say "unreliable" would describe her perfectly" Said the middle-aged man without hesitating "And "cowardly" would fit her as well"

"She's completely useless as a leader"

"A complete coward that can't make people listen to her-chu"

"How could you people think of her like that!? Rei is my friend, and she a good person too!"

After interrogating every sage available, the group decided to piece together what they had so far and tried coming up with a conclusion.

"N-Not a single positive oppinion" Said Nepgear with a weak smile and a slight feeling of surprise towards this unanimous oppinion

"(No wonder she was always so depressed...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

So far, every single answer they received described Rei Ryghts as everything but a reliable and useful leader. As a matter of fact, everyone agreed on her being both a coward, useless and lacking in every skill a leader needed.

The only exception to this was Copypaste, who got rebuilt to work as a tea-serving robot for Blanc shortly after attacking Lowee. But according to the other sages, Anonydeath messed around with his brain in quite an awful way, so his oppinion was probably not very trustworthy.

"Okay...from what we gathered so far, that Rei person is probably not the one we're looking for" Said Vert after gathering up the evidence they currently had

"So I guess we're back to square one..." Added Noire while sighing with her eyes closed

"I wouldn't be so sure about that one, sweetheart"

"Who's there!?"

Suddenly, everyone heard a voice echoing throughout the room. And it was quite a familiar, even if unpleasant, voice.

"That voice..."

"Yes, yes! It's me!" Said the voice all of a sudden with a more cheerful tone "The most fabulous hacker, Anonydeath!"

"Ah! It's papa!" quickly said Peashy after recognizing his voice and calling to him with a cheerful voice "Heeeeeey, Papa! Papa!"

Hearing the little girl calling out to so cheerfully to the man that literally screwed around with her brain and even referring to him as her father was quite an unpleasant thing, and most of the group could show signs of it in their expressions. The young man in particular had a profoundly sour expression at the moment, and the drowsy CPU noticed it. Although she didn't make mention of it.

"Hey, what did you mean by that?" Asked Noire before suddenly another doubt popped into her mind "Or rather, how are you speaking to us right now?"

"Isn't it obvious? It's through the mics on my hidden cameras!"

"Urgh...I really thought I found all of those things already" She said while sweat dropping with a mildly disgusted expression.

"Oh, please honey...You wouldn't seriously think It would be that easy, would you?" Said the hacker with a playful tone "I'm constantly placing new cameras! And some are VERY well hidden too!"

Hearing the emphasis he made on the word hidden somewhow was enough to make Lastation's CPU shiver in place from the mere.

"I hate this creep...I really, really hate him..."

"I guess Noire has her own share of trouble as well" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping with a smile

"Well, putting my love for Nowa-chan aside for now, there's a reason why I called you" Said Anonydeath with a more stern tone "I'm in a bit of a pinch here, and I'd really like your help"

"Our help?"

Nevermind his sudden interruption into their conversation, the even more unexpected request for help was what caught the CPUs by surprise.

"That's right..." He replied rather calmly "You see...Shortly after leaving Eden, I went back to pick up some of my leftover things and I happened to run into Rei there...Thing is, she's completely different from before"

"Different?" Asked the middle-aged man this time with a curious expression

"Yeah. She's totally the oppsite of before!" Said the hacker "I almost got killed by her and ended up a prisoner...Which is why I'm calling you right now"

"Well, bad luck for you" Quickly said the young man with his arms folded

"Yeah, deal with it yourself!" Added Noire with her arms folded as well "We don't have any reason to help YOU out of all people!"

The group then looked at the two of them and at how they rejected the hacker's request within mere seconds.

"No mercy from those two..." Said Blanc while looking at them

"Well...After everything he did, you can't really blame them" Added Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile

Although some would say it was a bit too harsh of a rejection, Anonydeath's actions were more than enough for Kenji and Noire to justify both the animosity they felt towards him and their rejection towards the idea of helping him.

Unfortunately for them, the hacker knew exactly how to convince them.

"Oh, come on now, you people! I'm being held against my will over here!" He said before changing into a more playful voice "Then again, the ones holding me hostage are clones of Nowaru, so It's not really all that bad"

"Eh?"

"I mean, they get violent if I try to escape, but they don't seem to mind anything else" Explained the hacker with a somewhat more excited tone "I've been poking and touching them all over, and they don't even react!"

"EHHHHHHHH!?"

This piece of information was something Lastation's CPU surely didn't expect, and it certainly wouldn't be something she was going to allow.

"Wh-wh-why didn't you say that part earlier!?" She said in a panic before turning around to look at the other CPUs "You people, we have to go right now!"

"No, we don't" Replied the young man, who still wasn't convinced that the hacker gave him any reasons to go

"What do you mean we don't!?" Quickly snarled Noire while turning to look at him "I'm not gonna let that pervert do whatever he want's to my body!"

"Technically, it's not YOUR body he's groping right now"

"I don't care! We're going there NOW!"

The young man and Lastation's CPU exchanged stares for a moment or two in an attempt to gain the upper hand in this discussion before the others finally decided to jump in and avoid the probably incoming bloodbath.

"You two, knock it off already!" Said Vert before turning her head to look at the young man "Kenji, It's okay if you don't want to do it to help that man..."

"Maiden..." Interrupted Anonydeath

"...But the important part of this is that he's being held captive by clones of Noire" Explaned Leanbox's CPU while ignoring the hacker's interruption "And that means this Rei person must be the one behind it. So even if we don't want to, we'll have to go "

"That's right!" Said Peashy while looking at Kenji with a frown "We gotta help Papa!"

Despite keeping the same sour expression, the young man was feeling his blood boiling up already. Vert's reasoning made perfect sense, which gave him little to no room for argument there. But without a doubt the most infuriating thing was what Peashy just said right now.

Even though Anonydeath did so many horrible things to her, even tough he sepparated her from everyone she loved and cared about for a whole decade, she still showed affection towards him and even called him papa.

"...Fine..." He said before turning around and walking towards the exit "Let's just get this over with already"

"(Ken-chan...)"

Once everyone agreed to this plan, the group headed off towards Eden one last time. But it was on the way there that things got heated up.

As the CPUs flew on the skies, some of them were focusing on the young man, who didn't say a word after they left. Iris Heart was in particular was probably the one keeping her gaze on him the most at the moment. And it was finally after a while of silence that she decided to put an end to this issue herself, as she decided she had enough of him acting like this.

In a sudden movement, the sadistic CPU doubled her speed and got ahead of the young man before stopping and, as such, caused him to stop in front of her as well.

"Hey, Ken-chan...there's something I've been meaning to ask you..."

Kenji didn't reply, he simply looked at her in wait of whatever she wanted to ask of him. Although he had a slight idea of what it could be.

"Just how long are you going to keep nonesense this up?" She asked with a frown and a tone that proved she was rather displeased with his silent treatment

"Keep what up?"

"You know exactly what I mean...don't you?"

Both CPUs exchanged stares for a moment or two in silence while everyone looked at them from a short distance.

The sadistic CPU kept her gaze focused on his for a while longer before Kenji simlply closed his eyes and answered the one thing that would probably be what angered her the most.

"Beat's me...I'm not that good with indirects" He said with a calm tone before moving past her

That was the breaking point, and Iris Heart's twitching eyebrow was more than enough proof of it. This was pretty unfortunate for the young man, who was about to get it.

As he was about to catch up to the others, his movement was suddenly stopped by a whip wrapping around his torso. Much to his and the other CPU's shock.

"Indirects, you say?" Asked the sadistic CPU with a low tone and a rather eerie grin "How about this, then!?"

Just as suddenly as she captured him with her whip, Iris Heart released a powerful shock of lightning that electrocuted Kenji before she pulled on her weapon and spun it around, causing the young man to be dragged along and spin around a few times before being released and thrown towards the ground, crashing down into the ground below.

"Wa-Wait! Plutia!?" Said Purple Heart with widened eyes

"You girls...Would you be kind and go ahead of us?" Asked Iris Heart while looking at them with a seemingly harmless smile "I'd like to have a moment of...privacy...with Ken-chan over here"

The request was an odd and rather sudden one considering what she just did, but the CPUs could tell Iris Heart was definitely not going to take a no for an answer. Well, she NEVER took a no for an answer when she wanted something, but today it seemed even more crucial than usual.

With this in mind, the group turned around and resumed their course. But it was then that Planeptune's CPU candidate noticed something.

"Big sister?"

Unlike the others, Purple Heart didn't move right away and instead looked at the sadistic CPU heading down towards where the young man crashed before turning her head to look at her younger sister.

"You go on ahead, Nepgear" she said with a smile "I'll stay and make sure Ploots doesn't go too far"

And with that short answer, the CPU turned around and followed after Iris Heart.

"Ah! Big sister!"

As Purple Heart descended towards her destination, her mind played back the one thing Kenji did reveal to her. He said they would eventually have to go back to the Hyperdimension, and probably never be able to set foot upon it ever again. That in itself meant they would probably never see the Ultradimension versions of Noire, Vert and Blanc, nor Plutia or even Peashy again. Then again, if the young man managed to realize and understand this fact, then wouldn't he try his hardest to make Peashy remember him and try to enjoy the time they had remaining?

While it was true she decided to stay and watch out of concern for him ending up like Noire or even Arfoire if the sadistic CPU overdid it, part of what motivated her was also the curiosity, the urge to know the full answer to the question she wasn't able to make up until now.

After she reached the spot where Kenji crashed, she landed a few feet away as to stay out of the way, but also be able to view how this would unfold.

"What...the hell!?" Asked the young man as he sat up and caressed the top of his head with one eye closed

"Oh? Even though I didn't hold back, you were hardly hurt from that" Said Iris Heart as she descended up to ground level and looked at him with a condescending smirk "At least that part of you is still genuine..."

"Damn it, Plutia! What the hell was that-!?" Asked the young man with an irritated expression before he was suddenly forced to spread his legs and move his hips backwards to avoid her foot, which nearly slammed down against his crotch "Whoa!?"

Before he could even try to get up, the sadistic CPU quickly place her other foot against his chest and forced him back down into the floor.

"You know, Ken-chan...Your attitude has been quite different lately" She said while pressing her high heels down harder against his chest before her smirk turned into a frown "And by different, I mean annoying"

Truth to be told, Iris Heart was already fed up with Kenji's unnatural behavior. She believed Kenji would become more cheerful with Peashy's return, but this expectation was shattered. She imagined it was just a temporal thing, so she didn't let it bother her too much. And after a while, even her hopes of Neptune fixing whatever was wrong with him were shattered as well.

Therefore, it was time for her to take up action. And by that, it meant she would whack Kenji in the head until he either spilled out the beans, or until he began acting like his usual self again. Although he didn't seem very responsive right now, since he didn't say anything in retort to her little oppinion yet.

"What's wrong? No witty retorts? Well...that's quite a shame..." Said the sadistic CPU before slowly moving her high heel up the young man's neck and stopped with the heel of her boot pressing against his throat "Since your mouth doesn't feel like talking, perhaps I should rip open a new hole for you to speak with...Maybe then you'll feel like talking!"

Suddenly, Iris Heart quickly raised her leg and lowered it with all of her strength.

Some would think she was going to stop at the last moment, but the young man could feel the strong killing intent emanating from her bloodthirsty eyes. She was not going to stop, and he would die unless he did something about it.

With this impending sense of danger, Kenji quickly reacted and grabbed Iris Heart's boot at the last second. He kept struggling to keep the heel away from his neck while she looked down at him with a condescending grin, and that was really starting to irritate him.

"Why, you...!" He said before suddely grabbing her leg with both hands "Knock it off already!"

Using the combined strength of both arms, the young man was able to push Iris Heart off of him. This caused her to nearly lose her balance before quickly jumping back a few feet to avoid this.

"Oh? So you do have some fight left in you, after all..." She said while looking at him getting up "But I'm not through with you just yet!"

As she said this, the sadistic CPU dashed forward. Attacking the Kenji as he was forced to summon his sword and block the incoming electrocuted blade.

This kept going on and on as she threw a relentless barrage of attacks at him, but it didn't take long for the young man's blocks to become attacks as he began taking on the offensive. Iris Heart seemed to take pleasure in his growing agressiveness, as her taunting was meant to cause that effect.

"That's right, that's right! That's the way!" She said between laughters "Keep struggling! Men are boring if they don't fight back!"

Thunder and flame collided as the two kept clashing swords in a seemingly endless barrage and the sadistic CPU kept pushing him to be more bold and agressive, and it seemed to take effect, as the young man showed signs of becoming more fierce by the second. But the ephitome of the fight sparked after the barrage ended in both swords doing one more powerful clash against each other, putting both of them into a struggle.

"What's wrong!? Is this all you've got!? Is this what the real you truly is!?"

"What the hell do you know about me!?" Snarled the young man with an angered expression

In a sudden turn of events, Kenji's sword suddenly got covered in sapphire flames as he pushed Iris Heart back and dashed at her with full force. Each blow from his weapon stronger than he last one.

"All you ever do is laze around all day long with Neptune! You never work, nor train, nor take anything seriously at all!" Said the young man as kept attacking, pushing her further and further with every slash and evey word "And whenever someone doesn't do what YOU want, you turn into this unbearably arrogant woman and look down on everyone while thinking we're just toys to amuse you!"

Kenji always valued Plutia as a friend, but deep down, he despised the personality she took when going HDD.

For him, Iris Heart was the very personification of arrogance. She always tormented foe and ally alike for her own amusement and how she viewed everyone as nothing more than a mere belongings for her to toy with however she saw fit, and this irritated Kenji to no end, but he always held back because he was indebted to Plutia for both helping him find Neptune and giving them a place to live in for almost twenty years when she easily could have just ignored him at that time. But with everything that she did just now, there was no hesitation in Kenji's mind to finally give her a piece of his mind, and a few slices of his sword while he was at it.

At the end of his barrage, Kenji used a coldfire edge and sent Iris Heart flying back once again. This time, though, he didn't stop there and shot out three moonlight slashes. Two of them were blocked by the sadistic CPU, but the third broke her poise and left her widely open for attack. The young man didn't waste this chance and dashed forward with his flaming sword to end this fight once and for all, but Iris Heart quickly lowered her electrified weapon as hard as she could to try and parry the attack. This resulted in both flame and thunder clashing one last time and creating a powerful explosion that turned into a smoke cloud spreading all over the place and even reaching Purple Heart, who had to cover herself with both arms from the smoke and the shockwave of said explosion.

"(Wha-what just happened!?)"

It took a moment for the smoke to clear out. But once it did, Purple Heart put both arms out of the way and looked forward again, seeing the final result of the battle.

Laying down on the ground was Iris Heart, and the young man was kneeling right next to her, with one hand on her neck to keep her down and the other still holding his sword as he pointed it right at her face. The young man managed to defeat her, but somehow it didn't feel like a victory.

"Now that is the real Kenji..." Said the sadistic CPU, who seemed pleased with this outcome, with a smirk

"You...Just what the hell was all that about?" He asked while looking at her with a stern expression while catching his breath

Iris Heart looked at him with her smirk for a moment or two before making a muffled laugh and finally speaking.

"Say...Doesn't if feel better?" She said while looking at him in the eye "Letting someone else know how you feel about them?"

At that moment, the realization suddenly hit him like a cannon ball.

The point behind all of this wasn't to force Kenji to talk nor to punish and torture him to become like Iris Heart wanted. It was about making him open up to her, pushing him to the point where he couldn't hold it back and finally let out how he truly felt about her, and to make him realize how much better it would feel to be honest with others, rather than to just act with fake indiference.

Truth to be told, the young man couldn't help but feel surprisingly calm now that he was able to say everything he thought about the sadistic CPU right in her face, and this was without a doubt her plan from the get go.

"Hey...Kenny" Said Purple Heart while approaching him "Earlier today you mentioned we'd have to leave someday...Just how is that related to P-ko?"

Planeptune's CPU was no fool in her HDD form, and she could tell from the current mood that now would be the perfect time to finally ask what has been bugging her all this time.

"Interdimensional travel isn't a walk in the park, Neptune" He said after breaking the short silence followed by her question "Once we're gone from here, we're gone for good...We'll never see anyone from this dimension again. Nor this version of the others, nor Plutia, nor Peashy..."

This answer caused Purple Heart's eyes to widen, but Iris Heart didn't seem affected by his words. She simply kept listening as he lowered his head to look at her.

"I think you of all people should know this already..." He said while looking at her straight in the eye before his expression changed into a saddened one "But it really hurts when someone just goes and leaves forever"

"(Kenny...)"

At that moment, it finally became clear. The thing that truly affected Kenji in such a way wasn't anger from Peashy being unable to remember him, but rather how hurt she would be when they departed from this dimension and back to their own. Which was probably why he didn't make an effort to help the little girl remember and always tried to be so distant from her, even after he did all that effort to bring her back. Because he believed she wouldn't be as hurt if Kenji remained as nothing more than a stranger in her mind.

She herself knew how painful it was to leave your friends behind and probably never be able to see them again, as she felt exactly that back when he and Kenji were about to leave, but got suddenly interrupted by Nepgear's arrival. Although the way Kenji spoke about it felt somewhat different from her own way of seeing it.

Rather than speaking as the one going to leave, somehow it felt like the young man was speaking from the perspective of the one that got left behind. And both the tone of his voice and sorrowful eyes showed he was saying this from experience, rather than speculation.

"So that's what's been bothering you?" Finally said Iris Heart, who silently listened to every word he said from start to finish "Quite the childish reason, if you ask me"

In response to this, the young man closed his eyes, but quickly opened them after he felt Iris Heart's hands, which she placed over his cheeks in a suprisingly soft manner, considering her usually rough behavior in this from.

"Certainly, it's sad when someone you love leaves...But isn't it far sadder to forget them?"

As she saw Kenji's expression suddenly changing, the sadistic CPU went on.

"After Nep-chan, Gear-chan and Ken-chan leave, I'm sure I'll feel lonely...But that's exactly why I want to enjoy the little time we have remaining. And even after you leave, I'll always have the memories of our time together to remember it" She explained in a clear, yet seemingly understanding manner "Your decision shows you care about Peashy-chan, but it's not going to make her happy, and I'm sure you can already tell it's not making you nor anyone else happy either...So why make a choice that, in the end, won't make anyone happy at all?"

The young man was unable to respond to her. She was right on every word, and he knew it.

Sure, having two of her closest friends and the one she saw as an elder brother leaving would make Peashy feel hurt for a while, but she would still have the memories of their time together. Yet, Kenji thought this would only be even more painful for the little girl and chose to keep her memories, the memories even today he still cherished, from coming back to her.

Despite his silence, Iris Heart could tell he understood what she tried to convey to him, as he got off of her after a moment and even offered him his hand to help her get up, something which she accepted without any hesitation.

"Hey, Ken-chan" she said one more time, calling his attention while looking at him with a smile "Let's get moving, I bet Peashy-chan and the others are waiting for us"

The young man looked at her for a moment before nodding with a smile.

"Yeah, let's go"

Purple Heart looked at the young man and felt a sense of relief, knowing he would be okay now, before the tree of them took flight and resumed their mission.

*Scene*

With the issue at hand now solved, the trio headed back to the original objective and flew towards Eden to regroup with everyone else.

Once reaching the northern island, they proceeded to head into the dungeon, which was the place that Anonydeath described to the CPUs, and got into the task of searching for them.

"So...where do you think they are?" Asked the young man to the other two while looking at the paths around them

"I'm not sure...these cyber-dungeons are really weird" Replied Plutia who, along with Neptune and Kenji, reverted back to her human form to save strength for the battles awaiting along the way

Out of all types of dungeons, the Cyber-dungeons were usually the hardest ones to travel through due to their complex structures, and this one was no exception.

The trio had to travel through a hefty amount of passages and sometimes even guess which way was the right one, not to mention the random monsters getting in their way every now and then. But it was through this process of trial and error that they eventually managed to find the others.

"There they are!" Said Neptune after seeing her younger sister and the other CPUs "Heeey! Everyone!"

Upon hearing her older sister's voice, Nepgear was the first to turn around and see them approaching them while her own expression brightened up.

"Ah! It's big sister!"

The CPU candidate quickly approached the perky CPU to greet her while everyone else turned around to look at the trio, but she was quickly outrun by Peashy, who didn't hesitate to dive headfirst against Neptune's solar plexus and tackle her into the ground.

"Neptuna!"

"ugh!"

While Planeptune's CPU patted the little girl's head and Plutia approached them to join in, the young man looked at the three with a smile for a moment before rising his head to look at Leanbox and Lowee's CPUs as they walked closer to them.

"Hey, sorry for the wait"

"You certainly took your time..." Said Lowee's CPU while looking at him

"Ye-yeah, I guess we did..." Replied the young man with a weak smile while scratching the back of his head

That somewhat vague response, along with the few notable bruises he had on his face, gave the CPUs the feeling that he wasn't being very honest about what happened. Then again, this was a business with Plutia, so it was understandable if he wished to keep them from knowing about the surely disturbing details of it. But he seemed less grumpy than before, which meant that whatever she did, it probably worked.

While looking at them, Kenji then caught view of Noire. Unlike the rest, she seemed very focused on looking at her surroundings with what could be described as desperation.

"Hey! What are you people waiting for!?" She yelled with a notably irritated tone "We have to find that creep already!"

While looking at her go back to her search, the young man focused once again on Vert and Blanc.

"I take it you didn't find the pink guy yet, did you?"

"No..." Replied Leanbox's CPU while closing her eyes and sweat dropping "And as you can see, this has Noire feeling rather upset"

"More than anything, she's being really annoying right now..." Added Blanc with her eyes closed as well

"I...I see..." He replied while sweat dropping

Kenji knew Noire was irritated due to what Anonydeath said about sexually harassing her dopplegangers, but he couldn't help but sweat drop. Maybe she had yet to realize the hacker was merely fooling her, or maybe not. Either way, she just couldn't remain calm with that doubt beating on her brain.

Although the young man's mind focused on something else. He instead turned his head to look at Peashy again. After what happened, he wasn't even sure what to say to her right now, but he knew he had to say something.

Unfortunately, he was abruptly interrupted before his mind could come up with something to say.

"Over there! I see them!" Said Lastation's CPU after her eyes finally caught sight of a distinctive sillhouette

Everyone then diverted their heads and looked the same way as Noire pointed with her finger before seeing it as well. The details were scarce as the distance made it hard to see clearly, but the bright pink color of the robotic suit was visible even from all the way, and as far as any of them knew, not many people wore pink power suits. At least suits with such a distinctive shape.

As they got closer and closer, the group managed to tell that was indeed Anonydeath. The one detail that gave it out, though wasn't him but rather what was around him.

At the moment, he was being kept hostage not by one or two or even three, but four Black Hearts. All of them carrying monotone expressions and all of them focused solely on him.

"Wha-What the heck!?" Said Lastation's CPU with shock "Why are there four of them!?"

"Whoa! So many Noires!" Added Neptune with widened eyes before it became a frown "Wait a minute! Why does lonely heart get four clones when I only had one!?"

"Is that really the first thing you have to think about?" Asked the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

Due to their ranting and yelling, it didn't take long for the hacker to notice the group's prescence and waved to them. Or rather, to Noire.

"Ah! Nowa-chaaaan! You came to save me, after all!?" He said with a seemingly euphoric tone "I knew it! We're the bestest of gal friends after all!"

"Who would want to be YOUR friend!?" Quickly snarled the CPU with an irritated expression "I'm only here to get rid of those things!"

"Oh, my...that's a rather cold thing to say, don't you think?"

"Like I care!"

Once again, Anonydeath was pushing on Noire's buttons and kept teasing her non-stop, something to which Noire was playing along without even realizing it.

"Oh, whatever! Let's just get this over with already!" She said with an irritated expression before going into HDD mode and summoning her weapon

Everyone followed suit and transformed as well, and it seemed to be on time, as the Black Heart clones noticed their prescence and didn't hesitate to attack them.

It was a rather sudden reaction, but the CPUs didn't faze and move forward as well, giving a start to the battle.

Despite being mere clones, the fake Black Hearts were just as strong and fast as the original one. But nonetheless, they were still outnumbered. This played in advantage of the CPUs, who were able to keep them from working together by splitting them appart.

The weapons clashed countless times between the CPUs and the fakes as things seemed to be on equal ground, but these clones were already starting to weaken. Perhaps due to them being produced on a larger number, they lacked the resilience and stamina the fake Purple Heart posessed. And one by one, they began to fall down. First one, then two and so on until only one remained.

"This will finish it!" Yelled the original Black Heart as she dashed forward, intent on giving the final blow to the last fake

She certainly didn't hold back, as her sword fell down on the fake and slashed her in half. This would have been a rather gruesome sight, but the two halves, just like the other fakes, violently combusted into dark flames and faded away almonst instantly after their defeat.

"That's the last one..." Said Purple Heart after sighing with relief

"Ahhh...So good, that was soooo good!" Added Iris Heart with a blush and a rather scary expression that showed pure satisfaction "To think I'd ever be able to bully so many Noires at once!"

A few members of the group turned their heads to look at the sadistic CPU and sweat dropped, but none of them dared say a single word.

Usually, she wouldn't enjoy ripping someone to shreds unless they screamed in pain and agony. This was, as she herself said it, the sweetest part of it, after all. But the mere fact today's victims were multiple copies of Noire made it just about pleasing enough for her to actually feel her desires were satisfied. Good news for the real Noire, who would otherwise have suffered a horrible fate afterwards.

"Dear me...that was close..." Said Anonydeath with relief "Thanks for the help, sweetie!"

"Don't call me that!" Snarled Lastation's CPU after reverting back to her human "We didn't help you for free!"

"I imagined so..."

With the battle over for the moment, everyone reverted back to their human forms in order to save their strength for later.

"First of all, we'd like a proper explanation" Said Vert while fondling her arms "Just what happened here?"

"Well, besides from what I already explained, there's not much else to say" Replied the hacker while placing one hand on his hips "I'll give you one warning, though...Don't hold back at all against Rei. Whatever happened to her, it didn't only affect her mind, but also seemed to make her incredibly powerful as well...powerful enough to create those clones"

"So those fakes were her doing after all..."

A short silence fell as the CPUs thought about the hacker's words and wondered just how powerful Rei truly was if she could creat such things. But their attention was suddenly caught by something else, as they all saw Peashy running towards Anonydeath.

"Papa!" She said with a smile "I beat al the bad people!"

"Yes, you did..." He replied while patting her on the head "Well done, peashy"

"Yay! Papa is happy!"

Everyone looked at this scene with an odd mixture of positive and negative feelings, but soon focused on Kenji who didn't give any warning as he walked towards the hacker and the little girl, still holding tightly onto his sword.

"Ke-Kenji?" Said Nepgear, who had a bad feeling about this

The CPU candidate wasn't the only one, though. All the CPUs looking at him felt the worry that the young man would do something extreme, and probably irreversible.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Asked the hacker after raising his head to look at him "Do you need something?"

Everyone else seemed worried Kenji may stab Anonydeath in the face and kill him in cold blood, but he didn't have this fear. Mostly for one reason, and that reason being Peashy was standing between the two of them right now.

A short moment of silence ensued before the young man suddenly dismissed his sword and looked at him.

"Not really..."

"I see..."

At that moment, everyone felt somewhat relieved things didn't turn into a bloodbath.

Although deep down, Kenji probably wished to rip Anonydeath out of that suit and beat him to death with it, there was no way he could do something like that in front of Peashy. He already did far too many things that saddened the little girl.

It was horrible, even mentally painful to admit it, but the hacker was her father now. Or at least that was the truth from the little girl's perspective.

Even if he did horrible things to her, the hacker and the leader of the seven sages took care of her for ten years while calling themselves her parents. And Peashy, who was too simple-minded to understand the ulterior motives behind their fake kindness, ended up believing they were indeed the people that brought her into this world.

Even if she recovered her memories, those ten years were something no one, not even the young man, could hope to change.

"Well, I should get going...It's not very safe around here..."

"Yeah, it really isn't..."

After that little exchange of words, the hacker slowly moved past the young man, wondering if he would do something, but nothing happened. Or at least that's what he expected.

"Oh, by the way...Anny-chan?" Said the young man with a surprisingly calm tone

Hearing Kenji calling out to him by such a cute nickname was definitely unexpected, but it was a plesant at the same time.

"Yes?" Replied the hacker with a somewhat curious tone while turning around, only to receive a powerful fist right in the center of the face "Guhahg!?"

Anonydeath was hardly able to even realize what happened, as he went flying away a few feet, causing everyone to move out of the way as he went past them and fell down on the floor.

"Papa!?"

Kenji did know that killing Anonydeath was definitely not an option. Punching him, though, was well within the limits. And it was without a doubt a chance he wouldn't waste.

Before Peashy, or anyone as for that matter, could do anything or even react, the young man approached the hacker and crouched next to him.

"Seriously...You can be so violent sometimes, you know?" Said Anonydeath while placing his hand over the visor of his helmet and analizing the cracks in it "Fixing these cracks is gonna be no joke..."

"Quite a shame...Here, let me give you a hand..."

He said give him a hand, but he actually grabbed the hacker by the collarbone of his armor and raised him up enough for him to make sure they were looking at each other in the eye.

"If you ever, ever, ever, EVER touch, talk or even get close to Peashy ever again..." He muttered in a slow voice low enough for only the hacker to hear "...I'll kill you with my bare hands"

Even though he was wearing a full-body armor, anyone could tell Anonydeath was breaking a cold sweat and probably even shivering a little right now. But could anyone really blame him?

Right now, the young man's expression was seemingly calm, but the look in his eyes was what gave out how he truly felt. An intense wrath, bloodlust and killing intent were all contained deep within his eyes, creating a stare that could put even Iris Heart's sadistic laughter to shame. And that in itself was quite a terrifying idea.

"Fi-Fine...I get it..." Said the hacker while placing both hands in front of him in a defensive way

It seemed as though all the cockyness from before left him, and he could only agree with Kenji's words, as it may be the only way for him to get out alive, or in one piece.

Kenji looked at the hacker in the eye for a moment or two before letting go of him and getting back up.

"Papa! Are you okay!?" Asked Peashy while approaching Anonydeath

"Ye-Yeah...It's okay, I'm perfectly fine" Replied the hacker while getting up "We-Well, I should get going...Good luck, you girls!"

After his little cheer for hers, he quickly turned around and left. This gave everyone the impression that he didn't wish to stay any longer out of worry for his own life, and they were right.

"He ran away..." Said Blanc

"Yeah...He definitely ran away..." Replied Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Well, after what just happened, it's only logical he'd want to leave" Said Nepgear with an expression similar to Vert's

"Hmph! Serves him right for being a creep!" Retorted Noire without a single shred of sympathy for the hacker before turning her head to look at Kenji "With that said, though. Just what on earth did you say to him?"

As it was stated just now, Lastation's CPU didn't feel the slightest amount of sympathy towards Anonydeath, but she indeed got curious by his reaction just now.

The hacker was always calm, playful with other people and seemed unable to feel fear, no matter how bad the situation was for him. Yet, Kenji terrified him to the point of making him run away with his tail between his legs only with what she assumed were a few words. Part of her didn't want to know, but another part felt like she could find a good use for them if they could solve her privacy issues.

"Just a bit of a forecast" Replied Kenji calmly

"Huh?"

"Nevermind, let's just keep going"

Noire was understandibly confused by the young man's responese, but nonetheles tried to put it aside and, along with the rest of the group, focused once again on finding Rei, which was their original objective.

Of course, Peashy didn't take Kenji's agressive act towards Anonydeath very kindly. The young man was aware of this, but he was okay with it. There was no way he could have slept easy tonight unless he did that at the very least, and he would buy her some pudding once they were done here, so it was very likely she would let it go.

"Hey, hey...Where do you think she's hiding?" Asked Plutia

"I bet the pudding in my pocket she's at the end of this path!"

"How do you know?" Asked Noire while turning her head to look at Planeptune's CPU "And more importantly, why are you carrying a pudding on your pocket?"

"She always carries one" Replied the young man

"Really!?"

"Yeah, she always carries a pudding in her pocket" Explained Nepgear

"Wait, and how do you know she's hidding at the end of the dungeon?"

"Classic boss logic!" Replied the perky CPU and the young man at the same time

Everyone quickly turned their heads and looked at Kenji with a surprised expression while sweat dropping.

"Ehhhhhh!? How did you know I'd say that!?" Asked Neptune with widened eyes "Could it be...! You're developing a new OC power that lets you read minds!?"

"No, I don't...You just use that meta logic all the time" He replied whila walking forward "Seriously, it's getting old already..."

"WHAT!? I'll have you know my sense of comedy is ranked at the top of Planeptune's top one hundred comedy routines!"

"Does that list even exist?"

"I...I'm not really sure, to be honest" Answered Nepear while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"But even if Neptune does say things like those often, it's amazing you could be so acurate" Said Vert, who was more amazed than shocked by this

"We've been living together for twenty years already, It's a given I'd be able to get a lucky guess every now and then"

"That just now sounded like something a married couple would say..." Said Blanc while sweat dropping

"Ma-Married couple!?"

"EHHHHHHHH!? Nep-chan and Ken-chan are married!?"

"No we're not..." Said Kenji while looking at the drowsy CPU and the CPU candidate and sweat dropping

"No way...First that clone getting all lovey-dovey with him, and now this!? Is the author trying to couple me with him because I'm the most popular character in this fanfiction!?" Said the perky CPU with one hand in front of her mouth as if to emphasize an expression of shock before smiling and blushing "Oh, man! Being popular is really hard sometimes!"

"You're not helping either!" Snarled the young man while turning his head to look at Neptune

By now, it was common knowledge that most of, if not all, the things Neptune tried to predict or figure out were based around the logic seen in videogames and animes. And for some reason it was surprisingly accurate, which unfortunately just motivated her to keep relying on it.

After living with her and the other CPUs for so long, Kenji became so used to her meta sense of humor that he could sometimes get an idea of what she would say. The astounding accuracy of his guess was merely a lucky hit, but it was clear that it backfired on him as it now became a rather bothersome situation. One which Neptune didn't help clear out, but also didn't seem bothered by either.

"Ah! There she is!"

Fortunately, this situation would be a short-lived one as Noire quickly caught everyone's attention by pointing at the figure standing at the very end of the dungeon.

They were at a notable distance away, but everyone was able to recognize the one they were looking at right now was indeed Rei Ryghts after getting closer to her.

"It's mama!" Said Peashy cheerfully while waving at her "Heyyyyyyyy! Mamaaaaaa!"

"Hm?"

Rei Ryghts turned around to look at the little girl and the group approaching them, but she didn't seem happy at all to see her. In fact, she seemed more irritated than anything else.

"YOU'RE LATE!"

"Eeeek!"

"Hey! How dare you yell at a child!?" Asked Vert, who didn't like Rei's agressiveness in the least

"How I dare!? How do YOU lowly CPUs dare make ME wait for YOU!?"

"Hey, mama...are you angry?"

"I'm not angry...I'm furious!"

The CPUs imagined their enemy wouldn't receive them very kindly, but Rei was being surprisingly agressive from the get go.

"This is nothing like she was back in that broadcast..." Said Nepgear while looking at the last sage "Her attitude is completely different"

"Perhaps she was just faking it..." Replied Noire

"Wrong! Mama isn't like this!" Snarled Peashy after hearing them "Mama is clumsy and gets scared really easy and is really nice too!"

"Peashy..."

Nepgear and Noire looked at the little girl and thought she was denying the truth, but Kenji didn't think of it this way.

"(She's right...Something's wrong with her...)"

Althought this was the first time the CPUs met this Rei Ryghts, Kenji already met her quite a few times in the past, and the description Peashy was giving to them was spot on.

The woman seemed to always be in a depressed mood whenever they met, got terrified with something as easy as being called by someone all of a sudden and even proved to be quite clumsy by how often she could trip on her own feet. And those were not in any way an act or her just faking it, Kenji was sure they were Rei's honest and true personality. But right now, she was acting in an almost crazed and enraged way, just like the Rei from the Hyperdimension.

But this planted the question in his mind. Did Croire have something to do with this?

"Hey! Shouting at children is proof of bad parenting!" Yelled Neptune while pointing at Rei

"That's right! Peashy-chan didn't do anything wrong!"

It was a given Neptune and Plutia would answer angrily at this, but Peashy didn't share that anger. Instead she seemed worried, and even sad about this.

"Hey, mama! I'm sorry! I'm really sorry, so please don't get angry!"

"Damn it! Stop calling me mama, you pipsqueak!" Snarled Rei angrily "I never messed around with any man, and I certainly didn't give birth to an annoying brat like you either!"

The leader of the seven sages was definitely being affected by something corrupting her, and anyone that met her before could tell. But Peashy didn't realize this, and to her, the one yelling all these horrible things to her was the mama she loved so dearly. It was heartbreaking for the little girl, so much that tears began to swell up in her eyes.

"Uh...uhhhh...Mama..." She said with a broken tone

"Ah! Look at what you did now!" Snarled Neptune while pointing at Rei "I'm totally going to report you to child welfare...Eh?"

Neptune's angry snarl was interrupted by two bright lights behind and at her side. And she soon came to realize these were Plutia and Kenji, who transformed into their HDD forms.

Both of them seemed to had rather scary expressions.

"Oh my...It seems this old hag has quite the bad mouth" Said Iris Heart with a smirk "We may have to teach her some manners...Don't you think so, Ken-chan?"

"Something definitely wrong with her..." He replied with his eyes closed before opening them and looking at Rei the same way he looked at Anonydeath earlier "I guess we'll just have to beat it out of her..."

Despite sounding calm, their blood was definitely boiling right now. Or at least Kenji's blood was.

He didn't kill Anonydeath earlier because of his willingness to cooperate with them, but Rei was doing the complete opposite. Not only did she send that fake Purple Heart to kill him, but she even made Peashy cry just because she felt like it, and that was definitely the proof that she wanted to get her skull cracked open, or at least that's what Kenji deduced.

"Hmhmhm...I certainly like that idea" Replied the CPU with a sadistic grin while extending her whip

Their bloodlust was clear as day, and it was quite frightening, even to their fellow group members.

"Those two are out for blood, aren't they?" Said Noire while sweat dropping with a shiver running down her spine

"Yeah, there's no doubt about it..." Replied Blanc

"I can't honestly tell which one's scarier right now...and that's more than just a little worrying" Added Nepgear while sweat dropping as well and making a weak smile.

Everyone had a hard time knowing whetever to feel glad about their determination or cower in fear because of it, but Peashy didn't even worry about that and quickly got in front of them, as if trying to stay in between them and Rei.

"No! Don't be mean to mama!"

"Oh, Peashy-chan...We're not trying to be mean here" Replied Iris Heart while looking at her with a smile "We're just trying to educate her..."

"Educate her?"

"That's right..." She said once again "You see, Peashy-chan...When people do mean things, they need to be taught not to do those things...Most times by beating them into submission, getting them down on their knees and torturing them until they start to beg"

"Eh?"

"Just what kind of things is she trying to teach that girl?" Asked Noire while sweat dropping

"Hey! Don't go corrupting my innocent little sister!" Complained Vert

Of course, Iris Heart comlpetely ignored the words of the other CPUs and kept her focus on giving Peashy an explanation that seemed to be sinking into her.

"Take earlier as an example...Do you know why Ken-chan punched your papa?"

"Why?"

"Because he was really mean to Ken-chan, and to a lot of other people too..." Replied the sadistic CPU "That's why Ken-chan punched him, to teach him not to be mean to others...Otherwise he'd never learn from his mistakes"

Peashy looked confused by this, and she even turned her head to look at Kenji once again. Although the young man seemed focused on Rei, his eyes were actually diverted down to the little girl, who also noticed this.

"Hey, Peashy...Take a look at your mama right now"

"Mama?"

"That's right" He said while both of them now focused on Rei "Doesn't she seem different from usual?"

The little girl took a moment to look at her mama, and was indeed able to notice something was wrong with her.

"Yeah...Mama seems very angry...and scary too..."

"I noticed the same thing too..." Replied Kenji before lowering his head to look at Peashy again "I'm not sure what's with her, but we won't be able to help her unless we beat her into submission first"

"That's right...We're doing this to help your mama, Peashy-chan!"

In truth, Kenji only wanted to beat the everloving crap out of Rei for making Peashy cry, but part of him also believed what he said to the little girl.

In her current state, it was very likely that the leader of the seven sages wouldn't surrender without a fight like Anonydeath, and beating her up was probably the only way to do it. Besides, it was quite a good reasoning to make Peashy agree with them, or to at least not go against them.

"Then...I'll do it too!" Said the little girl before transforming and turning around to face Rei again "Mama! I don't know what wrong with you, but I'll help you! I'll make you get on your knees and beg!"

"Hey...Are you sure we should leave it go like this?" Asked Noire to the other CPUs "I'm feeling worried about that kid's future..."

"Not much to do right now..." Replied Blanc with her eyes closed "We have something else to focus on..."

Realizing they would probably need to give Peashy a short explanation about how she should avoid taking to heart what Iris Heart just taught her later, the other CPUs transformed as well and prepared for battle.

"You...want to fight me?" Asked Rei with a frown before it became a fierce expression of anger "YOU lowly CPUs want to fight!? Fight ME!?"

She then burst out into a rather insane laughter for a moment before looking at the group with her eyes widely opened and a grin on her face.

"Fine by me! I'll show you...I'll show all of you just how useless you truly are!"

Followed by her words, a bright light suddenly surrounded Rei's body. And everyone in the group watched with widened eyes as they saw a pillar of light engulf her.

Once the light dissipated, the leader of the seven sages resurfaced, but this time in a completely different form. Instead of her suit, she now wore a black bathing suit with blue accents, decorated by some crystals and armor-like pieces on the haps and shoulders, which were oddly similar to that of Kenji's except that with a different pattern. And instead of just one horn, now she had two, a perfect pair to compliment the madness that took over her mind.

"Wha-What the godness!?" Said Purple Sister with widened eyes

"Is that...HDD mode!?" Asked Purple Heart with shock

The revelation that Rei could use HDD was shocking, as no one had expected something like this to happen. Unfortunately, the leader of the seven sages didn't give them any time to dwelve on this, as she didn't waste any time and summoned her staff, raised up into the air and cast a spell. This made almost a dozen sigils appear on the air above the group before each sigil shot out a powerful bolt of lightning down at them.

"Everyone, look out!" Yelled Planeptune's CPU

Everyone quickly dashed out of the way to avoid the magic attack before moving in to attack Rei, but she used sigils similar to the ones from earlier to block each and all attacks aimed at her.

Sword, spear, axe, laser and even spell alike. No matter where or what it came from, she was able to block any of the CPU's attacks with either her sigils or even her staff before countering with a thunder spell that tossed the attacker back, this made it difficult for the group, despite their numerical advantage, to overpower her. Even skills seemed to pale in comparision to the power of her magical shields.

"Wha-what's with this woman?" Said Green Heart while taking deep breaths "Just where is she drawing all of this power from?"

Even after constantly tossing spell after spell, Rei hardly seemed exhausted. In fact, knowing she was the dominant side just made her grin even wider as she broke into laughter once again.

"You see now!? I'm so much better than you! I'm waaaaaaaaay better than any and all of you combined!"

"...I'm getting really sick of hearing her laugh like that" Said Black Heart while frowning

"Yeah...she's a pain in the ass" Added Kenji

The way things were going, this standstill would remain until everyone got outdone by exhaustion and lost the energy to sustain their HDD form. But it was after this thought crossed his mind and after looking at her way of acting that he came up with an idea.

"(Fuck it, it's worth a try!)" He tought to himself before calling out to the only one who could help him put this plan together "Hey, Plutia"

"Hm?"

"Come here for a second, I need to talk to you..."

The sadistic CPU didn't seem very amused, but was indeed curious to hear. And after she approached the young man and he muttered his plan into her ear, she made a mischievous smirk.

"Oh my...I didn't think you'd ever willingly ask such a thing out of me..." Said Iris Heart in a teasing tone "Could it be our "private" moment from earlier woke up a little...need withing you?"

"Is it really the time for that sort of teasing?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping before making a stern expression again "E-Either way, can I trust you on this one?"

"Oh, Ken-chan...I think you should know the answer already" Replied the sadistic CPU with a seemingly more trustworthy smile this time

After receiving her answer, the young man looked at her and smiled before nodding and then facing Rei again.

"Alright...Here we go!" He said before dashing towards her

What he was about to do was more of a gamble than anything else, but there weren't that many options on the field right now.

The magic forming those sigils made them too sturdy for his coldfire edge or even moonlight slash to break, and there wasn't enough room to shoot a Crescent Sapphirus without getting someone else caught in the way either.

With this tought in mind, Kenji moved in to attack Rei with his coldfire edge. Which she obviously blocked with a sigil, just like all the other attempts from early.

"Dumbass! It's useless! Useless I tell you!" She said with a grin before summoning a sigil above the young man "THIS, on the other hand, it pretty damn USEFUL!"

The sigil then released a powerful lightning, which struck the young man.

"Aaaaargh!" He yelled as the magic attack electrocuted him for a short moment before he reverted back to human form and fell down to the floor

"Kenny!"

Seeing she managed to defeat one of the CPUs, the leader of the seven sages broke into laughter once again.

"You see now? You see now!?" She said betwen laughters "I told you! I'm waaaaaay too powerful for ANY of you to win!"

This was a shocking sight for the group, as they were seeing their toughest fighter laying down on the ground, defeated. Iris Heart, on the other hand, didn't seem shocked by this, as she knew what was about to happen along with her role in it.

"What's wrong!? Come at me to die too!" Said the leader of the seven sages with a grin "Or what!? Did me killing the only one with a real pair here made you lowly CPUs lose yours!?"

She was having an incredible hype and feeling the adrenaline from this moment, but it wouldn't last very long as the young man took advantage of her lack of attention and quickly got up. He then quickly wrapped his arms around her thights and raised her up.

"What the hell!?"

"Lesson number one in battle! If you're gonna kill something, make sure it's dead before boasting like an idiot!" He said with a grin

"Let go of me! LET GO OF ME YOU LOWLY, DIRTY BASTARD!"

"Plutia! Do it now!"

"As you wish...!"

Seeing it was her time to act, the sadistic CPU made a smirk and extended her whip towards the leader of the seven sages, who was so focused on Kenji now that she forgot about making protective sigils, and wrapped it around her.

In a split second, the young man let go of her as electricity coursed through Iris Heart's whip and gave Rei a very powerful shock, macking her yell out in pain for a few moments before it finally stopped.

After the whip let go of her, Rei fell down to the floor. She then reverted back to her human form as smoke poured out of her body and she kept twitching every now and then.

"Mama!"

While Peashy reverted back to human form and ran towards her, Purple Heart and Purple Sister quickly headed to check on Kenji.

"Kenji! Are you okay!?"

"Yeah, I'm okay" Calmly replied the young man while massaging the muscles on his neck with one hand

"Are you sure?" Asked Purple Heart

"I'm telling you, I'm fine"

"At least the battle is over for now" Said Green Heart before reverting back

Following her example, everyone reverted back to their human forms. Well, everyone except for Iris Heart, who began to torture the unconscious Rei.

"Now then...what do we have here?" She said in a mischievous tone "It seems I'll have to take a much, much closer tlook"

"Ah! Hey! Don't be mean to mama when she's sleeping!"

It took a while for the sadistic CPU to grow tired of torturing her victim, but it fortunately happened faster than usual thanks to Peashy's persistence. And with that taken care of, everyone was able to safely make the trip back to Planeptune's basilicom. where they put Rei under Compa's care.

Just like she did with Warechu and with Mister Badd, the nurse managed to tend to the woman's wounds quite fast. Perhaps she was getting used to treating badly and even critically wounded people. Something which made Kenji unsure whetever he should feel glad or or worried about it.

"Good work, everyone! (^w^)" Said the tome while looking at the CPUs, who sat throughout the room while resting "Now that we have captured the leader of the seven sages, we can finally say we truly defeated them"

"Maybe..." Replied the young man, who was laying down on the couch, his preferred spot so far "Let's just hope no one feels like forming another crime sindicate or anything like that..."

"Please, don't jinx it..." Said IF while sweat dropping "I think all of us had enough of the sven sages to last an entire lifetime"

"I second IF's request... I'm not one to believe in superstitions, but I'd rather not risk it (-_-;)"

"Oh, come on you two..." Said Kenji while turning his head to look at them "Enemies will keep appearing wherever we want it or not...It's not like saying it will make it any worse"

After quite a few years of fighting, the young man came to realize new enemies would always crawl out of the woodwork to replace the ones that got defeated. Words and supersticions hardly mattered when it came to that kind of facts.

"Even so, don't go saying those things" Said Noire while looking at him "They only ruin a person's mood"

"Fair enough..."

"By the way, Kenji...There's something I wanted to ask you" Said Nepgear, who managed to catch the young man's attention "Just how did you know that plan would work against her?"

There was nothing particular or special about that doubt, but it was something that kept bugging her since they left Eden, and the CPU candidate hated to leave questions she could know unanswered.

"Nothing special, really...I just thought she probably didn't have a very good attention span because her unstable way of acting"

"Sooooo like Neptune?" Asked Noire

"Exactly"

"Hey! I'm not as nepping crazy as this one!" Snarled the perky CPU

"Hmmmm...Hm?"

Among the usual chattering and quarreling between the group, their unconscious guest seemed to be waking up from her sleep, and both Compa and Peashy were able to notice this.

"Ah! She's waking up" Said Compa loud enough for everyone to hear her

After hearing the news, silence fell over the room as all stares were now focused Rei, who slowly opened her eyes and sat up.

"Owwwwwww...what happened?" She asked while placing one hand over her head "I feel like I got hit by lightning..."

"I...Guess you could say that" Said the young man while sweat dropping

"Mama!"

While everyone was being wary and keeping and eye on her, Peashy didn't even hesitate to jump at Rei's lap. This didn't only suddenly snapped her out of her drowsy state, but it also made her realize her surroundings were filled with people looking at her.

"Eh!? Eh!? Wha-What's going on in here!?" She said in a panic while looking all around her "Di-did I get caught!? Am I going to get tortured for the rest of my life until I die!?"

Plutia quickly gasped in excitement at the idea, but she was quickly shot down by Kenji.

"No, we're not going to torture you...Again..."

To this remark, the drowsy CPU made a pouty expression, showing she wasn't very happy about being denied the chance to have fun.

"Oh...I see-Wait a minute! You just said again, didn't you!?" Quickly snapped Rei after realizing what he just said "So you DID torture me after all!?"

"Well...Not like you probably imagine it, but kind of..." Said Nepgear

"I knew it! I'm gonna get tortured after all! Or rather, I already did get tortured, so I'm just gonna get tortured AGAIN!"

Everyone looked at her panic over her own misconceptions and exagerated ideas for a moment in silence. It was hard for any of them to believe this woman was the same as the one they fought earlier.

Peashy, on the other hand, was extremely happy, as she knew this was without a doubt the Rei she knew and loved.

"Mama! It really is mama this time!"

"So...so this is her usual self?" Asked the CPU candidate while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Hey...do you think this is her usual self or just a trap?" Asked Noire while turning her head around to look at Kenji

"Nope...This is definitely the usual Rei" He replied before walking closer to Rei and crouching next to her "Hey, Rei...can you remember me?"

The leader of the seven sages had to calm down from her panic attack, but once she did and turned her head to look at Kenji, she answered loud and clear.

"Yea-Yeah...You're Kenji, right?"

"That's right..." He replied more calmly this time "Look, no one here is going to torture you or hurt you. All we want is some answers from you"

"...Really?"

"Yeah, really..."

Right now, Kenji wasn't fully sure why, but he was able to speak calmly to Rei and explain everything to her.

Perhaps it was because he managed to vent out his frustrations earlier with Iris Heart and with Anonydeath, or perhaps it was because there was just something about Rei's personality that didn't make him feel like getting angry at her. Either way, it seemed as thought the leader of the seven sages was able to believe in his words, as she didn't only grow silent, but also her expression became more calm.

"I...I see..." She said after giving a relieved sigh "Then...What do you want to know?"

Seeing Rei was finally calm and willing to cooperate, everyone was able to relax as well. Some among the group did keep their guard up just in case, though.

"I have a question" Said Plutia, who tossed out the first question "Are you a CPU"

"That's right..." Replied Rei with a seemingly ashamed tone "I used to be the CPU of Tari..."

"Tari? What's that?" Asked the young man with a confused expression

"Tari is the name of an ancient nation that existed many millennia ago" Explained the tome while turning to look at him "It was one of the first nations to rise and the most powerful during its prime, but the tyrannical ways of its CPU caused a civil conflict that resulted in the colapse of Tari"

After receiving that explanation, the young man turned his head to look at Rei again. She didn't confirm nor reject Histoire's words, but just by looking at the mixture of sorrow and regret in her expression one could tell those were times she didn't want to remember too much.

"Wait...so there was a civil war, right? Just how did the nation colapse from that?" Asked Nepgear this time "Or rather, why didn't you do anything to stop it?"

"Tha-That's..."

"She didn't do anything to stop the civil war because she was the one that started it"

This time all eyes were focused on Blanc, who cut off Rei before she could explain anything at all or even come up with an answer.

"According to some old documents I read some time ago, Tari's colapse was not due to the civil war, but due to the CPU wiping out all of the rebels along with everyone unlucky enough to be living in the nation at the time" Explained Lowee's CPU

"So...You slaughtered your own citizens?"

"Yeah...I did..." Answered Rei with that same mixture of sorrow and regret before raising her head to look at the group "Normally I wouldn't do such a thing, but you already saw what I turn into when I transform..."

It was hard for Kenji, who always saw how dedicated the CPUs usually were to their citizens, to imagine one would slaughter all of them without any mercy. Then again, Rei had a very valid point, considering the twisted attitude she developed when going into HDD mode. This, though, didn't respond to one lingering doubt going around his mind at the moment.

"Wait...So if your citizens died, then what happened with your shares?"

"Well...Back at the time, I didn't know shares came from people's faith so I transformed and went "How do you maggots dare defy your goddess!? Die! All of you die!"...And by the time It was all over, I noticed the decline in my shares, but the damage was already done" She explained while giving a surprisingly good impression of her HDD self "Without the power to use HDD anymore, but still having the power of a CPU, I was no longer able to age nor die naturally"

"But how could you survive for thousands of years without shares?"

The thing that truly confused the young man was the fact that, if Rei really was a CPU that lived for thousands of years, then how did she survive for that long nor aged a single day without the slightest amount of shares?

"This is just an hypothesis, but perhaps the reason she was able to live this long without shares was due to the CPU memory being inserted into her human body, which was modified by the power of the sharicite" Explained Histoire

"The CPUs and CPU candidates like me and big sister are born and formed directly from the sharicite of our respective nations, which is why we are more dependent on shares than the CPUs of this dimension" Added Nepgear "The reason we lost our powers and became human after arriving here was probably because we didn't just lose shares, but rather because they were directly cut off of us"

"I-I see..."

Initially it took a moment for the young man to piece together that explanation, but it made sense if some thought was put into it.

The CPUs of this dimension had their powers granted by the CPU memory within their own bodies while the CPUs of the Hyperdimension relied a lot more on the sharicite of their nations, which in itself relied on the faith of the citizens. Perhaps this could also explain the reason why Rom and Ram weakened to the point of growing sickly due to their shares declining so harshly.

"Ohhh!? Nice narrative there, writer!" Said Neptune with a perky smile "A lot of things in the story between one game and the other aren't canonical or explain the differences very well, so piecing them together to makes sense like usually ain't easy!"

"It seems he's already getting back his muse for writing...Isn't that good, Nep-chan?"

"Hey, knock it off you two!" Interrupted Noire "If you keep interrupting the writer, he won't be able to finish the chapter in time!"

While looking at the two Planeptune CPUs breaking the 4th wall once again and Noire scolding them for it, Tari's CPU was not very sure what to make of it.

"Erm...What are they talking about" She asked with a very strong confusion

"Just ignore it, they do that every now and then..." Replied the young man while sweat dropping with his eyes closed.

"I-I see..."

Rei wasn't fully sure if Kenji's expression meant this was a good or a bad thing, but she knew this was probably the type of things one was better off not asking about.

"Anyway, what are you planning to do now?"

"Eh?"

"Certainly...Now that the seven sages are finished and Eden is no more, there's the doubt about which will be your next move" Said Vert, affirming to Kenji's question

"A-Actually...I din't really have anything in mind yet" Replied Rei while lowering her head "At first I formed the seven sages to keep any CPU from commiting the same mistakes as me, but I just ended up doing even more horrible mistakes myself...I could even hand myself over properly"

"Wait, so you were going to hand yourself over?" Asked Nepgear

"Yeah. Shortly after Eden fell and the seven sages dispersed, I thought I may as well hand myself over and try to make up for my mistakes...But the boat sunk half-way to the mainland, and I got attacked by monsters...not to mention I also got lost in a forest..."

"(This woman is cursed by bad luck, isn't she?)" Thought the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

Since the first time he met her Kenji could tell Rei wasn't the person with the most positive life, considering her usual self-loathing and inclination towards depression, but he never imagined her luck was this bad.

At this point, calling her bad luck a curse probably wouldn't sound as crazy as one may thing.

"But the worst part was when "he" arrived..."

"He?"

While thinking about her terribly bad luck and also trying to listen to her, the group noticed Rei's expression and tone suddenly changed all of a sudden.

At first she seemed sorrowful and even regretful while talking about her past and her current mistakes when forming the seven sages, but on that last part her tone suddenly changed to a more frightened one, and it seemed to be due to her mind recalling a certain individual she met before as the main focus was that "he" that she met.

"While I was lost in the forest, I found-or rather, I think he found me instead..." She explained while recalling those moments

"Who found you?"

"He was a towering man wearing a black cloak and a really eerie mask..."

Rei's reply made the young man's eyes widen. There was one individual he knew about that matched that odd description.

"I don't know how, but despite his towering size, he managed to appear right behind me, and could even move so fast I didn't notice him...When I couldn't run away anymore, he infused some dark sort of energy into me, and after that everything else is a blur"

"He-Hey!" Said Kenji while getting closer to Rei, catching her attention "What was his name!?"

"Eh? Erm...I...I think it was Ibiem"

"Ibiem!?" Said the young man and the perky CPU at the same time, both of them with widened eyes

"Ibiem? You guys know about him?" Asked Noire while looking at the two of them

Lastation CPU recalled hearing the name a few years ago when talking about Yuube and Devi, but it hardly rose up as a conversation topic afterwards, making it hard for her to recall any specific details.

"If I remember right, I think Ibiem was the name of the man Yuube and Devi worked for..." Answered Nepgear, who had a better memory of those topics, as it was among some of the details she believed would be important to remember at some point.

"Erm...I think that was his name, but they always called him master Ibiem..." Added Rei

"Making everyone call you master? Man, that's some Noire-level narcissism right there" Said Neptune while sweat dropping with her eyes closed before suddenly smiling again "Hey, you guys think maybe he's got like, a fetish for maids or something like that!?"

"Hey! What do you mean by "Noire-level narcissism"!?"

"Well, I wouldn't put it below him..." Said Vert "Most lords and people of power, like demon lords in RPGs, tend to be very arrogant and narcissistic"

"Growing arrogant because of having large amounts of power...Very foolish" Added Blanc

"You girls are not exactly fit to be pointing fingers about that..."

The CPUs then turned their heads to look at the young man while feeling curious by what he meant by that, but the young man's mind was already focused on something else.

From the first moment he saw him, Kenji knew that man meant trouble. The fact he was able to nearly slice him in half with such an astounding speed and ease he couldn't even see it happening was something that worried him. In fact, just thinking about it made his chest recall that injury, making his muscles throb as if the injury was still there. So real it felt that for a moment he even placed his hand over his chest, almost as if to attempt to stop this imaginary bleeding.

But the point from all of this was that if Ibiem really was in the Ultradimension, then it could only mean something terrible would happen. That is, if it didn't already happen.

And these worries were soon cut off, if not confirmed, by the feeling of the room shaking as if an earthquake was taking place. Something which could very well be happening right now.

"Wha-What the goddness!?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What the Nep is going on!?" Asked Neptune while trying to keep her foothing

"U-Uwaaaaahhh! It's an earthquake!?"

"Everyone, quick! Hold onto something!" Said the tome as she tried to keep a steady balance over her book

As everyone either panicked, held onto something or someone or tried to keep their footing, Kenji got up on his feet and slowly made his way outside.

"Kenny, wait!" Said the perky CPU as she chased after him

"Wait, big sister!"

Neptune shambled her way to the front door and finally made it out, just as the tremors finally stopped.

"It...It finally stopped..." She said with certain relief before looking forward and noticing Kenji "Ah! Kenny! There you are!"

The perky CPU called out to him, but there was no response.

"Kenny?"

It took a moment for her to realize it, but Kenji was unable to answer to her as he was more focused on looking at the skies above them with widened eyes filled with shock. Out of curisosity, Neptune raised her head to look at the skies as well, and her experssion soon matched Kenji's after she noticed what he saw.

Way up in the skies, over the entire city of Planeptune, there was a massive vortex. It was as dark as the blackest night and cast an eerie sense of dread over the whole nation.

"Wha-wha-wha-wha-wha-wha- What's that!?"

"Not good...that's pretty much the only thing I'm sure of..."

Although neither of them had any idea what this abomination floating over the nation could be, both of them could feel their instintcts screaming at them that this was definitely not good.

And little did them or any other CPU at the moment realize, this was only the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg that could very well mean the start of an apocalypse.


	24. A baddass big brother!

**Note from the author: 19/05/2017**

 **Hey everyone! Thanks for reading up to this point!**

 **This is the end of the ultradimension arc, which I honestly enjoyed writting quite a lot. Of course, there were some ups and downs along the way, but it was fun nonetheless.**

 **I don't really have anyting specific to say this time. I just wanted to thank you for keeping up with me and the rants I toss out every few chapters or so. I really hope you enjoyed reading this arc as much as I enjoyed writing it and hope you're ready for the start of the third arc in Kenji's adventure!**

Until then, see you later!

* * *

"So it has appeared on your side as well?" Asked the Ultradimension's Histoire to her interdimensional counterpart through the video communication

"That is correct...Whatever this vortex is, it has appeared over our dimension's skies as well"

The dark vortex that formed shortly after the powerful eartquake didn't only appear over Planeptune, but also over the skies of the other nations as well. Naturally, this caused panic to spread among the people as many believed this to be a signal of an incoming apocalypse. Very few could bring themselves to blame them or even try to come up with a good argument against it, as such an event ever taking place was unheard of.

Fortunately, the nations managed restore a certain level of control thanks to the leadership of their CPUs, who ordered a massive evacuation. Nonetheless, this was little more than a temporary measure meant to keep chaos and anarchy from taking over rather than a permanent or even long-term solution.

"Most of the citizens have already been safely evacuated to areas outside the nation, but I'm concerned this may be of very little use unless we stop whatever's causing this phenomenon to take place"

"That's easier said than done" Said Noire with her eyes closed "For starters, we don't even know what those things are, much less how to stop them"

"Whatever they are, they seem to constantly release lightning strikes randomly..." Added Blanc "There are reports of many wounded, and these attacks only seem to increase with every passing moment"

Among one of the things that made this swirling pits of darkness so terrifying for the citizens, one of it was that they constantly shot down powerful lightning strikes that didn't only harm anyone unlucky enough to get caught up in the line of fire, but also destroyed any structures they hit, such as buildings, with ease.

"Erm...I think I may know what they are..." Said Rei, catching everyone's attention "Those are much larger and powerful than they usually should be, but I'm sure those are portals"

"Portals? You mean like interdimensional portals?" Asked Nepgear

"Yeah...And judging by the energy emanating from them, I think they were made by the me from the other dimension"

"Hey, hey...Just what kind of messed up power lets you do that!?" Asked Kenji while pointing at the window showing the town outside, along with the massive vortex

"I could never really understand why, but my power seems to have the special ability to pierce through dimensions"

"So that's how the other Rei sent big sister and Kenji to this dimension?"

Thinking back on it, the portal that took the young man to the Ultradimension also looked like a pitch-black vortex. It was quite hard to realize this similarity at first due to their massive difference in size and power, but this just served to make Kenji realize just how much that Rei's power increased over the course of just a few days.

"A power that can affect dimensions? Just how is something like that even possible?" Asked the CPU candidate with widened eyes

"It's not as uncommon as you may think, Nepgear" Explained the Ultradimension's Histoire "There are many records telling of how among CPUs, some are usually gifted with unique abilities"

"Such records exist here on the Hyperdimension as well" Added the other Histoire "Although most of them have always been considered little more than ancient tales"

"(Unique abilities, huh?)" Thought the young man with his eyes closed and arms crossed

The mere idea that such an unique ability could be possible was hard, even ridiculous to imagine. But even so, it was that very power what brought him and Neptune to this dimension in the first place. And Rei's power wasn't the unique abilty they ever saw either.

Over the course of their years in the Ultradimension, he faced off many enemies. The most notorious of them being the two CPUs, who also branded unique abilities of their own. With Yuube having the ability to attack using sonic blasts as a weapon and Devi being able to summon all sorts of monstrosities into the battlefield merely by drawing them on a piece of paper.

This begged the question, tough. Did Kenji also have an unique ability as well? Did any of the CPUs present here have an unique ability?

This question ringed in his mind, and surely that of the other CPUs, who also seemed to have gotten absorbed into this train of thought. Although this was suddenly cut short by one of them speaking up and catching their attention.

"Hey, everyone" Said Neptune with both hands on her hips and an unusually stern expression on her face "I think we should start taking this more seriously and do something..."

"Eh?"

At that moment, silence fell over as everyone looked at the perky CPU with widened eyes and a bewildered expression before finally reacting.

"EHHHHHHHHHH!?" Yelled everyone with shock

The fact they were lost in thought made it easier for them to be caught by surprise, but there was no way any of them would expect Neptune, the second laziest and most carefree CPU, to ever suggest to actually work hard and take things seriously.

This shock was so powerful it even made some of them think she may be suffering some sort of illness.

"Nep-chan!?"

"He-Hey! Are you serious now!?" Asked the young man while breaking a cold sweat "Did you whack your head or something!?"

"I can't believe it...For her of all people to actually suggest that..." Said Blanc

"How is this possible, Histoire!?" Asked Nepgear, who couldn't come up with an answer herself

"I'm not sure...I have never heard of a mental affliction capable of twisting one's brain in such a way! (Ô_Ô;)"

"Hey! What the Nep is with all of you people!?" Said Neptune while pointing at them "I'm just trying to help here!"

"How so?" Asked Kenji while looking at her

"I mean, we're in this arc's last chapter and the climax is coming soon! We have to work hard and do something truly epic to end it with a bang before starting the next one!"

Another short moment of silence fell on the room before all the tension died out. Everyone was able to calm down, as for a moment they believed this chaotic situation affected Neptune's sanity. It was definitely surprising and even shocking, but it was still within the scope of her meta way of seeing things.

"Thank godness...I thought for a moment there something bad happened to big sister" Said Nepgear after sighing with relief

"Hey, you people! What's with the big shock!?" Snarled the perky CPU with an angry tone "Do you all think I'm just a lazy ass!?"

"Yes" Answered almost everyone with a nearly perfect synch

"Rude!"

For a moment it seemed as though Neptune would throw a fit due to everyone's shared oppinion of her lazyness, but she was suddenly interrupted by a rather unusual phenomenom.

In the middle of the room, a dark vortex similar to those outside suddenly appeared, although this one was much smaller. And through this small portal, a tome flew into the room.

"Rei!" Yelled Croire as she flew towards the CPU of Tari "We're screwed! We're totally screwed!"

"Cro-Croire!? What's wrong?"

"It's the other Rei! She's gonna blow up both dimensions!"

"What!?" Said everyone at the same time

After hearing the collective yelling, the tome turned around and realized she was surrounded by the CPUs.

"Uwah! It's you people!"

"Why, you little-!"

In a sudden reaction, the young man summoned his sword and walked towards Croire with rather agressive intentions, but she was stopped by Rei, who stood in his way.

"Wa-Wait a moment, please! Don't hurt Croire!"

"Get out of my way!" Snarled the young man "It's her fault this is happening!"

"Hold the phone, buddy! This was Ibiem's idea, not mine!"

"So you DO work for him!"

"Uwah! Wa-wait!"

Croire tried to put the blame on someone else to avoid being sliced to bits, but it seemed as though this only made her come out as one of Ibiem's servants. Something that definitely made things even worse.

"Kenji! Please, try to calm down!" Said the tome while getting in front of Kenji's face to try and make him focus on her "I'm certain you have your reasons to feel anger towards her, but this is not the time for such emotions to take over!"

Kenji didn't want to calm down, he wanted to slice Croire into small chunks and scorch them. But he knew Histoire was right. Killing Croire wouldn't help anyone, at least for now.

It was only after seeing the sword fade away and Kenji taking on a more calmed composure that the tome could breath with relief.

"Man, you really need to learn how to chill out..."

"Hey! Are you people forgetting about the important detail here!? What do you meant by "blow up both dimensions"!?" Asked Noire, who had a bad feeling about what she said earlier

"Exactly what I mean! The other Rei is gonna blow up both dimensions!" Replied Croire with an impatient tone "That maniac is using those big ass portals to merge the two dimensions into one!"

"Merge them into one!?" Said Noire with utter shock "But if she does such a thing, won't she perish as well!? (O_O;)"

"Of course she will! But do you really think that crazy bitch cares!?"

"Hey...If that's true, then we ain't got time to fool around!" Said Blanc while breaking a cold sweat

"Owwwww, this is terrible!" Added Rei before turning her head to look at the tome "Why did you give her that CPU memory, Croire!?"

"Do-Don't go tossing it to me too! I told you already, this was Ibiem's idea! Not mine!"

"Hey, hey...Do you and Rei-chan know each other?" Asked Plutia, who noticed how Rei and Croire spoke to each other so casually

"Ye-Yeah...Her name is Coire. She was my oracle back when I ruled Tari"

"Oh!? So she's like a dark version of Histy!?"

"Hey! Don't go comparing me to this broad!"

"Was that meant to be an insult!? (ò_ó)" Asked the irritated tome

"So what if it is!?"

"I can't believe such a rude tome like you exists!"

"He-Hey...Histoire...Didn't you just tell me not to get angry half a minute ago?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"Right...Sorry (-_-;)" Said Histoire while regaining her composure "I just found it far too irritating to know that a tome similar to me could have such a vulgar behavior..."

"Hey! The heck you mean by vulgar!?" Snarled Croire "And who cares if I'm a tome!? I'm not gonna be all goodie and boring like you just for that!"

Histoire didn't find it simply irritating, but also hard to believe. She had always been the only of her kind to exist as far as she knew, yet she met the other Histoire from the Hyperdimension. It made her happy to know she was not the only one, but seeing Croire caused her to have mixed feelings about it. Just thinking a fellow tome could be so rude and even willing to work for people that wished for destruction and mayhem made her feel a mixture of sadness and dissapointment.

"To think you would willingly commit actions that would alter history..." Said Histoire with a seemingly dissapointed tone "Do you have no respect towards our duty as those that record the events of history?"

"Like I said, I don't care about that duty crap! I only want to record the history I find interesting!"

"Come on, Darksty! Don't be like that!"

"Darksty!? Who the heck is that!?"

"Well, you're like Histy but have something really dark about you, so from now on I'm calling you Darksty!"

"The hell you are!"

"Enough about that, you people!" Said Noire to interrupt the conversation that was getting off to something completely different "Did you all forget there's an apocalypse taking place out there right now!?"

"So-Sorry, my bad" Said Neptune while sweat dropping with a smile

"But focusing once again on the issue at hand, there's still one problem to handle" Said Vert while looking at Croire "Just how are we supposed to stop those portals from merging both dimensions?"

"The only way to stop the portals is by stopping the person that's creating them" Explained Rei to the group

"In other words, you gotta go there and beat the crap out of that Rei till she can't move!" Added Croire to make the explanation as simple as possible

After receiving the answer, the group came to a single conclusion. One that was a long time coming, but didn't seem necessary to bring up until now.

"I guess it's finally time to go back home..." Said Kenji to break the silence

Indeed it was a subject no one wished to bring up, but there was no more delaying it. Right now the only way to save both dimensions was for Neptune, Nepgear and Kenji to defeat the Rei from that dimension before she could finish merging both dimensions into one. To do so, they would have to return to the Hyperdimension once and for all.

"Indeed it is..." Said the Histoire of the Hyperdimension "We have already gathered the needed shares on our side to open a portal powerful enough to bring all three of you back...all we need to do is link the connection with the Ultradimension"

It wasn't exactly a very cheerful piece of news, but no one bothered complaining about it at this point.

Once Histoire was done gathering the shares from Planeptnune and those the other nations shared with her, everyone headed to the outskirts of town to perform the creation of the portal.

"So here we are..." Said Kenji while looking around the place

"We're finally leaving, aren't we?"

"Come on, you two! Don't say it in such a gloomy way!" Said Neptune to try and lift up the mood "Just think of it as coming back home from a vacation!"

The young man and the CPU candidate turned their heads to look at the perky CPU for a moment before smiling.

"That's true...You're right, big sister!"

"That's right! We've been enjoying one heck of a vacation!"

"A very long and chaotic vacation, if you ask me" Said Kenji with a more cheerful tone

"Yeah, but you gotta admit it was a lot of fun!"

"Yeah...It really was..."

"All right...We will begin to establish the interdimensional link. The portal will remain open only for a few seconds, but it will safely send you back to the Hyperdimension..." Explained the tome

"Understood..."

"Oh, and one more thing..."

"What is it?"

"Thank you...For everything (^u^)"

A moment of silence fell among the trio before they smiled once again.

"Come on, Histy! No need to thank us and get all emotional here!"

"Hey, Nep-chan. Gear-chan, Ken-chan...I made something for you" Said Plutia as she approached them and they turned to look at her "Here you go!"

The drowsy CPU gave each of them a doll made in their respective appearance.

"They're really cute! Thank you, Plutia!" Said Nepgear while happily looking at the doll of herself

"Nepu! It's like a condensed version of everything that makes me cute!"

"Wait, aren't these the dolls from your collection?"

While the two CPUs admired the cuteness of their wool and cotton miniature selves, the young man couldn't help but notice these were the exact same dolls Plutia made back when she met them, and that decorated her shelf for so many years already.

"That's right...They're the same ones"

"Wa-wait a moment, Plutia..." Said Nepgear with certain worry "Are you sure it's okay for us to take them?"

"Yeah, I'm sure..." Replied the drowsy CPU happily "I can just make them again if I ever get lonely, and I really wanted to give you a gift before you left"

The trio felt unsure about whetever accepting this would be a good idea or not at first, but they quickly understood this was indeed what Plutia wished for.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye...Make sure not to cause too much trouble on the other dimension, okay?" Said IF, trying to sound cheerful

"I'm gonna miss you a lot!" Added Compa, who didn't even bother hiding how sad she was about it

"Our time together was extended for far longer than I imagined, but it was enjoyable despite all the hardships" Said Blanc while looking at Neptune "Best of luck to you"

"Ohhhh, Nepgear! My dear sister!" Said Vert with a saddened tone while hugging her "I'm going to miss you so much after you leave!"

"Ve-Vert! Please stop it! It's embarassing to get hugged like this in front of everyone!"

While Blanc and Plutia spoke with Neptune and Vert focused on hugging Nepgear as hard as she could, Noire approached Kenji, who seemed to be the only one not focused on someone else at the moment.

"So you're finally leaving..." Said Noire while looking at Kenji

"Yeah, we are..."

"I see..." She said while looking at him for a moment or two before suddenly wrapping her arms and looking away "Do-Don't go getting the wrong idea here! It's not like I'm sad about you three leaving or anything like that!"

"I-I see..." He said while sweat dropping

It seemed as thought even all the way to the end, Noire wouldn't be fully honest with how she felt. At least not through something other than her tsundere lines.

"But...You know..." She said with a slightly nervous tone while shuffling on the spot "Thank you...For helping me become a CPU...and for being my friend"

"Hm? What was that?"

Despite her nervous tone, Noire's thanks for helping her become a CPU were loud and clear for him to hear. It was the last fragment that was muttered much lower and harder for him to hear properly.

"No-Nothing! Just get going already!"

"Ye-Yes...I get it..." Replied the young man while sweat dropping

Kenji wasn't too sure what last part was, and it made him curious to know. But whatever she said, it was enough to make her blush like a red pepper, and that was usually a sign to back off unless you wanted to turn her embarassment into anger. Something that usually resulted in him getting a fist to the face, which he didn't want.

With proper goodbyes said to the CPUs of the nations, there was one more person he needed to say goodbye to.

"Hey, Peashy..." He said while crouching in front of the little girl, whose attention was now focused on him

"What?"

"Well...since we're leaving, I just wanted to say thank you..."

"Thank you?" Asked the confused Peashy "Thank you for what?"

"Well..."

Right now, Kenji's mind was filled to the brim with toughts he wished to express and words he wished to say to Peashy, but he couldn't find the right way to put them together in such a short amount of time. Saying thank you to her was the first thing that came to his mind, but it just felt so vague and lacking.

"Okay, we're ready!"

Unfortunately, there was no more time for talking. Both Histoires were ready to open the portal and take the trio back to the Hyperdimension.

"Sorry, I guess I gotta go now" Said the young man before making a weak smile "Take care, Peashy..."

After the final bit of affection was given, Kenji stood up straight again and headed towards Histoire, who pointed him and the two Planeptune CPUs to stand together at a spot a few feet away.

"Okay, now...The portal will only be open for a few seconds at most, so we need you stand exactly where the light will form" Explained Histoire "The moment the portal opens, it will send you three back to the Hyperdimension almost instantly and then close within a few seconds"

"Roger!"

"Understood"

"All right...The countdown is starting..." Said the tome as she and the other Histoire linked the shares and prepared to open a portal "The portal will open in 10...9...8..."

As Histoire began counting down, the two sisters looked at each other with slight excitement at the idea of going back home while Kenji looked at the group of people in front of them. All people he shared many good and bad times with over the years.

He looked at both Compa and IF, who grew up to be exactly the same as their counterparts from the Hyperdimension. To Noire, Blanc and Vert, who were very similar to the ones he already met, yet so different in such a amazing and interesting ways. And last, but not least, at Plutia and Peashy. The two girls that changed his life the most while in this dimension.

It was thanks to Plutia that he even managed to find Neptune in the first place and that he could survive in the Ultradimension. Even if her HDD self was a little dangerous to be with, she always meant good and was as much of a loyal and caring friend as Neptune. And although Peashy wasn't very smart or witty, she was the best little sister one could ask for. Each and every day they spent together as siblings were probably some of his happiest and most fond memories of the Ultradimension. His only lingering regret being that she wouldn't remember them because of his own foolishnes.

"7...6...5..."

As he looked at them and kept recalling his memories, Kenji suddenly noticed something odd. Even with the eerie darkness clouding the skies due to the influence of the portals, the shadows at least should behave like normal shadows. Yet, there was something odd about the shadows behind the two of them. They moved in eerie ways that didn't resemble their movements nor those of the wind.

"4...3...2..."

At first this confused him, but it was then that he suddenly realized it. The shadows behind Pluria and Peashy weren't shadows, but loose pieces of pitch black cloth. Kenji slowly raised his head up to follow the trail of cloth until his eyes widened at the sight of the towering figure he once met in the Gamindustry graveyard now standing right behind Peashy and Plutia. The figure known as Ibiem.

Ibiem kept looking at him right in the eye for a moment before lowering his head and looking at the two CPUs once again. This was followed by him slowly moving his hand, covered in a black bracer armor, out of his cloack and show it holding the same sharp blade he once used to nearly kill Kenji, which looked like a sword but was almost as small as a dagger. He then raised that very same weapon high up into the sky, ready to lower the tip of the sharp blade down onto Plutia's head.

"1...0...Portal, activate!"

At that moment, time seemed to slow down as the young man's instinct kicked in and made him run towards Plutia. At the same time, a light began to glitter over the two Planeptune sisters, signaling the portal opening.

As he ran towards the drowsy CPU, Kenji activated HDD mode. The light of shares enveloped his body as he kept running, changing his shape into that of his HDD form as he summoned his sword and slashed forward at the same time as Ibiem's sword descended towards Plutia. Both sharp blades kept moving towards their goals, one aimed at taking a life and the other aimed at saving that same life, before they clashed against each other.

The second both weapons clashed, time sped up back to normal as the sparks flew and Ibiem's killing stab was parried, causing his sword to be pushed away. Kenji then took that chance and the momentum from his first attack to do a full spin and use a powerful horizontal slash aimed at Ibiem's face. But the cloaked figure jumped backwards to avoid the blade and get some distance between him and the CPUs, who just finally realized what just happened.

"Wha-!?"

"Uwaaaah!?" Said Plutia as she fell down to the floor, surprised and unable to understand what just happened

"Oh? Looks like someone's been training hard..." Said the cloaked figure before pointing behind him "But...That was probably a bad idea..."

As Ibiem reminded him of it, the young man looked over his shoulder at the Planeptune sisters. The two of them just realized what was happening, but it was too late for them to do anything about it.

"Ken-!?" Yelled Neptune as she reached out to him, but couldn't finish saiyng his name as the dimensional portal teleported her and Nepgear back into the Hyperdimension

"(Shit!)"

"No-No way!" Said Histoire with shock "That was our last resort!"

After they finally managed to understand what just happened, everyone turned around to look at the cloaked figure.

"Too bad, I guess..."

"Hey! Who the hell are you!?" Asked IF with a fierce tone while taking a step forward, but suddenly got stopped by Kenji "Eh?"

"Stay back!" He said with one hand placed on her shoulder while pulling her back "Don't even think about getting close to him!"

"U-Uwahhh! I-It's Ibiem!"

"Ibiem?" Asked Noire while looking at Rei, whose eyes were wide open as she broke a cold sweat, before looking at the cloaked figure again "So that's Ibiem?"

Back when they heard from Rei and Croire that Ibiem was a towering and intimidating figure, the CPUs imagined a monstrous or even demon-like individual, but the person they were looking at hardly looked like it could fit such a description. Besides from the mask that resmbled an eerie manequin head, Ibiem didn't seem very monster-like. Sure, he was much taller than any of the CPUs, but probably just around a head or so taller than Kenji, which made him quite a tall individual, but well within the boundaries of human size.

Of course, none of them were dumb enough to underestimate an enemy that could get behind them so easily. And seeing the guy who usually dived headfirst into any battle being so wary was enough to make them understand this man was not to be taken lightly.

"I guess you can call me that, if it suits you" Said the cloaked figure "Not like it's gonna matter much in a few hours, anyway..."

"In a few hours?"

"That's right...In around maybe four or five hours, the merging will take place, and both dimensions will banish forever"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Snarled the young man

Kenji quickly dashed forward and attacked Ibiem at top speed, but the tall man blocked it using his sword.

"Still as reckless as the first time, I see..." Said the cloaked figure after scoffing at him

The young man didn't answer or snarl back, he simply looked at Ibiem for a moment or two before breaking out of the struggle and launching a barrage of attacks against him.

As they saw the battle taking place, the rest of the CPUs didn't hesitate to go into HDD mode and dash forwrad to help as well.

The CPUs attacked Ibiem as fast and as hard as they could from all sides with constant barrages, one swooping in right after the next to attack from a completely different angle, but the cloaked figure hardly flinched as he dodged or block most barrages using his weapon.

Despite his size, he was incredibly fast, dodging most attacks with ease and blocking or parrying the few that landed before he pushed them away. Even after going all out on him for nearly ten minutes, they had yet to hurt him even once, but the CPUs refused to give up.

As the battle went on, the young man realized it was time to bring out the big guns. He then charged forward with his sword infused with flames and began a barrage ot slashes against Ibiem. Both swords clashed dozens of times before entering a struggle, which Kenji used as advantage to do an outburst and release the pent up energy within his sword into a powerful explosion. When the cloaked figure took a jump back to leave the cloud of smoke, Kenji's sword went flying towards him before Ibiem reflected it and sent it flying up.

He expected Kenji to come out of the cloud of smoke, summoning his sword back into his hand, but instead raised his head to see the young man suddenly grabbing the ignited sword in mid-air.

Instantly after tossing his weapon, Kenji jumped upwards to catch it and prepared to launch his most devastating attack.

"Crescent Sapphirus!"

Kenji lowered his sword with all of his might and shot out a half-chagerd Crescent sapphirus, which was the most he could create with the short amount of time he had.

The powerful slash of energy hit the cloaked figure, who placed both arms in front of him on an x pattern to block with his foreams, and pushed him back a few feet before suddenly stopping.

"What!?"

Ibiem seemed to remain in place, withstanding the pressure of the Crescent Sapphirus before slowly pushing back the attack and suddenly deflecting it sideways, making the energy wave fly towards the forest and tear a few yards of trees before finally dispersing.

"Di-Did that guy just deflect the attack with his arms!?" Asked Black Heart with widened eyes

"Hey, hey...That's beyond normal, even for a CPU!" Said White Heart while breaking a cold sweat

The shock felt by the CPUs at the moment was understandable. Deflecting an energy attack wasn't impossible or a superhuman skill, but it usually required either a very powerful weapon or nearly superhuman strength and resilience. Even the most physically resilient and strong CPUs such as White Heart and Yellow Heart required quite an amount of effort to nail it, and that is just to reflect it with a weapon such as an axe or bracers.

Kenji, whose body proved to be far sturdier than that of the other CPUs, could take on quite a few powerful attacks such as the one he just used head-on and walk out of them, but he usually ended up either a bloody mess or in tatters in the process. Yet, Ibiem blocked the Crescent Sapphirus, an attack known for being destructive on a devastating level even when only half-charged, with his forearms and even deflected it sideways.

Sure, the black armor in his forearms suffered a few cracks, but Ibiem didn't seem hurt or even exhausted in the least. And this could mean one of things. He either used an unknown skill capable of deflecting attacks, or his brute strength and sturdiness were far supperior to Kenji's, probably even on a whole other level.

"What's wrong? Is that all you can do?"

"(I knew it...!)" Thought the young man while breaking a cold sweat "(This guy is no average Joe!)"

"Well...If that's the case..." Said Ibiem while looking at Kenji, then suddenly appearing in front of him and leaning slightly forward so his face was evenly leveled with his "Then it's my turn..."

"Wha-!?"

In just a split second, the cloaked figure got rid of the distance between him and the young man. But he didn't teleport or anything of the sort. He merely dashed forward in the same way any other CPU could, but he did it with such an astounding speed that Kenji was barely able to see it, much less react to it in time.

Suddenly, the young man felt an intense pressure in his abdomen, caused by Ibiem punching him right in the gut.

This simple, yet powerful impact sent him flying away quite far and crash against the trees nearby.

"Kenji!"

"Damn it!"

The other CPUs quickly moved in to attack once again, but Ibiem made sure to retaliate this time, as every attack was quickly parried or simply dodge before a powerful counterattack came along.

After jumping to dodge White Heart's vertical axe slash, he hit her with the pomel on the back of the neck the moment he landed behind her before grabbing her by the head and tossing her at Green Heart, who were pushed back and fell down to the floor after the two crashed against each other. This was followed by Black Heart, who delivered a barrage of attacks, but they were cut short as the cloaked figure parried the fourth attack using his dagger, grabbed her arm, twisted it to move her sword out of the way and hit her on the gut with the pomel, knocking her down. And last, but not least, Iris Heart and Yellow Heart.

The two of them dashed forward at the same time and attacked with everything they had, but it ended just as it did with the others as the cloaked figure dodged the clawed bracers before grabbing Yellow Heart on a grapple and squeezing her neck, cutting the flow of air to her brain and making her lose all strength, falling down to the floor. He then hit Iris Heart in the gut in a similar way as he did with Kenji after dodging her whip and sent her flying away before the young man dashed from behind to attack Ibiem while he was distracted, but this only ended with the cloaked figure taking a step sideways and avoiding the sword before grabbing Kenji's head and pulling him down, making him crash head-first against the floor and pinning him down to it while placing one knee over his back to keep him from getting up.

"Well, that was rather dissapointing..." Said Ibiem while looking down at Kenji "You people put even less of a fight than I expected"

"This is unbelievable!" Said Green Heart "Ho-how could he take us down so easily!?"

"Damn it! This bastard was just playing around with us!?" Added White Heart

Despite their combined efforts, the CPUs were easily defeated by Ibiem. But the most bitter feeling was without a doubt the realization that while they went all out and didn't hold a single punch, the cloaked figure hardly broke a sweat as he knocked or pinned all of them down with an ease that made it seem as though he was fighting basic dogoos, not CPUs.

"Perhaps I should just get rid of you now, instead of waiting..." Said the cloaked figure as he approached the tip of his blade to Kenji's throat

"I-Iffy! What do we do now!?"

"I'm thinking, okay!?"

While bearing witness to this battle, IF and Compa wished with all of their might to jump in and help as well. But even with this will, neither could move a single muscle. They were both locked in place and could feel something akin to fear binding their bodies. But this was not fear in the least, and IF, who once witnessed the terror that was Iris Heart, could tell. It was almost as if some primordial survival instinct deep within their minds was acting up. There was something they couldn't see, something they couldn't feel, but their bodies could sense it, and it was powerful enough to force them to freeze up in place.

For a moment, Ibiem looked at his forearm. Altough the CPUs didn't notice it, the skin under his bracer was probably aflicted with burns and even slight lacerations, as he could feel blood pouring out and down towards his hand.

"Then again, you did defeat Yuube" Said Ibiem while moving the blade away from Kenji "Maybe there's still some use left for you...As my underling, that is...What do you say?"

"Fuck...You!"

"Well, if that's how you want it..." Replied the cloaked figure "Then I'll just have to make do with someone else, then..."

An eerie feeling of bloodlust could be felt from Ibiem as he approached his weapon towards Kenji's neck once again. But before he could slice his throat, a portal opened a few feet away from them.

"Hm?"

"Wha-What now!?"

From within the spiraling vortex, someone walked out into view. It was a bald, elderly man with a wrinkled head and grey-ish eyes that was roughly as tall as Ibiem, if not slightly shorter.

He was wearing a long sleeveless white coat that was leaned to the right side of his torso over a dark blue sleeved shirt and matching pants, along with black tight-high boots. The coat was reminiscent of a scientist or probably even a military officer's uniform and was held closed by four black straps attached to dark blue buttons. Another detail about his outfit was the bandage-like turtle neck he wore, probably part of some other piece of clothing laying under his shirt.

He kept his right arm behind his back while in the other hand he held a book with a white power button symbol on the front. But besides from this small symbol on the cover, it looked like pretty much just a normal book, or even a journal . Even so, there was an ontherwordly yet familiar energy emanating from within it. If one dared to make a guess, it felt extremely similar to Histoire or even Croire's share energy.

"Master Ibiem, are you done already?"

"Chronos...I didn't think you would arrive so early" Replied Ibiem while turning his head to look at the elderly man.

"My apologies, but I already finished my task, and being by myself is rather boring, you know?" Said Chronos while looking at him, then at Kenji "Oh...Am I interrupting you?"

"...No...I was already done here..."

After answering to the question, the sword held by Ibiem vanished into thin air before he let go of Kenji and got back up on his feet.

"In that case, let's get going!" Said Chronos with a somewhat cheerful expression "I'd rather not hang around this dimension when the merging ends"

Ibiem didn't reply to this comment, he simply walked towards the elderly man and the portal before being suddenly stopped by a whip wrapping around his neck.

"And where...do you think you're going?" Asked Iris Heart, who got back up on her feet during their conversation

"Plu-Plutia!"

"Oh my...She got up fast" Said Chronos with widened eyes

"I guess I went a bit too easy on them, after all"

"Did you really think I would let you go that easily?" Asked the sadistic CPU while holding onto her weapon tightly

"You'll be shunned if you're too persistent, you know?" Said Chronos

"Persistent women are a real pain in the ass" Added Ibiem

To these rather rude comments, Iris Heart twitched an eyebrow and made a bloodthirsty grin, signaling her blood was already boiling once again.

"Let's see you keep that impertinent mouth after THIS!"

A powerful shock of lightning coursed through the whip and eventually into Ibiem, electrocuting him for a moment or two before stopping.

Smoke came out of the cloaked figure's body, proving he did indeed sustain at least some degree of damage, but it didn't seem as severe as she wished, and that certainly wouldn't be enough to satisfy her.

As she unwrapped her weapon from Ibiem's neck, Iris Heart dashed towards him.

"Hm...I don't think she'll just give up like that" Said Chronos while looking at her coming towards them

"I doubt it..."

As the sadistic CPU got close enough, she attacked the cloaked figure once again, but her attack quickly got parried as Ibiem grabbed her wrist and twisted it before pressing the tip of his right index finger against her forehead. In a split second, a bright light covered Iris Heart before it dissipated and revealed Plutia.

"Eh? Eh!?"

Everyone who was still awake watched in shock at what just happened. Somehow, Plutia's HDD form was reverted, cancelled out after Ibiem placed his finger on her forehead. The how escaped their understanding, but it indeed happened in front of their eyes, making it impossible for anyone to deny it.

Ibiem didn't seem to mind their shock too much and instead scoffed at the drowsy CPU before kicking her away.

"Owieeeeee!"

"Plutia!"

Kenji snapped out of his shock and quickly got up, but this caught Ibiem's attention.

"Don't even bother" Said the cloaked figure while turning his head to look at him "It's just a waste fo time and effort at this point"

Ibiem looked at the young man for a moment or two longer before finally speaking once again.

"I'll spare you for now, but try not to drop dead too easily" He said in a somewhat condescending manner "It's gonna be boring otherwise"

With that said, Ibiem turned around once again and walked into the portal with Chronos before the portal closed shortly after, leaving the group beaten and wounded to do as they wished with the time they had remaining.

"(Damn it!)" Yelled Kenji within his mind while punching the ground "(Even after all this training, he still moped the floor with me!)"

Kenji couldn't help but feel angered and humiliated after this crushing defeat, and it was probably the same for the CPUs. Unfortunately, there was no time to fool around nor to dwell in it. They still needed to find a solution to their problem, and fast.

Once everyone was back on their feet, they quickly tried to think how to open the portal Once more.

"Hey, Histoire! Can't we open the portal again!?" Said IF while looking at the oracle

"It's no use...We used up all the shares already (ó_ò)"

"Well, what are we supposed to do now!?" Asked Noire this time "Are we just gonna sit down and wait to die!?"

"Wait, what about Croire?" Said Rei quickly after recalling the tome's power

"What about me?"

"You can open portals like me, so maybe you can-"

"It's no use..." Interrupted the tome.

"Ehhhhhh!? Wh-Why!?" Yelled Rei in a panic "We're in a really serious situation here, you know!?"

"Of course I know, damn it! But I ran out of juice when jumping back here!"

"The one time we need your help, you're useless!?" Complained Blanc

"Hey, screw you all! It ain't my fault that dumbass jumped out to help your asses!"

"Why, you little-!"

While the CPUs argued with Croire, Plutia turned her head to look at Kenji, who seemed more focused on the massive portal over Planeptune. And he kept his sights focused on it for a moment longer before turning his head to look at the group again.

"Hey, Rei!"

"Eh? Ah!" Said the CPU of Tari as she realized Kenji called her name and quickly turned to face him "Ye-Yes? What's wrong?"

"Earlier you said the other you was using those giant portals to merge both dimensions, right?"

"Yeah...I did..." she replied with a confused expression

"Then..." Said Kenji while turning around and pointing at the portal floating over Planeptune "Wouldn't that mean that portal leads to the Hyperdimension?"

"Eh?" Said Rei with confusion before she suddenly realized what he meant "EHHHHHHHHHHH!?"

It was a crazy idea, probably even worse than just crazy. Yet, the young man was decided to go through with it. And by that I mean he would literally go into the giant portal over Planeptune and cross it to reach the Hyperdimension.

"Hey, Kenji! Are you sure about this!?" Asked the concerned tone one last time

"It's not like we've got another choice right now, do we?" He asked back while looking at the giant portal above them

Of course, Histoire and a few others were against it at first, but it didn't take too much effort to convince them considering the current situation. Since they lacked the shares to re-open the portal and Croire was unable to take him back, the young man had no other choice but to take the scenic route.

"I see...I suppose I can't convince you this time..." She said with slight worry

After the other CPUs quickly headed back to their nations to try and control the chaos taking place as best as they could, Kenji and Plutia went back to Planeptune along with Peashy, IF, Compa, Histoire, Rei and Croire to prepare for what would probably be a rather dangerous stunt.

"Hey, Rei. I bet'cha a hundred credits he doesn't make it half-way through" Muttered Croire with a smirk

"He-Hey, Croire! That's not nice at all!"

"Tch...You're really no fun..." Said the tome after clikcing her tongue and then looking at the young "Well, just try not to get killed up there. Otherwise we're all screwed"

"Oh, by the way, Coire...You're going with me..."

"Eh?"

Before the tome could even react, the young man grabed the book below her and closed it, trapping Croire within it and quickly holding it closed with duct tape.

"He-Hey! The heck are you doing, you bastard!?"

"I told you, I'm taking you with me"

"Why!?"

"Because one, I don't trust you, and two, I'm not letting you play tricky and jump to another dimension before I get some answers out of you"

"Why, you son of a-!" Yelled the tome before being stuffed in a pocket within Kenji's Vest

"Yeah, yeah...Just stay still and be quiet"

"Hey...Ken-chan..."

"Hm? What's wrong?" Asked the young man after stuffing Croire's tome in his pocket and looking at her

"I'm sorry..."

Kenji then made a confused expression for a moment before realizing what she meant and smiling while caressing the top of her head, making his fingers run through her messy and soft hair.

"Don't worry, you didn't do anything wrong" He said while looking at her eyes "I did it because I wanted to. Besides, that's what friends do, right?"

Plutia looked up at him for a moment before her smile came back, along with a bit of a blush.

"Hm! That's right!" She said more cheerfully

After caressing Plutia's head for a bit longer, Kenji then diverted his eyes towards Peashy, who was looking at him as well.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them before the young man approached her and crouched in front of her.

"Hey, Peashy. I have to get going now" He said while looking at her with a smile "For reals this time"

"...You're leaving?"

"Yeah...I am" He replied as his eyes diverted down for a moment before looking at her again

Peashy seemed more confused than sad. She already knew he was going to leave, but wasn't too sure why what was the problem about it. Kenji noticed this in her expression, but it didn't erase his smile. Instead, it just motivated him for one more thing.

"Hey, Peashy..."

"What?"

"I probably won't be coming around here for a while. But when I do, how about we go eat a pork bowl?"

"Pork bowl!?" Asked the little girl with sparkling eyes "What's that!? It sounds tasty!"

"It sure is!" Replied the young man with a smile "We can even go for a pudding too if you want!"

"Yay! Pudding!"

Kenji didn't say anything in reply this time. He simply looked at her smiling happily, realizing it would be the last time he would be able to do so in probably a long time, for a moment before placing his hand on the top of Peashy's head and caressing her hair.

"Well...It's about time, I guess..." He said while getting back up as his hand slowly moved away from her head "Take care, okay?"

Peashy didn't say anything. Instead, she raised her head and looked at the young man as he turned around and walked a few feet away. At that moment, something seemed to click within the little girl's mind. The strong, yet gentle and warm feeling she just received from Kenji's headpat was incredibly similar to something she felt a long time ago, and this seemed to escape her understanding. But looking at Kenji's back suddenly made her remember a scene from her distant past. She recalled running after a tall and blonde man, a man who was always really nice to her, who always played with her and helped her train and even ate pork bowls and pudding with her.

As Kenji transformed and flew up to the skies at top speed, the little girl's mind finally pieced all of it it together. She finally managed to make sense out of all those white spots in her past. All of these regained memories culminated into the realization that emerged as two words.

"(Big brother?)" She tought while looking at Kenji venture into the dark abyss above them

*Scene*

As dark as the depths of space or the bottom of an abyssmal chasm, the inside of this massive rift in time and space seemed to extend endlessly and beyond anything that could be perceived by the human eye.

After barely managing to maneuver through a tempest of roaring thunderbolts and lightning, Kenji dived into the depts of the portal. The inside was like flying through the eye of an intense storm, filled with dark clouds and lightning spread out all over the place while raging all around him, but with a far more evil and opressing atmosphere.

"Woah...this place is huge" He said while looking at his surroundings

"Hey! You better not get hit by lightning in here or we're goners!" Snarled the tome, partly angered with him for taking her along for the ride and partly worreid about her own safety

"We'll all be goners if I don't make it to the other side anyway!"

"Then hurry the hell up already!"

Croire's constant complaints were surely going to give Kenji a headache later, but she had a valid point. There was no time to fool around, and he was aware of it.

The young man then focused once again on the path in front of him and increased his speed, flying through the opressive storm even faster.

The darkness seemed as endless as it did the first time Kenji was sent to a different dimension, and he felt like the opressive atmosphere could crush him at any time. But he didn't stop moving. Because he knew that if this was just like the first portal he went through, then there would definitely be a way out on the other side. And it was finally after what felt like miles that his hopes were answered in the form of a light in the distance, piercing through the darkness.

"There!" Said Kenji, feeling glad he managed to find at long last the way out of that hellish abyss.

Giving himself one more boost, Kenji flew through the final layers of dark clouds and ventured into the blinding light. He was forced to close his eyes for a second or two before it dimmed enough for him to open them again. He then saw Planeptune once again, but not the Ultradimension's Planeptune. It looked slightly different and darker than what he remembered, but this was indeed the Hyperdimension's Planeptune. After nearly twenty years, he finally returned.

"We made it!"

"Finally! I thought we weren't making it out for a moment there..." Said Croire after sighing with relief

The two were glad they made it out of the portal, but the celebration was unfortunately a bit hasty. The tempest raging from within the portal suddenly intensified, throwing lightning bolts all over the place.

"U-Uwah! Look out!"

"Shit!"

Once again the young man was forced to maneuver against the storm, but luck didn't favor him as much this time since one of the lightning bolts managed to hit him on the back.

"Gahhhh!"

"Oh, crap!"

The shock of electricity running through his body caused him to lose control and fall down, losing altitude at an alarming speed. Kenji then struggled for a moment to regain control, barely managing to dodge the tallest buildings and skyscrapers by inches, reflecting on their cristal clear walls of glass as he flew past some of them like a falling aircraft towards the edge of town. His body then crashed against the ground, leaving a trench on the earth as he was dragged by the force of his impact for almost half a mile before finally stopping.

"Man...I'm gonna be sore tomorrow" He said after a moment of silence

"Sore!? That's what'cha thinking about!?" Snarled Croire, sounding rather angry at the moment "You almost killed us, you dumb bastard!"

"Oh, shut up...You didn't even get hit by the lightning"

"That fall almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Can tomes even have heart attacks?"

"Mine tried! That's for damn sure!"

Not wanting to listen to Croire's complaints any longer, the young man slowly sat back up and looked at Planeptune.

"Well, at least we didn't land too far..."

Looking from his current spot, he was probably close to the outer edges of town, where most of the farming duties were handled in the few minor villages a few miles to the south. Going back into Planeptune would porbably take about half an hour, even less if he flew back. But the moment he got back up, his portable device suddenly began ringing.

"Huh?" He said to himself while rummaging through his pockets before finding the device and taking the call "Hello?"

"Kenji!? Is that you!?" Said a bewildered Histoire after appearing on the screen

"Who else would it be?"

"Bu-But how!?"

The tome was glad to see he was in the Hyperdimension, but also confused about this. She tought he was stuck in the Ultradimension after their attempt to open an interdimensional portal failed, but shortly after she received a message from her other self saying Kenji would probably arrive to the Hyperdimension at any moment. It was a given she would be confused and slightly skeptic about this statement, but the truth of it became undeniable after her sensors received the signal from Kenji's portable device being within range once again.

"I'll explain it later" He replied quickly before changing the subject "Anyway, where's everyone else?"

"They're safeguarding the barriers within Planeptune right now"

"Barriers?"

"I'll explain it on the way there. Right now you need to hurry!" Said the tome with a serious tone "I'll send you their location to your device!"

"Alright! I'm on my way!"

Without wasting another moment, Kenji went up into the sky once again and flew towards Planeptune.

On the way there, Histoire explained to him that, shortly after Rei began the process of merging both dimensions into one, she sent out hordes of monsters to roam through the town to keep anyone from interrupting her, and in order to keep said monsters from leaving Planeptune and causing havoc around Gamindustry, the tome used the shares of the other nations to build magical barriers that would keep them trapped within the city. Unfortunately, the barriers are not indestructible, and as such the CPUs were placed strategically in each barrier to keep any monster from breaking through.

Using the locations marked on the GPS within his device, Kenji flew towards the first barrier, where he met with Black Heart and Black sister, who were fending off against a horde of monsters trying to break through.

"Noire! Uni!" Yelled the young man as he landed a few feet away from them and approached them

"Is that...Kenji?" Said Black Sister as she turned her head to look at him

"About time you showed up!" Added Black Heart while slashing a row of monsters in front of her

In just a split moment, Kenji dashed forward and summoned his sword before jumping into the battle. He and Lastation's CPU then worked together to slash through the hordes of beasts and machines alike while the CPU candidate provided support from the back, shooting any stragglers or leftover monsters to bits.

Despite their large numbers, the monsters hardly posed a challenge to the CPUs and quickly got exterminated.

"There, that was the last one" Said the young man after taking down the last one and looking around him

"For now, at least" Replied Black Sister "They've been coming around non-stop during the last hour"

"What the hell happened here?"

"Don't go asking us, we probably know just about as much as you do right now" Said Black Heart while sweat dropping with her eyes closed and before opening them to look at him agian "But that aside, just where the hell have you been?"

"Long story, I'll explain later" He replied in the same way he did to Histoire earlier before focusing once again on her "By the way, have you seen Neptune and Nepgear?"

"Yeah, they went past here not too long ago" Replied Lastation's CPU candidate "I think they were headed towards the tower"

"If you're going, then hurry up. I bet more monsters will crawl out of hiding again before we know it" Added Black Heart

The young man nodded in agreement and quickly headed deeper into town as his mind suddenly had a rather random tought regarding Lastation's CPU.

"(I knew it, Noire looks a lot better with her hair like that)"

While thinking about Black Heart's white flowing hair, he kept running down the streets, venturing closer to the center of Planeptune until he finally reached the second barrier. There, he found Green Heart and White Heart fighting not against monsters, but rather against clones of themselves while Rom and Ram provided both support and healing.

"Damn it!? What's with these things!?" Said Lowee's CPU as she slashed at one of her clones, making it spontaneously combust into dark flames "We keep beating them, and they keep coming!"

"Not only that, but their uncannily resemblance to ours is rather concerning" Added Leanbox's CPU

"Hey! What's the deal here!?" Said White Sister Ram "Why do they look so much like our big sister!?"

"There's too many big sisters, and they're all mean...I don't like it!" Added White Sister Rom

"(Man, seeing the whole clone thing is always weird)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

"Hey, buddy! Stop screwing around and keep moving!" Snarled Croire, who was still trapped within her book inside his pocket, sounding impatient

It was indeed a strange thing to look at, but he tried not to think too hard about it and dashed into the battlefield.

Fortunately, this time he had an easier way to tell the real ones from the fakes, as the clones were dressed in the outfit of the Ultradimension's CPUs. And he used this to his advantage as he jumped into the fray and attacked one of the fake White Heart's with a moonlight slash, breaking her poise and stabbing her on the side of the torso.

"Kenji!?" Said Green Heart, surprised by his sudden appearance

"Hey there, long time no see..." He replied while pulling his sword out of the fake, which combusted into dark flames and vanished, and turning his head to look at them.

"Hey, where the hell have you-!?"

"Long story, I'll explain it later"

"O...Okay..." Said White Heart while sweat dropping

The group quickly focused once again on the approaching fakes coming their way and got ready to fight. But it was then that they noticed something different. Among the many clones of Lowee and Leanbox's CPUs, a new one emerged. A fake that wore a rather provocative suit and snapped her whip on the ground.

"Who-Who is that?"

"Beats me...I've never seen her before..."

The two CPUs were confused, as they had never seen this woman before. Kenji, on the other hand, was already breaking a cold sweat.

"(This is gonna get ugly...)" He tought while looking at her, then turning his head to look at the two other "Hey, you two take care of your fakes. I'll deal with the one using a whip"

"If that is what you wish..."

"Fine by me! We already have enough of them to deal with over here!"

Once they agreed on their battle plan, the three dashed forward to fight against the hordes ahead of them. White Heart and Green Heart took care of their look-alikes while Kenji dealt with the fake Iris Heart.

As whip and sword clashed dozens of times, the young man could tell her moves were as fast and as precise as those of the original one, making her a much bigger danger than the mass produced copies. Speed and precision aside, there was something important to note about her.

"You're strong...But the original one is way worse than you!"

Her heartless and merciless attacks were deadly, but inlike the original CPU she was made after, this Iris Heart lacked the sadistic nature and ruthless love for pain and torture that made the real one so terrifying and difficult to deal with in battle. And this showed especially in her predictable way of fighting, which allowed the young man to block the barage of whip slashes before parrying the last one, leavin her wide open.

"Coldfire Edge!" He yelled as his blade got engulfed in flames and it slashed through the fake Iris Heart, cutting her lower abdomen open

Black fire erupted from the cut, but the young man didn't stop there and quickly attacked once again by giving her a powerful stab on the chest in order to make sure she was done for.

After she fell down and combusted into flames, Kenji turned his head and looked the CPUs, who seemed to have taken out almost all of their look-alikes as well.

"Hah! They looked like us, but they weren't that big of a deal!" Said Lowee's CPU with a smirk after taking out the last one

"Still, fighting them in mass like this is rather exhausting..." Added Leanbox's CPU with a weary tone "Not to mention slightly disturbing"

"Well, at least we can cath our breath until they pop up again!" Said White Sister Ram, feeling glad they could finally catch a break

"Let me heal you...I'll make it feel all better"

While Lowee's CPU candidate tended to everyone's wounds with her magic, Kenji approached them once again to ask them about the whereabouts of Planeptune's CPU.

"Hey, have you seen Neptune and Nepgear?" Asked Kenji while approaching the two of them, going right to the point

"Neptune?" Asked back White Heart "Yeah, she just came by with Nepgear earlier..."

"I see"

"By the way, who was that woman with the whip?" Asked Green Heart this time "Judging by the way you looked at her, it seemed as though you knew her from somewhere..."

"She's a CPU from the other dimension I was in. Her name is Plutia"

"A CPU?" Asked White Sister Ram with a surprised expression "She didn't look like one at all!"

"Yeah...she seemed scary..."

"You have no idea..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping with his eyes closed

At that moment, both CPUs looked at him and sweat dropped. Just by looking at that fake's appearance they coud tell the original one was probably a rather peculiar and slightly dangerous individual, but Kenji's tone and expression was more than enough for them to tell he probably had quite a few stories to share here, and most of them definitely not nice ones, even with the visor on it was easy to tell. And it honestly made them wonder if they should even bother asking.

"Well, I should get going" He said while turning around and running off towards the Planeptune tower "See ya later!"

"Ah! Hey, wait a moment!" Said White Heart before realizing he was too far away to even listen to them

"He ran off" Said White Sister Ram

"Yeah, he did..."

As they looked at the street where he was just a moment ago, the CPUs suddenly heard rumbling sounds and saw yet another horde of clones heading their way.

"Ah! It's more big sisters!"

"Even more arrived..."

"Tch! These things just don't know when to quit, do they?" Said White Heart while grabbing her axe with both hands

"Well...I suppose there's no choice but to deal with them until those three solve this" Said Green Heart with a smirk, referring to the Planeptune sisters and to the young man.

"They better hurry it up, then! We can't hold the fort forever!"

The CPUs quickly took on their assault stances once again and dashed forward to fight the incoming hordes once more. At the same time, Kenji ventured even deeper into the monster-infested town, running down the streets and taking out any monster that got in his way.

Around halfway through, the young man was suddenly struck by a bone-chilling feeling.

"Wha-What the heck is that?" He said while looking forward, able to sense the powerful source of shares just a few blocks away

"That's Rei, alright..." Replied Croire, who could clearly feel it as well

What truly shocked him wasn't the amount of shares or their intense power, but rather the feeling itself.

So far, the sensations he received from shares always differed depending on the circumstances, but it was mostly neutral or positive sensations, such as the warmth of someone's life force or the piercing feeling of an enemy's killing intent. This, on the other hand, was completely different.

The shares up ahead were stained with a piercing cold that sipped into the very marrow of one's bones and drenched them in an opressive darkness that crushed him in the same way the insides of the portal did. It was almost as if the shares turned intense amounts of disdain, hatred and hostility into an evil miasma, cursing the air and all around it.

"Is this...Rei's true power?"

"Yeah" Replied the tome, who seemed more calm and probably felt more safe within the young man's pocket than outside right now "Shares are usually all warm and fuzzy and all of that crap, but they can do some pretty nasty stuff if you've got enough negative emotions within you..."

"Negative emotions..." Muttered the young man as his mind suddenly tought about it

When hearing that word, Kenji could recall feeling a similar sensation back when he fought the Deity of Sin in the gamindustry graveyard, but this was on a whole other level of evil.

Of course, there was also another individual who came to mind. An individual that felt just as wicked as the deity of sin, yet lived much more closer to him, or rather, deep within him.

"Hey, what'cha waiting for!?" Yelled the tome "You going or what!?"

Croire's sudden yelling snapped the young man out of his train of tought, causing him to focus once again on the world around him.

"I-I know, damn it!" He snarled before looking forward and moving once again

As he got closer and closer to the source of this power, he could feel the wicked darkness lurking within. The twisted emotions increasing, and with them the pressure this atmosphere caused over his body. Nonetheless, he kept moving at top speed.

It was after a few minutes that he began hearing the sounds of a battle taking place just a block or so away.

"There!" Said the young man as he sped up

Once he finally set foot into the battlefied, Kenji saw the two Planeptune sisters going all out against this dimension's Rei. But they were having quite a bit of trouble dealing with his ally, which unfortunately was Kenji. Or rather, a clone of him.

"Cross Combination!" Yelled Purple Heart as he dashed forward and clashed swords with the clone

The two entered a short struggle before the fake pushed Planeptune's CPU away, making her jump back.

"Just what you could expect from Kenny's clone...He's got incredible physical strength"

"That's right, thati's right! Hurry it up and slaughter those useless CPUs" Said Rei while looking at them fighting each other

"Big sister! Look out!"

In a split second, the fake dashed forward to retaliate against Purple Heart. The CPU quickly blocked with her weapon, but she was slowly being pushed back. Or at least that's what happened until Kenji decided to stop watching from the sidelines and quickly jumped into the battle to attack his fake from the side.

The clone didn't fail to notice the incoming danger, though. He saw him on the edge of his eye and quickly pushet Planeptune's CPU away to turn to the side and block the orignal one's attack. This caused it to be pushed back a short distance as he and the original Kenji entered a struggle.

"Kenny!?"

"Hey, sorry for the wait!" Replied the young man "Had to go through a bit of a turbulence on the way here!"

"Tch...So the annoying meathead is here..." Muttered Tari's CPU with an irritated frown "Hey, you! Hurry up and kill that guy!"

After receiving an order from his maker, the fake increased the amount of strength he was using. This caused Kenji to get pushed back slightly before the two warriors broke out of the struggle, jumping backwards and gaining some distance before quickly dashing forward again and going all out against each other.

"Kenny!"

"Don't worry about me! I can deal with this guy!" Said the young man as he and his fake clashed swords "Just focus on dealing with that Rei!"

The two males clashed weapons in a constant battle as the two Planeptune sisters, seeing he could hold his ground just fine by himself, decided to focus on Rei. Unfortunately, this fight was not as easy as he expected it to be.

While having a similar level of montony in his attacks to that of the other clones, this one was far faster, and every hit packed a much heavier punch behind it, making him harder than the other clones so far, fast enough to not only keep up but to even push him back a few times.

"(Damn, this guy is fast!)" Tought the young man

The situation seemed bad for a moment there, but if there was one thing that played to his favor, and that he noticed from all the other clones as well, it was that they seemed capable of copying the physical skills and techniques, but not the energy attacks, or at least not to the same degree of power as the originals they were molded after. This played as a huge disadvantage for them, even if their large amounts of strength and speed seemed to make this price worth it.

As their battle went on, the two kept getting locked in barrages and struggles before jumping back and then dashing forward again to repeat the process. Even with the sounds of weapons clashing and thunders roaring, he kept his eyes focused on his double and waited for a chance to counter-attack. Of course, this didn't show any signs of happening sooner as this clone seemed to copy, which made Kenji realize he would have to create that chance himself if he wanted to deal with this clone once and for all.

He then coated the blade of his sword in flames, giving his attacks a small boost in strength and motivating the fake to do so as well. But the objective was more than a mere boost, as when he and his clone were about to get locked in a struggle once more, he quickly gave a jump upwards, going over him before shooting out a moonlight slash and hitting the fake full on the back. This caused it to lose balance and gave Kenji the chance to land behind him and use his most powerful attack.

"Crescent Sapphirus!" Yelled the young man as he slashed up while holding his sword with both hands

The powerful slash of energy engulfed the fake, who could hardly react due to his lack of balance and got pushed all the way until the wave of energy dispersed, causing him to lay down on the floor. His coat was torn on the back and black fire sprouted from the large injury, but he was still kicking and already geting up, or at least he tried to until Kenji dashed towards the fake and stabbed it on the back, piercing through his heart.

"(This better be the last clone I have to deal with!)" Tought the young man after pulling his blade out of his fake, who combusted into flames shortly after dropping dead from his stab

After having to fight clones of Purple Heart, Black Heart, Iris Heart and now even a clone of himself, he was getting really fed up with these enemies. And even if he knew they were fakes, there was something very disturbing about having to stab someone who looks exactly like you to death.

"Hey! Look out!"

"What?"

Suddenly hearing Croire's yelling made the young man quickly snap back into reality and raise his head, seeing Purple Sister flying , or rather falling, towards him rather fast.

"U-Uwahhhhh!"

"Whoa!?"

The young man managed to catch Planeptune's CPU candidate, but he was pushed back a few feet back due to the speed at which she was coming right at him.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Said the young man while looking at her

"Yeah...I think so..." Replied Purple Sister with one eye closed

"DAMN IT!"

After hearing a loud yelling, the two looked upwards again and saw Purple Heart facing off against Rei, who seemed to be getting worn out already.

"How? How!?" She said with an enraged tone and expression "How can I be losing like this!? Me, losing to these pathetic CPUs!?"

"It's over! Surrender now and we won't be forced to harm you any further than this!"

Tari's CPU remained silent for a moment, but soon broke out into laughter. A maniatical and annoying laughter.

"Surrender!? ME!? You really think I'll surrender to a lowly CPU such as you!?" She asked between laughters before making a frown "Well, guess what!? You've got another thing coming!"

"I don't get it...Why does she hate CPUs so much?" Asked Purple Sister

"Why? Because you're walking disasters..."

"Walking disasters?"

Rei turned her head and looked at both the CPU candidate and at the young man before speaking to them with a more stern tone and a frown.

"No matter where or who, CPUs and their nations are always destined to fail...They're destined to fail and crumble down like it happened to mine!"

"Your nation went down the drain because YOU screwed up as a CPU!" Snarled Kenji "Don't go thinking everyone's gonna screw up the same way you did!"

"Shut up! CPUs WILL fail! They will always be consumed by their own desires and allow their nations to crumble!"

"There's no way to argue against this one, is there?" Muttered the young man

"I don't think so...She seems to be even more mentally unstable than the other Rei" Replied Purple Sister

"I guess all we can do is beat her senseless then, huh?"

As both Kenji and Purple Sister got into asault stances and got ready to charge towards Rei, she clicked her tongue. This scenario wasn't looking too good for her, and she knew it despite not going to admit it. She needed something that would give her an edge over this handicap, and fast.

"Hey! Hey, Rei! Down here!"

Fortunately for her, and unfortunately for the CPUs and the young man, the CPU of Tari saw something that would definitely give her a huge advantage when lowering her head after hearing a voice calling for her.

"Tha-That voice..." Said the young man before quickly searching the pockets within his coat and realizing something dreadful "She's gone!"

When he looked forward, Kenji saw Croire's book laying down on the ground, bouncing like a magical beam while calling out to Rei. It was then that he realized she probably slipped off of his pockets, which were slightly torn with a few cuts due to the fight against his clone, and fell down on the floor as a result of Purple Sister's impact against him.

"Damn it!"

"Oh, no you don't! That's mine!"

The young man dashed forward to catch the book, but Rei quickly stopped him by using her spells, which rained down lightning on him.

"Aaaargh!" He yelled as he felt the intense electricity running through his body before being sent flying back by it and fall face down on the ground after hitting the ground once and bouncing of slightly, but high enough to flip backwards.

"Kenny!"

"Kenji!"

Purple Sister quickly turned around to head towards him, but the young man slowly got back on his feet on his own while keeping his gaze focused on the book.

"The book! Don't let her get that book!"

The CPU and CPU candidates were slightly confused, but quickly understood after realizing that book was Croire. Unfortunately, it was too late to stop it.

Rei extended her hand towards the tome and used her magic to make it fly up into her grasp, where she removed the tape and allowed Croire to be freed from her makeshift bindings using the sharp edges of her staff to cut the tape.

"Ahhh! Finally free!" Said Croire while breathing in the fresh air after her book opened and allowed her to be free once more

"You! Hurry up and give me more power!" Snarled the CPU of Tari as she made an eerie grin "I want more power! Enough power to defeat these lowly CPUs!"

"Fine, fine, I get it...Man, you're even worse than the other you" Replied the tome while sweat dropping before it became a smirk "Well, at least that means you'll probably do something really interesting"

After her little remark, Croire extended both hands forward. This caused a mass of dark energy to form in front of her, which was later recognizable as a CPU memory. But this one was deeply stained in darkness. Far more than any of the other ones so far.

"Another CPU memory!?" Said Purple Sister with widened eyes

"That Ibiem made two copies of it, but I always kept the original one to myself"

"Croire, stop! No!"

Despite the young man's words, the tome simply ignored them and gave Rei the dark CPU memory, who didn't even hesitate for a second to ingest it and gain the extra power.

A powerful shockwave emerged from Tari's CPU, pushing everyone away as massive amounts of dark energy gathered within her body.

"Yes, yes, YES! This is the power I wanted!" Yelled Rei in a mad rush of excitement "NOTHING WILL STAND IN MY WAY ANYMORE! ! ! I'LL DESTROY EACH AND EVERY SINGLE CPU! ! !"

"Wha-What's is this!? Where is all of that energy coming from!?"

The overwhelming amount of dark energy she was wielding right now was nothing like before. One could easily say her power multiplied at least a dozen times, if not more. Although the time to marvel was very short, as Tari's CPU quickly raised her staff up into the skies and made the storm clouds above her rage uncontrollably.

"Everyone, look out!" Yelled Purple Heart to warn the other two about the incoming danger

Everyone quickly moved in different directions, jumping from one side to the other to avoid the endless lightning strikes falling down upon them. This tempest lasted for a moment or two before finally ending, showing the three CPUs laying down on the floor after the dust cleared out.

"Whoa! Youv'e got all three of them!" Said Croire with widened eyes

"Nepgear, Kenny...Are you okay?" Asked Purple Heart while opening her eyes and getting up on her knees

"Ye-Yeah..."

"...No big deal, just a little shock..." Replied the young man while getting up as well

The three were notably wounded and bruised, but fortunately still alive. Although that didn't sit all too well with Croire, nor with Rei.

"Tch! They're still alive..." Said the tome after clicking her tongue

"Damn roaches! You just don't know when to die, do you!?"

Once they got back up on their feet, the CPUs turned their heads to look at Tari's CPU.

"Sorry, but we're not the type to fall down easy!"

"As long as my citizens are in danger, I won't fall down!"

"Damn fools..." Said Rei with a frown before it became a grin once again "Fine by me! I'll just keep squashing you until you drop dead!"

Tari's CPU raised her staff once more, but the trio didn't wait. This time they dashed towards her to attack, giving a start to the final battle for the future of both dimensions.

They went with everything they had against Rei, attacking her from all sides and even using their most powerful skills. But any sword aimed at her was blocked through the use of sigils or interrupted by powerful lightning strikes, and any attacks that she couldn't block, such as Nepgear's laser blast or the Crescent Sapphirus, were simply dodged, as she had the speed to do so. Even after constantly repeating this process over and over again, the result was the same.

"This isn't working! Her defense is too strong!" Said Purple Sister

"Don't give up yet, Nepgear! There has to be a way to defeat her!"

Purple Heart tried to keep her sister's courage from shattering, but this situation looked quite bleak at the moment. As far as anyone could tell, Rei was completely overpowering them through the use of her strategy, and the balance didn't seem to bend on their favor at all. Things were different back then due to that Rei being far less powerful and their larger numbers, but now the power of Tari's CPU was far greater, and they only counted with three people to fight. It was no wonder the will to fight would begin to fade, or at least weaken to some degree.

"You're wide open!" Yelled Rei before aiming her staff at Planeptune's CPU and casting a lightning strike

"Neptune, look out!"

The young man dashed towards Purple Heart, but knew he wouldn't make it before the lightning strike. Instead, he quickly infused his sword with flames and tossed it as hard as he could. This made the weapon fly all the way towards her and get in the way of the lightning strike, intercepting it before it could reach her.

Unfortunately, this left Kenji wide open. And Rei didn't hesitate to take advantage of that chance.

"Time for try number two!" She said as she aimed her staff at the young man and shot a powerful lightning strike at him

As he saw the incoming attack, Kenji placed one hand forward to make a sigil appear and used it as a shield. But Rei didn't stop there, she shot two more lightning strikes, which combined with the first one to make an even larger strike that began pushing him back due to the inmense kinetic energy.

"(I can't stop it! !)"

Kenji kept getting pushed until he crashed against the second floor of a building, breaking through a wall.

"You're not escaping now!"

Once she had him put, Tari's CPU began shooting dozens of lightning strikes at the hole left in the wall, causing the floor above to crumble down upon it.

"Kenny!"

The two Planeptune sisters looked at this demolition with widened eyes for a moment or two as Rei broke into laughter.

"And that's ONEEEEE down! ! Gahahahahahaha! !"

"No way...Kenji..."

Worry spread over them for a moment or two before a voice came from within the crumbling building.

"What? That's all?"

"What!?" Said Tari's CPU after her laughter stopped almost instantly

A moment of silence went by while hearing the footsteps before they saw Kenji walking back into view. His visor was broken and blood poured down the right side of his face along with his coat having a few rips here and there, but he had a confident smirk on his face.

"You're gonna need a lot more than that to make me kick the bucket, you crazy hag!" He said with a smirk that showed complete confidence

"Kenji!"

Confidence aside, Kenji's head was busted pretty bad. His eyesight was growing hazy and his legs felt heavier. That, plus all the blood pouring out of the wound in his head, were clearly signs that he probably suffered a pretty severe wound, probably even a concussion.

"He's really as though as Nails, that guy" Said Croire after clicking her tongue

Tari's CPU and the young man stared at each other in the eye for a moment as her blood began to boil, easily noticeable by the veins popping on her forehead along with the way she clenched her teeth, not to mention the enraged look in her eyes.

"Fine...If I can't destroy you, then I'll just destroy the world! ! !" She yelled in a fit of rage as the aura surronding her body intensified "I'LL DESTROY THIS WOLRD AND EVERYTHING IN IT RIGHT NOW! ! ! !"

"Whoa!?" Said Croire as she nearly fell off of her book due to the wind pressure "He-Hey! Ya can't blow up the dimension yet! We're still here, ya know!"

"That's fine! It just means there won't be any records of these lowly CPUs ever existing!"

Unfortunately for the tome, she still needed a few hours to charge her powers enough to jump into another dimension where she could safely watch the Hyperdimension and Ultradimension. Rei, on the other hand, didn't want to wait any longer and decided to begin the merging and eventual colapse of both dimensions, which would definitely kill both her and Croire.

"Oh, crap...I think I bet on the wrong horse here" Said the tome while sweat dropping

Tari's CPU then flew high up into the skies, heading towards the massive portal in the skies.

"Just what is she planning on doing now!?" Asked Purple Heart with her head raised, looking up at the sky

"Whatever it is, it's giving me a really bad feeling..." Said Purple sister while looking at the same direction

"She's going to speed up the merging process of both dimensions..."

Planeptune's sisters turned their heads to look at the tome, who approached them.

"Speed up the merging?"

"That's right...She's gonna go into the rift between both dimensions and use her power there to speed up the process" Explained Croire while looking at them

"No way!"

"So? How do we stop her?"

The three women turned their heads once again, this time to the left, to see the young man approaching them.

"Wa-Wait, kenji! Are you okay!?" Asked Planeptune's CPU candidate

"Yeah, it's just a little bonk in the head from a rock" He replied while looking at her with a smile before diverting his eyes towards Croire and making a serious expression again "But that aside, just how do we stop her?"

"Heck if I know, all I know is that now we're all screwed"

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't give her that CPU memory" Said the young man while looking at her

"How was I supposed to know she was so far gone already!?" Snarled the book "I didn't think she'd go full apocalypse mode so soon!"

"You knew her for thousands of years, and you couldn't even imagine this could happen!?"

"Not right when I couldn't escape from it!"

"For a book, you really are an idiot!"

"You wanna pick a fight, you dumbass!?"

"You two! Stop fighting already!" Said Purple Heart

"She/He started it!" Said both the young man and the tome at the same time while pointing at each other

"It doesn't matter who started it! There are more pressing matters at the moment!"

Both Kenji and Croire looked away from each other for a moment before they focused once again on the subject at hand.

"Well...I guess you're right" He said before looking at the portal "With that said, though...Just what do we do now?"

"Like I said, I have no idea..." Replied the tome once again before looking at the portal as well "Knocking her lights out would be enough, but all that share energy she has makes her a pain in the ass"

"Isn't there a way to get rid of it?" Asked Purple Sister this time

"Forget about that. Now that the CPU memory is inside of her, there's no way we'll be able to pull it back out"

A moment of silence fell between the four as the CPUs tried to come up with a way to solve the puzzle put in front of them. Time was already running out and their options were few, but fortunately one of them came up with an idea.

"Wait, and what about the share energy itself?" asked the young man "Isn't there a way to reduce it or at least weaken it?"

"Not unless you absorb it into your body" She replied with a smirk "I doubt there's someone crazy enough to take all of that nasty stuff into them, though"

"So it would work?"

The two women and the tome then turned their heads to look at the young man, the look upon their faces showing they had an idea of what he was going for with his question.

"Wa-Wait a moment, Kenji! You can't be serious!" Said Purple Sister "Even if it's you, that's still far too dangerous"

"It's not like we've got that many choices right now, do we?" He replied while looking at her

"Hey, hey...You sure about that?" Asked the tome now "I mean, I'm kinda curious to see what happens if you do, but taking that many negative shares could kill you, or even make you go mad like Rei"

Croire didn't bother hiding her morbid curiosity towards the outcome of Kenji's plan, but she felt like having a crazened version of the young man running around blowing everything, including her, to bits wouldn't be a good thing at all.

"Don't worry, I'm sure I can take it" He said while looking at her

"How do you know?"

"Just a gut feeling..."

Despite Croire's warning and Purple Sister's attempt to persuade him not to do it, Kenji had his mind set up on doing it already. Their words did leave some worries on the back of his mind, but he tried to put them aside for now.

"Well, it's your funeral, buddy"

Seeing there wouldn't be much of a way to convince him, and hardly caring about it either way, Croire explained to him that he would need to get in direct contact with Rei and then try to "sap" her power like a sponge takes in water. Kenji didn't feel like he was able to understand the example very well, but he indeed had an idea of how to make this work.

Technically, it would be the same as taking the share energy he pours into his sword back into his own body, except that this would be a much more inmense amount, and it would be far more dangerous.

"You better hurry it up, though...Once she starts, the lightning storm will become too intense for anyone to go in there"

Everyone quickly raised their heads after hearing the sounds of thunder and saw the tempest above them was growing more intense and furious by the second.

"Ah, I guess she's already just about ready for it..."

"Nepgear, Kenny! Let's go!"

Both the young man and the CPU candidate nodded in agreement with Purple Heart before all three of them took flight and went high up into the skies, heading towards the massive swirling darkness.

As they approached it, the storm seemed to react to their prescence, as it became fiercer and louder, shooting down countless lightning strikes at them.

"Look out!"

The trio was forced to constantly dodge the incoming lighting strikes as they went closer and closer, right until the barrage of electric discharges were nearly impossible to avoid.

"Neptune, Nepgear! Get behind me!" Yelled the young man as he enveloped his sword in flames

The two sisters weren't too sure what he was planning, but nonetheless did as he said and got behind him, or rather, below him. Once they did, he grabbed his sword with both hands and shot out a Crescent Sapphirus. This slash of pure energy didn't only cut through the clouds, but also intercepted any lightning that got in its way.

"How did you know it would work!?" Asked Purple Sister

"I didn't! I just improvised!" Replied the young man "Worst case scenario, I'd end up playing the meatshield!"

The Planeptune sisters couldn't help but sweat drop when hearing his answer. Sometimes it was surprising the kind of stunts he would pull off purely out of a combination of battle experience and gut instincts as the only reasonable explanation, but it was indeed a pleasing surprise whenever they worked out.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as well as they hoped. As the Crescent Sapphirus began to weaken and fade away along with the lightning becoming stronger and more intense, it began to reflect less and less lightning strikes, which in turn began to strike closer to the CPUs. And as luck may have it, one of them hit Nepgear, who was the furthest away from the Crescent Sapphirus, right in the wing.

"Kyaahhhhh!" Yelled the CPU candidate as she felt the electricity coursing through her body

"Nepgear!"

Both the young man and Purple Heart turned their heads to look at Purple Sister falling down towards Planeptune due to her flight processor breaking from the impact. Planeptune's CPU didn't even hesitate to turn around and dash back down to catch her, and the young man tried to do the same as well.

"Kenny! Keep going, I'll help Nepgear!" She yelled while flying down

"But...!"

"Just go! There's not much time left!"

Kenji wanted to retort against it, he wanted to help the CPU candidate, but he knew Purple Heart was right. And with that in mind, he frowned for a moment before facing forward again and made sure to keep up with the fading wave of energy.

For a moment, but just a moment, Planeptune's CPU looked over her shoulder at the young man. She looked as he flew trough the tempest with the light of his attack as a guiding post, venturing once again into the endless darkness as the storm closed the path behind him.

The sounds of storms raging around him and lightning strikes kept getting louder and harder with each passing second, and it seemed as though he would get torn appart by it at any moment. But it was at the peak of this raging mixture of chaotic sounds that all of it suddenly went quiet. It was just for a few seconds, but it was more than enough to let Kenji know he was now within the interdimensional tunnel once again. The storms within it were raging far more viciously than they did before too, but he hardly paid any attention to it.

"(Where is she!?)" He tought while looking all around him

It took a moment or two, but the young man eventually managed to feel a sudden surge of dark energy sending shivers down his spine. Somewhere deep within this darkness, there was a spot where the negative shares were thicker and more focused.

"(There...)"

Once he managed to pinpoint the location, Kenji flew towards it, feeling the darkness grow more opressive and thicker the closer he got. But he didn't let this stop him. He simply kept going deeper and deeper, approaching the source before finally finding Rei at the center of it all.

"Yes...Yes! Just a bit more! Just a bit more and these worlds will cease to exist!" Said Tari's CPU as she kept gathing energy within her body

"Rei!"

"Hm?"

Rei turned around and saw Kenji floating in the darkness, looking at her with a fierce expression. She didn't seem surprised nor enraged by this, but certainly not happy either.

"So you followed me even here?" She said with stern tone and a frown "You lowly CPUs just don't know when to quit..."

"No way in hell I'm letting you destroy the dimensions!"

"Ohhhhhh? You think YOU can stop ME? ME, who has aaaaaaaall of this amaaaaaazing POWER!?" She asked with a grin "If you really think that, then go ahead and try!"

The young man didn't need much else than that to take action. The time to talk was long past already, and now all that remained was to defeat Rei once and for all.

With this in mind, he flew towards her with his weapon held steadily on his hand, ready to attack her with everything he had. But what he didn't imagine yet was that Rei held an overwhelming advantage in here. Here, within this space formed by her own dark power, she could shoot lightning strikes from within any of the storms, which were all over the place. And he soon realized this as a lightning strike hit him from below.

"Argh!" He yelled in pain before getting sent flying away by the impact

"What? Did you really, really, really, REAAAAALLY think you would have it so easy in here!?"

This sudden strike was indeed something he didn't expect, but Kenji didn't allow this to hinder him and charged back in. This time, he moved around Rei and managed to dodge the first few lightning strikes, but the third got him just before he could reach him. The same thing happened the third time, and the fourth, and the fifth, no matter from where he attacked or how fast he went. The lightning always found its way towards him.

This constant show of failure was incredibly amusing for Tari's CPU, who even broke into crazened laughter after a moment or two.

"This is too much! This is way too much!" She said between laughters "You're too stupid to even realize how much of a failure you are right now!"

Kenji looked at her and made an angered expression, feeing his blood boil with irritation because of her unstopable and annoying laughter, which would drive anyone crazy.

"(What a pain...This old bitch is really giving me a headache...)" Tought a voice within his head.

As he the anger began to cloud his judgement, the young man suddenly felt a strong throbbing sensation within his chest. A much too familiar sensation he didn't feel in years.

"Yo-You!?" Said Kenji as he felt the other version of him punching the walls of his mind, trying to break free like last time

"(Long time no see, pal!)"

He failed to realize it, but all the dark share energy he's been surrounded by for quite a while now has bee stirring up his other self, who remained rather docile for quite a while. But now, because of all the dark share energy, because of how far Kenji's physical limits were being pushed, and because of how his life was endangered once again, this other version of him was trying to come out and take his place.

"(Come on, now, Pal...Don't fight it)" Said the other Kenji with an arrogant tone "(You know you need me for this one...)"

"No, I don't!"

"(That's bullshit, and you know it)"

"Shut up!"

"Hm?"

While Kenji struggeld to keep control over his own body, Rei looked at him. At first she was slightly confused by this one-man show, but she soon came to realize what was going on after focusing a bit more on him and being able to feel the "other" Kenji trying to come out to play.

"Oh!? What's this!?" She said with a grin "So you do have it in you! You're corrupted with dark shares!"

"Co-Corrupted?"

The young man failed to understand what Rei meant by corrupted, but he couldn't ask either, as the other him was trying even harder to take over. This, as a result, caused the same effect as last time. Making a blue aura appear around him, slowly alternating between blue and red as he could feel his body being taken over, the sclera of his eyes turning black.

"You see!? You see now!? This is what I meant before!" She said while pointing at him "You lowly CPUs are destined to fail! You're destined to end up commiting the same mistakes as me, and what's happening to you right now is the definite proof of it!"

He didn't answer to her words or provocations. Instead, he kept focusing on keeping control over himself, but things didn't seem to be going too well on that field.

(Come on, just give in already...It's for the best)" Said the other Kenji with the same arrogant tone as before "You can't win against her. You need me to take care of this one, otherwise everyone's done for...So just move outta my way, and let me kill that bitch already!)"

"Shu...Shu..."

"(Come on...Come on...COME ON!)"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY! ! !"

In a sudden urge of instinct, Kenji yelled at the top of his lungs before stabbing himself in the tight with his own sword. Piercing deep into his flesh and causing blood to pour out of it as he avoided going deep enough to pierce through the artery by mere inches.

"Wha-!?"

"I...Don't need you...to fight my fights for me!" He said while taking deep breaths with a fierce expression "Now shut up...And go back to your hole! I've got no time for you!"

The other Kenji didn't answer to these defiant words. In fact, he didn't say anything at all. This probably meant the young man managed to force him back into his place, winning the struggle to keep control over his own body.

After taking a few deep breaths, he pulled his sword out of his leg and took a look at his self-inflicted injury.

"Oh, crap...Compa is gonna shout my ear off when she sees this" He muttered to himself while looking at it.

"Yo-You...That just now..."

Once he made sure the wound wasn't anything to worry about, Kenji raised his head to look at Rei.

"Hey...I have no idea at all what the hell you went through to think like you do, and I honestly don't care" He said with a stern voice as he looked at her straight in the eye, the black sclera returning to it's original white color "But not all of us are bound to fail as hard as you did..."

"Shut up..."

"And you know why? Not because of some destiny nonsense..."

"Shut up...!"

"Because, unlike you, we're not giving up that easy!"

"SHUT UUUUUP! ! !" Yelled Rei as she entered into a fit of rage "SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP! ! ! ! ! ! !"

The electrical storms suddenly exploded into enraged tempests in synch with Rei's rage as countless lightning exploded all around them, iluminating the dark vortex for short spans of time with their intensity.

Kenji didn't even flinch though. Instead, he moved towards her at a surprisingly calm speed. This didn't sit well with the enraged Tari's CPU, who instantly struck him with lightning. Yet, this didn't stop him. He merely took on the attack as he kept moving towards her, only stopping for a few seconds to withstand the impact.

"Wha-What!?"

Rei was baffled at what just happened. Despite having lightning shot at him, the young man didn't move and merely weathered through it.

One would think he went crazy, but it was actually his plan of action. He came to the conclusion that dodging the lightning strikes would be borderline impossible within this place, which meant there was only one way to do this, and that was by thoughening up his body and taking on everything she threw at him head-on. It was by no means a good idea, and his body would definitely hurt like hell afterwards, but it was the only choice he had left.

As he kept moving towards her, lightning kept striking one after the other, delivering powerful shocks all throughout his body with every single strike. After just a few, he could already feel his muscles aching and going numb. But he didn't stop moving, he couldn't stop moving. If he did, then it would all be over, everyone would die, and he wasn't going to let it happen. There was no way he would let the two worlds he had grown so fond of perish because of a resentful woman's tantrum.

"You want to give up? Fine..." Said Kenji as he was just a few feet away from her

"Sta-Stay away..."

"You want to destroy yourself? Fine...!"

"Stay away...!"

Now that the young man was right in front of her, his eyes hidden by the shadows made by his bangs, Rei's rage and anger were slowly replaced by fear. A cold feeling running down her spine, causing her to shake on her boots at the sight of him as she looked at him with her eyes wide open and her pupils slightly smaller than usual.

It was at this moment that a memory played back within her mind. She recalled the time when her nation fell down after she killed all of her citizens, how she was face to face like this with a towering individual who looked down at her in a condescending manner with cold and heartless eyes that felt nothing but disdain towards her. A being who exalted an aura of power so inmense, so overwhelming and so terrifying that his very existence felt like something out of a nightmare.

Right now, she was feeling the same fear as back then, the same terror that she felt the day when he met the one known as a devil among gods.

"If you wanna go down the drain..." Said the young man as he raised his head slightly "...Then don't drag other people with you...YOU DUMBASS! !"

As he said the last part, Kenji suddenly lowered his head while leaning it forward, resulting in a powerful headbut that hit Tari's CPU right in the top of the head.

"Guhoa!?"

Despite being a rather simple attack, this powerful and unexpected impact was enough to make Rei's brain shake inside her skull, stunning her for a moment or two as Kenji used this chance to wrap his arms tightly around her waist, making sure she wouldn't escape.

The young man's body was so numb from all those lightning strikes that he could barely even feel the pain in his muscles anymore. Holding her like this was probably the most his limbs could do at the moment.

"Okay...Now let's see how this goes!" He said before closing his eyes and focusing

Since Rei was nothing like his sword, this was something that required him to focus even harder than usual. But soon enough he got a hold of the energy within her body. He then took a deep breath before pulling on all of it and absorbing it into his body.

A large dark aura covered both of them as it created a powerful shocwave and made the storms rage once again.

"NOOOO! ! ! MY POWER! ! ! MY POWEEEEEEER! ! ! !"

Tari's CPU let out a screeching cry as she felt all of her power being taken away from her, making her grow weaker and weaker by the second.

This overwhelming power was crushing, even painful to take into his body. Kenji could feel like he would be torn to shreds if he gave in to the dark just the slightest bit, but he kept absorbing all of this dark energy without stopping. The process probably lasted a minute or so, but every second of it felt like an eternity.

Once it was finally over, the young man's body kept beating, throbbing like a heart as it tried to keep the dark energy within him under control. It was almost as if he was fighting against a raging ocean on the middle of a storm, but just like any ocean, it eventually calmed down. Allowing him to float calmly over its surface.

With all of her power now gone, Rei lost consciousness and reverted back to her human form.

"Okay...That's definitely gonna hurt tomorrow..."

The storms suddenly calmed down as well, making an eerie silence take over the interdimensional space. This didn't last too long, though, as everything began to shiver as if an earthquake was taking place. Signaling that the portal was beginning to colapse now that its master no longer had the power to sustain it.

"Oh, give me a break already!" Said Kenji while looking around him

Without wasting a second, he turned around and flew towards the Hyperdimension at full throttle, loud booms and thunders clashing all around him as he flew.

The tension began greater and greater in this race against time itself, having everything colapsing behind him as he went as fast as his body could go right now. The worry of not making it out was more and more realistic with each passing second, but hope sprouted back into him as he was greeted by a bright light coming from the Hyperdimension.

Pushing forward with all of the strength he had left, the young man doubled his speed and crossed through the portal, going back to the Hyperdimension as the massive vortex imploded and closed behind him.

"There he is!" Said Purple Sister while pointing at the skies

The Planeptune Sisters, who were unable to make it into the portal, kept their eyes on the sky during the whole fight in wait for Kenji to come back.

They tought about heading towards him at first, but soon noticed his speed didn't decrease. Instead, he kept going at full throttle as he fell down towards the ground, crashing on the ground like a meteorite and raising a smoke cloud just a few streets away from them.

Both CPUs quickly headed towards the crash site and found a large cloud of smoke blocking their view. But once it faded away, they both saw the young man lying down on the center of a crater in his human form.

"Kenny!" Said Purple Heart as she quickly approached him with Purple Sister following behind

Once they got closer, they noticed Rei wrapped around his arms, and that his body was bruised and bleeding all over.

It took a moment or two, but he slowly opened his eyes and looked at them.

"Hey..." He said while looking at them with a smile and a somewhat roughened tone "Hell of a welcoming party, huh?"

Both CPUs looked at him for a moment before smiling as well while feeling a strong sense of relief. Both of them worried that absorbing those dark shares may have distorted his body and mind in some way, but Kenji's personality seemed to remain intact.

"Yeah, really..." Replied Purple Heart with a smirk and her eyes closed.

The young man kept his smile for a moment or two longer before his head hit the ground as he fell unconscious, the strength within him already drained as his weary body could no longer withstand being awake.

"Kenny!? Hey, Kenny!"

*Scene*

"Ahhhhh...That's better..." Said Kenji as he dipped his body into the warm water feeling his fatigue wash away

Shortly after the battle against Rei and the portal's dissapearance, the monsters plaguing Planeptune either got exterminated by the CPUs and armed forces or scattered into the wild. The cultist group that followed Tari's CPU followed suit and quickly disolved after their leader was defeated, their memebers going into hiding or being detained for their criminal actions, although many were allowed to be free shortly after, as there was no rule that prohibited people from having their own beliefs. And since the possibility of them merging once again into a threat was very unlikely, it didn't make much sense to keep them locked up.

Certainly, Planeptune suffered quite a severe amount of destruction due to this incident, but at the very least the cathastrophe was averted and the people's morale wasn't hit too hard thanks to the return of their CPUs and their victory serving as a symbol of hope. After countless struggles and fights, the Hyperdimension was once again safe, and things returned to normal, or at least to a relative version of what could be defined as normal in this dimension where many things made little to no sense sometimes.

Massive victories against evil CPUs and the safety of the world aside, the young man got quite beat up during that fight. Just as he imagined, Compa gave him a rather harsh lecture, complaining about his rash and reckless behavior in battle, and that was without even telling her that the stab wound on his leg was his own doing.

"Man, I'm beat..." He said while resting his arms and head over the edge of the barrel

After getting bandaged from head to toe, the nurse strictly told him not to do any effort or sudden movements. He even had to sneak his way out of the basilicom, but he couldn't really wait to take a dip in his personal "spring". Compa probably wouldn't agree with this decision, but what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her. Besides, his most severe wounds had already closed just about enough for him to move without too much trouble. Of course, most of them still hurt like hell, but taking a bath wouldn't make it any worse. In the best of cases, it would probably even help him heal faster.

Once he went into the warm spring water, any pain within his body soon faded away and was instead replaced by a relaxing feeling. A feeling which he didn't feel since the last time he took a bath on his personal barrel.

"Ahhhh...Taking a bath in a barrel feels way better than it looks" Said Neptune while she relaxed as well "No wonder old-school protagonists and strong guys with spiky hair like them so much"

"Yup, nothing beats taking a dip on the barrel on a starry night" Said the young man while looking at the CPU before directing his gaze back at the starry sky

"That's right, that's right!"

A moment of silence fell on the area while Kenji kept his eyes focused on the stars above, clearly ignorant of the fact Planeptune's CPU was on the barrel taking a bath with him. Or at least he didn't before suddenly realizing something was out of place.

"Wait..."

Driven by this doubt, he lowered his head again just to make sure if what he saw was real and once again saw Neptune right there next to him before raising. He then raised his head once again, giving his brain a moment or two to fully process what he just saw before his eyes suddenly opened as wide as plates and he finally reacted properly.

"Ne-Neptune!?" He yelled while leaning to the opposite of the barrel, his face bright red and his hands grabbing tightly around the edges of the barrel "What the hell are you doing here!?"

It was a fortunate thing the spring water hid everything from his waist down, otherwise this would be a rather embarassing moment.

"What? Ain't it obvious?"

"Just what on earth could be obvious about this!?" He asked with a mixture of embarassment and irritation

"You still don't get it, do you Kenny?" She said while looking at him "This is some fanservice for the reader as a way to thank him for reading up to now!"

"Why do you always try to justify all the crazy things you do with that meta logic!?"

"Ohhhh? What's this?" Said Planeptune's CPU with a bit of a blush and a mischievous smile "Could it be...You're so excited by my super sexy body that you can't keep yourself under control!?"

"What?"

"I mean, I totally knew I was the hottest character here, but this is definitely the proof!"

While looking at her inflating her own ego, the young man's embarassment seemed to fade away as it was overwhelmed by the irritation he felt fat the moment.

Once again, Neptune was trying to pull off her meta jokes and tried to use Kenji as a way to inflate her ego even further. Why him, he didn't know, but he wouldn't just let it happen so easily, at least not this time.

"Yeah, right...Keep dreaming..." He said while taking a more lax and relaxed pose again "Like I would ever get flustered by a child-like girl like you"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean!?" Said Neptune as her expression went from happy to irritated

"It means just what I said. You're not sexy at all" He replied without even looking at her "Hell, you couldn't be even if you tried"

"Grrrrrrr! How dare you say that when I went through the trouble of doing this special fanservice for the readers!?"

"Some fanservice it is..."

Rage swelled up within Neptune as she felt her womanly pride receiving a pretty low blow from Kenji's comments. As the protagonist, she couldn't allow anyone, not even him, to doubt her in regards to her charming womanly appeal.

"Then, in that case...!"

Suddenly, a bright light shone next to Kenji along with with the water within the barrel becoming agitated for a moment or two.

"(Eh?)" Tought the young man this time while suddenly opening his eyes

To his surprise, his arm was suddenly wrapped between two soft objects as he heard a more mature voice speaking.

"...How about this?"

The young man slowly turned his head and saw Purple Heart holding onto his arm, pressing it between her bountiful breasts as she looked at him with a smirk.

"Wha-!?"

Just for the sake of proving him wrong, Planeptune's CPU decided to literally pull out the big guns. And by this, I mean using her much more voluptuous HDD form to show Kenji just how sexy she could really be.

"Now, now...Just where do you think you're going?" She asked while pulling on his arm, preventing him from escaping from her grip "The night is still young, and I don't think you would feel satisfied with such a short-lived bath now, would you?"

"He-Hey!"

"Hm? What's wrong?" Said Planeptune's CPU while looking at him with a smirk "Your face is bright red..."

"I-It's just the water!"

"The water?"

"Yeah!" He replied quickly

"I see..." She said while leaning closer, pressing her breasts even more against his arm "Is there anything else that could be causing this?"

"No..."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

"Completely sure?"

This time, Kenji didn't answer. He simply closed his eyes and blushed harder as he tried not to think about it. This in turn caused Planeptune's CPU, who found his reactions more and more amusing, to giggle.

"(Even though he has such a manly body, he can still react in such an innocent way...)" She tought while looking at his flustered face

Despite his lean and strong muscular body, the young man still panicked or got flustered quite easily when faced with the intimate or seductive touch of a woman, especially when it was in such a straightforward way. Of course, Purple Heart's blush was notable as she too felt embarassed from doing such a thing, but the amusement she got out of Kenji's reactions helped her put that aside and instead enjoy the moment.

As she kept looking at his face, Purple Heart's eyes slowly diverted down to his body. A body filled with burn marks, bruises and lacerations caused throughout all of this fierce battle. But no matter which wound, or no matter how he got it, they were all he received due to the same reason. To protect someone or something.

If he were fighting to protect his own life, Kenji's body would probably be spotless. Perhaps an injury or two after fighting the most powerful foes, but even so, it wouldn't get close to this level of damage. Yet, the young man always stepped forward to protect the lives of those he held dear, even if it meant putting his own body in harm's way. Be it now, when he protected her and Nepgear from Rei's lightning and allowed himself to become an easy target for the crazy CPU, or all those years ago when he pushed his body to the very limit against Yuube to save her. Kenji never hesitated to fight, never hesitated to protect others, especially if that other person was Neptune or the CPUs.

"(This body...it's so strong...)" She tought as he ran the fingers of her right hand through his chest, still with her other arm wrapped around his "(But so warm too...)"

It was an odd feeling, really. His muscles, trained for battle against all manner of beast and wicked enemy, felt so warm, so calming. There was something about them that made her feel at ease, that made her feel safe, It was not the physical kind of safe, but rather a deeper, more complex kind. It was an odd warmth within her chest that she couldn't really explain properly, but Purple Heart could tell this gave her a feeling of safety that she couldn't get from holding sword in her hand. Perhaps it wasn't the strong body itself, but rather the man it belonged too that made her feel this warmth.

"(Seriously...What's with her today?)" Tought the young man, who could do nothing but remain silent as he

Two things she could indeed understand about this feeling were that it began to take place ever since the day he fought against Yuube to get her back, and that it felt extremely similar to what she felt towards the other CPUs, towards Histoire, towards even her own sister Nepgear, but there was something slightly different about this when compared to the love she felt towards them.

"Love..." She muttered to herself while looking at him and blushing as her mind came to realize what she just thought about

"Huh? What was that?" Asked the young man while opening his eyes and looking at her again.

"No-nothing! Just thinking outloud!" Quickly replied the CPU as she took some distance from him

Kenji simply looked at her with slight confusion for a moment or two as she turned her back to him, making sure not to let him see her blushed and slightly flustered face.

With her giving her back to him, the young man was able to see a large scar on her back. A scar left from the wound she received from Magic.

Seeing that wound gave Kenji an unpleasant feeling deep within him. A feeling of deep regret and failure he just couldn't shake off, no matter how hard he tried. He felt that, even if his whole body was left with thousands of scars from all sorts of wounds, it would never hurt as badly as looking at that one scar on Purple Heart's back, ruining her pale and perfectly smooth skin.

"Hey...Kenny?"

"Ye-Yes?" He asked while quickly snapping out of his train of thought and raised his eyes to look at the back of her head

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you..."

"What is it?"

"Back when you went into that massive portal to stop Tari's CPU...that was the same portal you used to come back from the Ultradimension..." She said with a more calm tone than before "So in theory, you could've just chosen to go to the Ultradimension...right?"

"Yes..." He answered slowly, making sure to put most of his focus on her words

"So...Why didn't you do it?"

This time, Purple Hear turned her head to look at him over her shoulder. Her large blue eyes focused on him and him alone.

Kenji looked at her eyes for a moment or two. Her stare showing it was probably very important for her to know the answer.

"Well..." He said while sounding toughtful as he took a more relaxed position like before once again "That world is nice and all, but I feel like I want to be in this one instead"

"Why?"

"Beats me..." He replied with his eyes closed "I guess that place just doesn't feel right without you in it"

At that moment, the CPU's eyes widened. Without probably even realizing it himself, the young man just told her that, without her, he couldn't bring himself to stay there. It didn't matter if it was the Hyperdimension or the Ultradimension. The only thing that mattered to Kenji was whetever Neptune was there or not. This, in simpler words, meant that he wanted to be where she was, that he wanted to be with her.

"Wait...But what about Peashy?" She asked after her memory suddenly remembered the little girl "Aren't you going to miss her?"

"Yeah, I am. But it's not like we're never going to see each other again..." He said while turning his head to look at Purple Heart, then faced forward and raised it too look at the starry sky "I don't know how or when, but someday we'll meet again...And until that day comes, I have to make sure I can become a baddass big brother she can look up to"

As Planeptune's CPU looked at the young man staring at the night sky with a calm smile and determined eyes, the warmth within her chest began to act up again. This time, feeling even stronger than before and even bringing a smile to her face.

Slowly, she moved closer to him once again and leaned on him, resting her head against his chest and wrapping her arms arond his torso with a blush on her face.

"Ne-Neptune!?" Said Kenji as he blushed once again while looking at her, his eyes wide in surprise

"(Kenny...You really are an interesting man, after all...)" She tought with a relaxed smile on her face and her eyes closed

Due to her life being dedicated mostly to her gaming habits and the battlefield, Planeptune's CPU didn't have much knowledge of love beyond the sisterly love and pride she felt towards Nepgear. Even now, she was still trying to figure out these feelings beating within her chest. But if they really were love, then she was more than willing to accept them as such.

"(Falling in love with you...Doesn't sound like such a bad thing)" Thought Purple Heart as she felt Kenji's heart beating within his chest


	25. Starry shores

**Note from the author: 20/06/2017**

 **Hello everyone! I hope you've been doing well this last monh!**

 **Today, besides from beginning the third arc, I'd like to address a common question I've been getting lately regarding challenges. And the answer is no, I don't take any sort of challenges, nor accept submissions of OCs of any kind (There may be one exception, but it's one from long ago and still under careful consideration)** **. I respect that all of you have your own stories that you wish to see and it makes me glad to know that you trust in my skills enough to ask me out of all the writers in this site to make it, but I simply cannot accept them for many reasons. One of said reasons being collegue and work taking almost all of my time, making it rather difficult to have enough time to even write this fanfiction. Another reason being that I can't write a story unless I feel genuine passion and interest for it, otherwise I won't be able to dedicate my full attention to it.**

 **If you still wish to share your requests with me, then at least do it through a PM rather than in the review sections. I ask you this because the reviews are part of what rejuvenates my will to write, being the blood and lifeforce that drives my motivation and desire to put in the required effort. Clogging it with your requests, while flattering, will eventually make it quite tedious for me to reach out the comments that compliment or are actually relevant to the story itself, making it harder to fire up my motivation. Either way, I hope you can understand this and don't feel discouraged.**

 **Oh, and one last thing. The length of chapters may vary between 16k to 20k rather than being a solid 20k from now on, as always having to make them that long can be rather exhausting for my mental stamina, and I've seen quite a few readers out there who find those long chapters a bit too heavy as of late, so the length will be shortened. Don't worry, I'll do my best to retain the quality of each chapter, I'll simply try to simplify things a bit so people have an easier time with them.**

 **With all of that said, I hope you have a good day and hope you enjoy the reading! Until next chapter!**

* * *

"Here ya go, sonny!"

"Thanks, old man"

With the bowl of pork now served in front of him, the young man proceeded to eat. Calmly, but with a notable eagerness in his speed. And it didn't take long for the delight in his expression to show as well after he took the first few bites out of it.

"I knew it...Your pork bowl's the best one there is, old man!" He said with a pleased expression as he enjoyed his meal

"That's for sure, sonny!" Replied the shop owner with a cheerful tone and his arms crossed, along with a proud smile on his face

He always knew his food was good by how he always had a steady supply of customers and that Kenji certainly was among those that enjoyed it the most, as he was probably the most recurring customer he had. Nonetheless, there was something extremely uplifting about hearing such a direct and honest compliment, especially from someone who showed such a pleased expression.

"Gotta say, it's good that things got quiet again around here once again" Said the owner while looking past Kenji and at the streets outside

"Yeah...I didn't think they would go back to normal so soon, though" Replied the young man "This and a few other districts got trashed pretty badly by the monsters, after all"

"Well, this nation's got a long history with monsters popping up and breaking everything...We're kind of used to it already"

"I see..."

"But it's thanks to lady Purple Heart and the other goddesses that we made it out okay this time around!"

"Yeah, that was a close one..."

With the return of Planeptune's sisters and the defeat of the crazened CPU, things managed to go back to normal within a relatively short amount of time. Despite the young man's role in Rei's defeat, everyone believed the CPUs were the ones to thank for this feat. It would be a lie to say he didn't feel slightly annoyed by this lack of recognition for his efforts, but at the same time he preferred it this way,as the whole "hero" thing didn't strike his fancy and keeping a low profile was usually more comfortable for daily life.

Of course, A large part of thet town was destroyed by either monsters or clone CPUs breaking havoc around it, but Planeptune's citizens were already used to this level of destruction and managed to rebuild the damages within less than a few weeks along with being able to fully regain their daily lifestyle within less than a month. It was rather impressive how they could take such a situation so calmly and even fix up the damages so quick too, but then again, considering how their CPU was on a daily basis, it was merely a given Planeptune's citizens would develop at least some level of tolerance towards adversity.

"But that aside, Planeptune's people sure are amazing, huh?" He said while turning his head to look behind him at the street outside

"You can bet on it!"

The young man looked at the people moving about from one place to the other on the streets for a moment before facing forward again.

"Well, they're her citizens after all...It's no wonder they're like that" Said Kenji with a smirk

As he kept eating his fill, the owner looked at him during this time of silence. At first he didn't notice it, but there was indeed something different about the young man.

"Hey, sonny..."

"Hm? What's wrong?" He asked while raising his head and looking at the owner

"I didn't see you hanging around here for quite a while now...Did something happen?"

"It's...A long story, but I had to take a trip to somewhere else"

"Oh? Going around other nations again?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that" Replied the young man before taking a few more bites "Why the sudden question, though?"

"Nothing really. It's just that you look...different..."

"I do?"

"Yeah"

Kenji himself didn't notice it, as most were subtle changes, but it was something anyone that met him back during his first few weeks in the Hyperdimension could notice. The most notable ones being indeed his way of speaking and the look in his eyes.

Before, he spoke in an indifferent and cynical manner towards most things and only took action out of pride or plain boredom rather than due to personal beliefs or convictions, and the look in his eyes showed this strange emptyness, yet lingering feeling of loss mixed in with a deep anger born from it. But now, it was the complete opposite. His tone was much more calm and outgoing, and the soulful stare in his eyes faded away, being replaced by a much more lively and somehow more uplifted one.

Calling him the happiest guy on earth would be pushing it a bit, but he certainly seemed to have gained a more cheerful and positive outlook on life. Completely different from the bleak perspective he once had.

"Ya know what? Nevermind...Probably just age hitting me again, or something"

"O...okay?" Said Kenji while sweat dropping

The shop owner could tell his remark did nothing other than confuse the young man, who simply looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Anyway, I gotta get going" He said before finishing his pork and placing a few credits on the counter

"Okay...See ya later, sonny!" Replied the middle-aged man "Make sure to say hi to the missy for me!"

"Sure thing"

As he saw him leaving, the shop owner began wondering once again what could've made such a change within the young man in just a few weeks like that. It seemed like quite the riddle,but his mind reached a conclusion quickly enough.

"(That missy sure changed your world for the better, didn't she, sonny?)"

While the middle-aged man tought about it with a somewhat nostalgic smile, Kenji walked outside and looked at the clear skies, using his hand to partly cover the blinding light of the sun. Once his eyes got used to the brightness, he began to walk down the streets and headed all the way towards the outer edges of town. Once there, he walked through the roads, looking at the grasslands and smaller towns as he headed north towards the Lan castle.

The CPU breaker within its chambers was still being used as a sparring partner, but there were a few changes about it. The most important one being that, with his massive improvement of skill and strength over the last twenty years in the Ultradimension, the machine became quite a bit lacking for his needs, which led him to the idea of showing it to Nepgear and asking her if she could do something to make it stronger. It was no surprise the CPU candidate, who felt delighted at the idea of tinkering with such a machine, agreed without a second doubt. With her mechanic skill and employment of newer technologies and weapons, she made the CPU breaker dozens of times more powerful than before, turning it once again into a proper challenge for Kenji to train with. Of course, Caelum tought improving one of the deity of sin's machines to such an extent was a bit rash and dangerous, but nonetheless didn't complain and let them do as they saw fit.

"Hey, Caelum! Where are you!?"

But training robots aside, the young man was here for something else.

"I think I have told you before, yelling is unnecessary..." Said Caelum as she passed through a wall and floated towards the young man "I am aware of your prescence here since the moment you set foot within it"

"My bad..." He said while looking at her and scratching the back of his head with a slightly apologetic tone

"Do not worry about it, just try to avoid it in the future" Replied the ghostly CPU with her eyes closed before opening them again and looking at him "But putting that aside, I take it you're here for something other than training today?"

"Yeah..."

During his breaks within training and while Nepgear took care of the CPU breaker, Kenji killed time by speaking with Caelum. Mostly he spoke about his time in the Ultradimension and about how things worked differently regarding CPUs and their nations. Today, he was here to try and see if he could get some useful information from her.

"I imagined so..." She said before a short moment of silence "Unfortunately, there's not much I can tell you. At least not much more than what Histoire can find within her own database"

"Anything's fine!"

The ghostly CPU looked at him for a moment or two, analizing his quick reply before speaking once again.

"You seem quite eager to know..." She said while looking at him in the eye before closing hers "Then again...I have to admit I do feel quite concerned about this Ibiem individual you spoke about"

"Then, you know something about him?"

"It's merely a tale I heard from my predecesor, back when I was still a CPU candidate...One that is passed down from one CPU to the next, instead of written down by Histoire" Explained Caelum as she opened her eyes and looked at Kenji as she recalled the words she heard during the times when she was still among the living "A long, long time ago, during a time before CPUs walked this earth, humanity was constantly at war against each other, killing each other by the thousands for hundreds of years with seemingly no end in sight...Or at least that's what it seemed like until one day, a mysterious individual appeared"

"(A mysterious individual...)"

Kenji was already having questions forming within his mind, but chose to remain quiet and listen to the ghostly CPU as she went on, hoping that the answers would come along as the story progressed.

"This individual had both the body and strength of a god, but was as merciless as a devil...Monster or man, nothing stood in his way as he wiped out entire armies within seconds with his overwhelming power, becoming known and feared far and wide as a force of apocalyptic proportions, an enraged god that despised the foolishness of humans and decided to cleanse the world of them..."

So far the description didn't offer too many specific details, but the ones given so far were enough for the young man to picture it. A monster-like person, powerful beyond belief and bearing a wicked personality that lacked any mercy for the living. Not exactly a one hundred percent match, but the towering figure that was Ibiem did indeed come to mind.

"Once he defeated all the armies, all the warriors sent out to fight him and stood in front of the four royal families, the wicked god asked each king if they would rather sacrifice the lives of their families and allow humanity to live on or that of their citizens and be guaranteed their safety...Arrogant and selfish, each king chose to sacrifice their citizens. Afterwards, he asked the same question to their four daughters, who chose to sacrifice their own lives and those of their families instead...They, who proved to bear selfless hearts, were spared by the god, who killed the kings and crowned the girls with the titles of rulers before granting them the blessing of godhood through the use of divine seeds as a reward...With their new power and authority as rulers, the four girls rebuilt their kingdoms and eventually established the main four nations we know today, creating a new era of peace and becoming the very first CPUs to exist in this dimension..."

The young man took a moment or two to let the story seep into his brain, playing it back inside his head a few times before suddenly realizing something odd and looking at Caelum again

"Wait...Seeds?" Aked the young man as his mind focused into that detail "You don't think those were actually..."

"Precisely..." Replied the ghostly CPU while nodding her head "Back then I used to believe that was merely a vague detail meant to fill in the blanks erased by the passage of time. But now that I heard about this other dimension, I am sure of it...Those seeds were, in fact, CPU memories..."

This wasn't a very shocking revelation, but indeed an interesting one, as it could explain quite a few things as of why the Hyperdimension is so different from the Ultradimension. Then again, it didn't answer the one critical question that circled through his mind.

"I see...But how is that related to Ibiem?"

"This part is merely speculation more than logical deduction, but I believe that the god who granted those girls their powers and allowed the era of CPUs to begin in the Hyperdimension was Ibiem himself"

Kenji's eyes widened after hearing this. The idea that Ibiem, the man he fought just a few weeks ago, was the one behind the creation of not only the four nations, but of the existence of the CPUs that lived today, was a pretty heavy bomb to drop on someone.

"But of course, this is merely a speculation...And one I hope to be mistaken about..."

"Why?"

"Because...the events of the tale I just told you about took place almost 22 millenia ago..."

"22 millenia!?" Asked the young man with widened eyes "That's...erm...wow?"

"You have absolutely no idea how much time 22 millenia is, do you?"

"...A really long time?" He said slowly while raising an eyebrow

A good ten seconds of silence fell down on the room as they looked at each other. Even though she was a ghost, Caelum couldn't help but sweat dropp when faced with this answer.

"22 millenia is 22.000 years..."

"Oooookay, that is a bit longer than I imagined" He said while sweat dropping

"I imagined so..." Said the ghostly CPU before trying to go back to the subject at hand "But as I was saying before, I certainly hope my speculations are mistaken..."

"Maybe you are..." Replied the young man "I mean, CPUs are very long-lived, but not THAT much...right?"

"Certainly, CPUs have much longer lifespans than average humans, but that's because of the shares within their bodies...With enough shares, one CPU could live for indefinite amounts of time"

"Yeah, but aren't shares dependant on the people's faith?"

"I used to believe such a thing as well, but after meeting you and finding out about the CPU memories, I came to realize this rule is not as universal as it used to be anymore"

"What do you mean?"

"As you already know, the power of a CPU is not only strengthened, but also limited by the shares she...or rather, it, gains from the people's faith...You, on the other hand, have no citizens that hold faith in you, yet your power surpasses that of any Goddess" Explained Caelum while crossing her arms "I believe this is because those who ingest a CPU memory, rather than those who are born from and dependendant of the share crystal, are capable of producing their own shares, which can be increased as they train their bodies to withstand it better...Perhaps this principle applies to Ibiem..."

"I see..." He said with a pensive expression

"Either way, try not to think too hard about it...Excessive worry tends to do nothing more than affect the mind and body in negative ways"

Kenji couldn't really say he agreed with it, but nonetheless nodded his head in agreement with Caelum. After a short talk, she left to rest while he headed back to Planeptune's tower. And on the way there, his mind began to wander and think about her words.

Although the ghostly CPU told him not too think too hard about it, the young man couldn't pretend nothing was happening. He just received quite a lot of information, some of it more than just a little bit concerning in more ways than one. It would be weirder not to think about it.

Back when he fought Ibiem the first time, he was beaten, bloodied and weakened, which partly explained why he fell so easily. The second time, however, he was not only well rested, but also fighting alongside the other CPUs. Yet, Ibiem just toyed with them so easily. Almost as if he was just fooling around with a bunch of children. Most likely, he just wanted to show off the difference in power between them rather than stop him from fighting Rei, and he certainly proved his point.

It wasn't hard to imagine he had probably a few thousands of years on his back, as Tari's CPU hersef was well over four thousand years old according to what Histoire and Blanc said about Tari's history, but the idea of someone having over twenty two thousand years was a bit extreme, even for a CPU's lifespan. But there was always that one problem about CPUs. Limits and logic that usually aplied to humans went out the window with them. Things such as being faster than a car, strong enough to lift boulders with ease and even live for thousands of years without aging a day were well within the boundaries of what CPUs were capable of.

"(A legendary God, huh?)" Tought the young man as he went all the way up to the top floor on the elevator

As the word echoed within his head, the young man couldn't help but wonder just how strong would one need to be in order to be known as legendary among CPUs, which as a rule of thumb were already way beyond human limiits.

"Kenny!"

"Eh?"

Kenji's train of tought didn't last very long, though. The moment he walked in through the door and into the room, he was suddenly received by Neptune, who stood right in front of him and made him snap back into reality.

"Welcome home!"

"Oh...I'm back..."

"Hey, what's with that lax way to answer!?" Said the perky CPU with an irritated tone "I know you're shy about it, but you're getting a "welcome home" from the protagonist here! That's like getting a rare item or a shiny pet in a portable game!"

"I'm not really shy about it, though"

"There you go again, being all shy and tsundere like Noire!"

"You're not listening to me, are you?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"Anyway! Let's play some games!"

"Wha-? Hey!"

Before the young man could even react, Neptune grabbed his forearm and pulled on it, taking him towards the living room. There, she sat him down and gave him a controller before sitting next to him.

"Okay. Just for a while, though"

"Neat! I knew you'd get it!"

Kenji didn't answer this time, he simply decided to accept Neptune's request and played with her. The two went at it for a while, sometimes playing co-op and others going against each other. As it would be expected, the perky CPU was dominating the leaderboards. Even though the young man put up a good fight, she was always the one with the highest score and the one to win. Her skill with videogames was, as always, pearless. In all and all, though, it was nice to just relax and do something fun.

Minutes became hours and eventually most of the day went by without either of them even realizing. Once he finally felt like he had enough virtual entertainment for one day, the young man put the controller down and stretched.

"Eh? You're not playing anymore?"

"I think I've had enough for today..."

"Can you get me a pudding, then?"

Kenji turned his head for a moment to look at the clock, seeing it was almost time for dinner, before looking at Neptune once again.

"It's almost dinner time, you know?"

"It's okay! A little snack won't hurt!"

"If you say so..."

Without arguing too much about it, he got up on his feet and made a short trip to the kitchen to pick up a pudding and went back into the living room, where Neptune was waiting for him.

"Here you go" He said while placing the pudding next to her

"Thanks!" She replied without even looking away from the screen, waiting a moment or two before speaking "Hey, Kenny!"

"What?"

"Feed me!"

"...Huh?" He said with a raised eyebrow

"Like. I . Said! Feed me!" Replied the perky CPU "I can't take my hand off of the controller, so I need you to play support for me and feed me!"

"Isn't that usually Nepgear's thing?"

"Yeah, but I want you to do it!"

"Why me?"

"Because I want you to do it!"

"That's not really an explanation, you know..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

Despite his attempt to persuade her through questions, Neptune didn't seem to budge. She simply opened her mouth wide-open, waiting for Kenji to feed her pudding.

At this point, the young man already knew it was useless to argue against her haphazard logic and decided to play along. Besides, it would be a good way to kill time until dinner.

One spoonful after the other, he fed her as she played and waited for her to swallow down before giving her another one. At around three spoonfuls or so, she closed her mouth and looked at him.

"Hey, Kenny...It's kinda hard to focus on the game and eat at the same time"

"Then how about you stop playing and eat instead?"

"No way! I'm at the top of my game!" Replied the perky CPU

As a proud 24/7 gamer, the last thing Neptune would dare to do was stop playing once she was at the peak of her game, be it in skill or motivation. Either way, there was no way she could stop now. With that said, though, not stopping would also mean she wouldn't be able to enjoy her pudding. And that, as well, was a grave sin for her.

To game or to eat pudding. In a stuggle to find an answer to this heart-wrenching riddle, the perky CPU tried to think of a way to solve it inside her head. She kept thinking for a moment or two, seeing her options over and over again before the solution finally popped right into her head like a light-bulb.

"Ah! I know!"

"Hm?"

"Kenny, sit behind me!"

"Why?"

"Come on! Just do it!"

"Fine, fine..."

Kenji was't sure where she was going to with this, but did as he was told and sat cross-legged behind Planeptune's CPU. In just the blink of an eye, the perky CPU gave a little bounce backwards and landed on the space between his crotch and forelegs, sinking in as she rested her back against him.

"Wha-!?"

"Alright! There we go!"

Part of the young man's mind imagined this would happen, but not even that could prepare him for it. Naturally, his face went bright red partly from the surprise and partly from the embarassment. The perky CPU was also blushing slightly, but not as hard as him, which made it slightly harder to notice.

"He-Hey! Get off of me!"

"What are you talking about!? You can feed me pudding and I don't need to stop playing!" Replied Neptune as she got comftier "It's perfect!"

"Not for me!"

"Then...you don't like it?"

The young man looked at the CPU for a moment or two as silence fell down. He couldn't see her face, but he had the feeling she wasn't smiling anymore considering how her head was slightly lowered along with the change in her tone.

He wasn't sure whetever this was her just trying to fool around with him, tease him or just another reason, but she probably wouldn't cheer up unless he did it.

"I guess there's no choice..." He said as he opened his legs slightly, allowing Neptune more space to sit as he took a spoonful of pudding out of the half-empty cup "Open up"

As she saw the spoon in front of her face, Neptune's expression brightened up almost inmediately.

"Awesome! Thank you, Kenny!"

"Don't go getting used to it, though...It's only this one time"

"Yes! I understand!"

As she began to take on the spoonfuls of pudding, Kenji tried to convince himself this would be the only time he would play along with her on this. But deep, deep down, the young man knew he would probably yield again the next time she asked. At this point, he could only hope this wouldn't turn into an everyday thing.

Meanwhile, Neptune kept focusing on the game, making her usually sudden and abrupt moves with every action she took within the game. And once he gave her the last bite of pudding, the young man put the cup and spoon down. Part of him wished to get Neptune off of him before his legs grew numb, but instead he kept looking at her as she played. Today, just as any other day, she was very cheerful. It was a cheerfulness Kenji just couldn't stop looking at, merely because there was something about it that made him feel at ease, almost as if it brought back an old, nostalgic feeling within him.

Right now, Kenji's eyes were focused on Neptune, but his mind slowly began to wander. He Slowly began to recall feelings that felt unknown, but also incredibly nostalgic at the same time for some reason. And as they reached their peak, the young man's mind flashed a short-lived image.

A figure, female most likely, sitting on his lap just the same way Neptune was doing at the moment, resting against him. The young man couldn't see her face from that angle, but he was able to feel the warmth of her body and the sweet fragance of wild flowers emanating from her hair. It seemed as though she was saying something, but he wasn't able to hear her voice.

Slowly, the young man felt more and more drawn in by this figure until he finally moved his arms and wrapped them around her in a hug, holding her closely as he embraced her with a firm, yet soft touch.

"Thank goodness, we're finally home!" Said Nepgear with a relieved tone after she opened the door

Meanwhile, the CPU candidate came back froma shopping trip with Compa and IF, who were helping her carry the bags.

"There was a lot of people at the mall today, wasn't there?" Asked Compa

"Well, it was the last day of the weekend discounts, so it's a given people would try to take the chance while they still could" Explained IF while turning her head to look at the nurse

After closing the door behind them, the three girls walked through the hallway until reaching the living room, where they were all sure they would find Neptune sitting on the floor playing games like always.

"Big sister! We're ba-!"

Little did they know, what they would find was completely different from the usual view.

In the living room, in front of the TV, there were Kenji and Neptune. The young man had his eyes closed and silently embraced the perky CPU in a hug as his arms were wrapped around her waist and his head lowered to rest the lower half of his face against her soft, pink hair while she simply sat there, silent as a statue and frozen like one. Her eyes as wide as plates and her face blushing red like a tomato from the sudden surprise. So big was her sudden shock that the perky CPU even stopped playing, her hands just as frozen in place as the rest of her body while the controller slipped off of her fingers and towards the floor.

"Bi-Big sister!? Kenji!?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes and a flustered face after finally being able to articulate words once again

"(Hm?)"

The CPU candidate's voice seemed capable of snapping Kenji out of his trance, as he slowly opened his eyes after hearing her. It didn't take too long for him to realize what he was doing, and to react accordingly.

"U-Uwaahhh!" He said in a panic as he quickly unwrapped his arms and leaned his torso back in an attempt to get some distance from the CPU "I-I'm sorry! I don't know what I was...I-!"

Right now he was baffled at what to say, as he himself couldn't understand what just happened. One moment he was looking at Neptune, and by the time he realized what was happening, he was embracing her.

"I-It's okay..."

Those were by far the only words Planeptune's CPU said to him, which was actually rather odd, considering her usually loud and energetic behavior. This was probably due to her shock from what just happened, but could anyone really blame her for it? Pretty much everyone was in the same state, after all.

"He-Hey Compa, Nepgear! Let's get going and make something to eat, otherwise it'll get too late for dinner!" Said IF while turning her head to look at the other two girls in an attempt to break the awkward silence

"Tha-That's true! We need to prepare everything, after all" Quickly replied Compa while sweat dropping with a weak smile

The duo quickly proceeded to take Nepgear to the kitchen to prepare dinner while Histoire remained with Kenji and Neptune, who were now sitting a few feet appart from each other in akward silence. So awkward, that IF even offered to help cook this time just to stay away from it.

Dinnertime went by with a relatively peaceful normality, with those in the table eating as cheerfully as always and talking with each other constantly. The only difference from the everyday meals was that Planeptune's CPU and the young man hardly looked at each other, much less talked, at least not without sounding slightly awkward about it. It was more than clear for the others to see, but none of them commented on it or even asked, as it would only serve to make things even worse.

"(Man...that was some dinner)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping with his eyes closed as he slowly walked down the hallway

He usually enjoyed quiet meals, but the awkward silence that ruled over today's dinner really wasn't the type of quiet he liked. On the opposite, it was the type he didn't enjoy at all. Fortunately, he was able to finish his food fast and slip away with the excuse of being tired from the long day. Kenji didn't really feel that tired, and it would probably take a while of rolling from one side of the bed to the other before he actually felt tired enough to fall asleep, but it was definitely better than staying there and get eaten away by the heavy atmosphere.

"(Why did I even do that, though?)" He thought with a more pensive expression this time "(One moment I was calmly looking at her, and then...)"

While thinking about the rather oppressive awkwardness of that dinner, Kenji's mind slolwy drifted towards the curiosity behind his earlier actions. This, in turn, made him recall the image that flashed within his mind.

"(That girl...Who was she?)"

The sight of that woman, despite blurry and difficult to recognize, somehow gave him a feeling of ease of mind and even nostalgia just by looking at her. It was a strange thing indeed, since he couldn't recall where he saw such a girl.

That image was so vivid and so natural that it felt more like a memory than just a random image, but that just put yet another question inside his mind. Just where, or rather when, was that memory from?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pinpoint the exact where and how that gave place to that memory. After all, he never really got that comfty with any woman in the Hyperdimension, nor in the Ultradimension. Perhaps it was all just his mind playing tricks to him, but that wouldn't make any sense either.

As he finally reached the door to his room and held onto the doorknob, the young man's mind kept wandering deeply into these questions that seemed to lead nowhere, or at least he did until suddenly feeling someone pulling on his vest along with a very familiar voice calling his name.

"Hey, Kenny...Kenny?"

When turning around, he saw Neptune holding onto the back of his clothes while looking up at him. Slight curiosity lingering in her big purple eyes.

"Neptune?" He said as his eyes widened

"Are you okay, Kenny?"

"Eh? Why you ask?"

"You looked like you were thinking really hard about something...Something serious..."

"Oh, erm..."

Seing the slightly concerned look on her face, the young man quickly tried to snap out of the thoughts inside his mind and focused on her.

"N-No, it's nothing! I was just thinking about training again!"

"Oh...I see"

Neptune didn't seem fully convinced by his answer, but nontheless decided to take it and smile like she usually did.

"You shouldn't think so much about that training stuff, Kenny! Otherwise people will start thinking you're one of those generic shounen heroes!"

Judging by her tone, that awkwardness from before was still there, but at least she could mostly act like normal again. And like always, her meta comments didn't do much other than point out things there were usually unnecessary or irritating.

"I-I see..." He said while sweat dropping "Anyway...what's wrong?"

"Oh...right..." She said, sounding less perky than before

At that moment, Neptune's expressions changed once again. Now her tone was slightly more shy and her cheeks took a red tone as she blushed, probably due to what whatever she was thinking about at the moment.

"You see, Kenny...About what happened earlier..."

"Oh...you mean..." Asked Kenji as his eyes diverted sideways, his face blushing too while he recalled said moment

"Yeah...that..."

Truth to be told, Kenji hoped they wouldn't have to talk about what happened, at least not so soon. Unfortunately, Neptune felt like bringing it up right now for some reason. Which reason, he didn't know, but it was happening, and he would probably have to answer to her.

"I'm sorry about that..."

"No, I'm not really angry about it!" Said Neptune while putting both hands in front of her, trying to convince him he wasn't at fault "It's just...I was thinking about it..."

"Oh, okay..."

As the conversation moved forward, Kenji could feel the heavy atmosphere from before settling in once again, along with the awful feeling it brought with it. The short moments of silence only made it even worse, but he could tell Neptune herself, who was always used to being perky, carefree and lively, was having an even harder time than him. This was the only thing that helped him keep a straight face and try to push forward with this conversation.

"Like I said...I was thinking about it...And I kind of wanted to say..."

Planeptune's CPU took a moment to find the right words. It was slightly worrying that she needed to focus so hard just to find what to say, but he couldn't just turn his back and leave. This was probably very important for her if she actually tried to put so much tought into it, and he knew that he had to hear what she wanted to say, no matter what it was.

"Kenny...I've got a favor to ask you..."

*Scene*

The young man stood in the middle of the street just outside Planeptune's tower, waiting.

Unlike his usual outfit, he was now wearing a black v neck t-shirt along with a white jacket , blue jeans and black sneakers. The gloves and headband were left behind, giving place instead to a scarf with white and black stripes wrapped areund his neck. Why he needed to be dressed like this, he did not know, but Compa and IF just wouldn't stop telling him to get some nice clothes after they heard about Neptune's request. Even though he said his casual outfit would be fine, they refused to listen to his reasoning and even went as far as dragging him all over town, searching from one store to the other, making him put on all sorts of outfits until finally finding the one he was currently wearing at the moment.

"(Ju-Just how did it come to this?)" He wondered with his eyes closed, feeling his heartbeat speeding up by the second "(Or rather, why am I so anxious!?)"

Back when Planeptune's CPU asked if he would like to spend the day with her, he didn't find anything weird about it. There was something suspicious about everyone's reaction when hearing about it, though, and the duo's perseverance towards forcing him into getting dressed like this definitely made it obvious that something odd was happening here. And by using a common sense, anyone could piece together where this was leading, even him.

"(No...It's not a date...There's no way it could be a date, everyone's just getting the wrong idea here)" Thought Kenji as he tried to calm himself down "(We're just gonna hang out for the day, maybe eat a pork bowl together or something like we always do, and I'm just wearing a few new garbs because those two wouldn't bugger off...Yeah, that's all there is...)"

A moment of silence went by as he replayed those words within his head over and over again. It did indeed sound like what they usually did whenever he went out and she tagged along, but the fact she went and asked him in such a straightforward way while blushing made it very hard for him to believe it was just a "casual" day. And she looked even happier than usual when he agreed to it, if such a thing was even possible.

"Hey, Kenny!"

After suddenly snapping out of his train of tought, the young man turned around and saw Neptune approaching him while waving at him. She was wearing the same dress she used during their stay on the Ultradimension, except that she didn't have the white jacket on her, making it look somewhat more formal.

"Sorry, did I make you wait?" She asked while standing in front of him

"I don't know...maybe?"

"Eh?"

Neptune simply looked at him in a short silence before finally reacting in a not-so pleased way.

"Seriously, Kenny!" Said the CPU with both hands on her hips "In this situation, you're supposed to say "No, I just got here myself" or something like that! It's basic romance rules!"

"I-I see..." He replied while sweat dropping for a moment or two before realizing what she just said "(Wait...Romance!? So this IS a date after all!?)"

It would be a lie to say part of him didn't believe that this was indeed a date, but it was still surprising disclosure. Either way, there was no turning back now. He could, of course, refuse or put up some sort of excuse to leave, but thinking about doing so made him recall just how excited Neptune seemed to be back when he agreed to it. Rejecting her would be a bit too cruel of a thing to do, especially after everything that Compa and IF did to help.

"Anyway...Should we get going?" Asked the young man while quickly trying to change the subject

"Sure thing!" She replied happily "So, where do we go first?"

"Well..."

As Kenji tought about it, the first thing that came to mind was the ramen shop for a quick bite, but a few voices in the distance reached his ears before he could open his mouth.

"Hey...Where do you think they'll go, Iffy, Gear-Gear?" Asked Compa while looking at the other two girls

"I'm not sure..."

"Knowing him, he'll probably go and say "How about we go to the old man's shop for a pork bowl or something?" or something like that?" Said IF while shrugging with a smirk

"Amazing, Iffy! That sounded exactly like something he'd say!"

"Even Kenji couldn't be that dull for a date..." Said Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile "Well...At least I think so..."

Just a short distance away from them, IF, Compa and Nepgear spied on them from the edge of an alleway's wall. The three of them obviously more concerned with talking about what they thought about the current situation rather than about their hiding spot, considering they were more than easy to see from almost any angle.

"(Those three...Saying whatever the hell they want!)" Thought Kenji with his eyes closed and a vein mark popping on his head, marking the irritation he felt at the moment

The young man felt like turning around and telling them to get lost, but doing so would alert Neptune, who couldn't see them because of Kenji being in her line of sight, know about their prescence.

"Heeeeey, Kenny...Gamindustry to Kenny" She said while waving her hand in front of his face "You in there? Helloooooo?"

"Eh? Ah...Ye-Yeah, sorry..."

Rather than create an awkward scenario and ruin the rest of the day, Kenji decided to instead go back to focusing on Neptune and on where to go. Fortunately, he recalled a few hunters at the guild talking about a new amusement park that opened up recently.

"I've heard they built a new amusement park somewhere around here. How about we go there?"

"Yes! I want to go!"

With the amusement park as their chosen destination, the two began to walk down the streets. From time to time they had some small talk with each other, but Neptune's mind remained mostly focused on the park, thinking about all the fun and colorful attractions along with all the delicious junk food. Kenji, on the other hand, kept thinking about the trio that kept tailing them along the way. Of course, this wasn't the only thing he tought about, as his focus was diverted towards Neptune, who was walking a bit too close to him, every once in a while.

Once they finally arrived, the two took a look around them. The park, despite its popularity colorful atmosphere, was surprisingly less crowded than expected. Sure, there were quite a few crowds here and there along with people moving about the place, but it was nothing like what Kenji had witnessed back at 5pb's concert. Then again, 5pb was one of Gamindustry's most popular idols, and her concert took place on a weekend too. Thinking about it more carefully, perhaps the reason behind this lack of crowds was due to their visit taking place during a thursday.

"Come on, Kenny! Let's go for a ride!" Said Neptune with excitement as she held onto his forearm and pulled on it

"He-Hey!"

As the young man got dragged away by the perky CPU, the trio watched them getting lost among the crowd before following after them. Eventually, they found them making line to get up on the roller coaster, although things didn't seem to go that well once they reached the front.

"What'cha mean by "too short"!? Don't you know my loli bod is a main part of my charm!?"

"Li-Like I said, you can't get up on this ride! You're not tall enough!" Replied the worker, who was trying to calm her down "And I don't even know what you mean by main charm!"

Due to her small physical stature, Neptune didn't meet the required height to be allowed into the roller coaster. And as one may imagine, this angered her to the point of making her throw a fit.

"Hey, Kenny! This is a big problem!" She said while turning her head to look at the young man "We're not gonna be able to make the plot move forward if we don't get on that ride!"

"Those are security measures, Neptune. They're there for a reason" Replied Kenji with a more or less calm tone

To this answer, Neptune's irritation grew even more. She expected him to be on her side for this one, but he just went and tossed the "logic bomb" on her like IF and Compa did whenever she tried to do something fun.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to find another ride..."

"I don't wanna! I want to get on this one!"

"Stop complaining already. There's no way you're getting on this one unless you're tall enough"

"Then, in that case...!" Snarled the perky CPU

Suddenly, a bright light emanated from her, blinding everyone around her. A light well-known by the trio and the young man. Once it dissipated, the people surrounding them looked in shock as their goddess stood among them, looking at the shocked worker once again.

"Eh?"

"Now then...Am I tall enough for this ride now?"

"EHHHHHHHH! ? ! ? ! ?"

Everyone was shocked to say the least, although some were shocked for different reasons than others. The civillians, on one side, were shocked to know that their goddess was standing right among them and they were not able to notice it. Others, such as the young man, were shocked that Neptune pulled out her HDD form, something which was thought of as a very important and almost sacred form, just to get on an amusement park ride.

"Excuse me. I think I just asked you a question..." Said Purple Heart, this time with a slightly more stern voice

"Ah! Ye-Ye-Yes! You're more than tall enough now, Lady Purple Heart!" Replied the panicking worker as he moved aside and made way for her

"Excellent" She said with a satisfied expression before turning her head to look at Kenji with a smile "Now then, let's get going"

"Yeah...sure..."

Before following after her, the young man looked at her and sweat dropped. A thing such as this was well within the boundaries of Neptune's randomness, but sometimes it was just impossible to look at them with a straight face.

After giving a little sigh of resignation through his nose, he followed after Purple Heart and sat next to her on the same row. There was a slight panic among the people in the ride, but that didn't stop it from starting. An understandable thing, considering no one in Planeptune would want to make their CPU have to wait. The roller coaster went up and down, left and right, spinning around and going all over the place as it traversed its course at high speeds before finally finishing less than five minutes later.

"Well...That was a letdown..." Said Kenji while walking out through the exit

"Yeah, seriously..." Replied Purple Heart with the same dissapointed look and tone as him

For average folk, that roller coaster would be a thrilling, even traumatic experience depending on how used you are to that sort of adrenaline-inducing rides, but for them it was a rather dull experience. It was not hard to imagine this would be the result, considering any roller coaster in the world paled in comparison to the crazy and sometimes life-threatening stunts they had to pull off in mid-air during battle as they flew all over the place.

"So where should we go now?" She asked while moving closer to him, her shoulder bumping against his

"Beats me..." He replied with his eyes closed before blushing slightly and making some distance between him and her "A-Anyway, you should revert back already"

"Why?"

"I mean, the people are gonna panick again if they see you, right?" He said with a slight nervousness in his tone

"Hmmmm...Is that so?" Asked Planeptune's CPU with a somewhat teasing tone

"Yeah..."

"Is that the only reason why you want me to revert back?"

"It is..."

"Reeeaally?"

"Really!"

Purple Heart could tell by the way Kenji kept his eyes closed and by his blush that the reasons he was giving her to revert back weren't the real ones, at least not completely.

"Hm...I'm not sure about that...Perhaps I should stay in this form a little longer" She said while leaning closer to him and wrapping her arms around his, capturing his bicept between her large and soft breasts "What do you think?"

"Wha-!? He-Hey!"

"What's wrong? Is there any problem?"

"No! None at all!" He replied quickly as his blush became even brighter

"Are you sure?" She asked while wrapping her arms around his even tighter, causing his bicep to be pressed between her beasts even more so than before

"Yes! I am!"

"Then, you don't mind me staying in this form?"

"Do whatever you want!" Said the young man while turning his head away

"I see...In that case, I'll remain like this for a while longer" She said playfully while looking at him "After all, running into any more of those height limits would be very inconvenient, don't you think?"

Of course, that was a small white lie from her part. Purple Heart wanted to remain in her HDD form because that way she could keep teasing Kenji to get even more of those reactions, which she found more and more amusing as of late, out of him.

"I guess..." He said without even turning to look at her

Planeptune's CPU let out a short giggle before the two of them began walking once more. They kept moving around the place in search of more attractions. Thanks to her HDD form, they managed to get into many rides without any issue, even making it to the front of the line within seconds most of the time. The downside of it being that all the stares would lay down upon them, something that was extremely uncomfortable for the young man. And truth to be told, even Purple Heart was starting to grow displeased by this excessive amount of attention, making any ride they got on less than enjoyable at this point. Eventually, both of them left the amusement park and went in search of something else to do.

Along the way, however, they stopped at a shopping district for Purple Heart to make a small stop at one of the clothing stores, remaining within it for a few mintues or so before coming back out. But unlike before, she was now wearing casual clothes. More specifically, a sleeved purple blouse and a black skirt with purple accents along with black heels. Later she explained that by wearing common clothes, it would be far easier to blend in with the people. Of course, Kenji felt like the clothes may not do too much of a difference, considering nearly every single person on the nation knew exactly what her face looked like, but there was little to no point in arguing about that either way, which was why he simply ccepted it and moved on.

"So? How do I look?" She asked while giving a little spin for him to get a full 360 view of her new outfit

"I think it looks good" Said the young man with a surprising honesty and a bit of a blush

"Thank you" She replied with a smile before looking at him once more "Now then, where should we go next?"

Before answering her, Kenji took a look around him, searching for something that could prove intereesting, or at least capable of killing some time. It only took a few turns of his head before his eyes made contact with an arcade. Not too large or fancy, but certainly filled with enough games to distract them for a while.

"How about that arcade?"

"Sure!"

No matter the time or place, or whetever she was in human or HDD form, Planeptune's CPU would always gladly accept to enjoy some virtual entertainment. And arcades were among her favorite classics, mostly due to all the time she spent on them while on the Ultradimension.

Side-scrollers, fps and even fighting games. The two went from one game to the other, sometimes playing with each other, against each other or even taking turns depending on how each game worked. Time went by as they enjoyed it with little to no care about their surroundings. Ignoring even the random gaze they received from someone every once in a while. Fortunately, it seemed Purple Heart's "casual" outfit diverted any curious pair of eyes from recognizing her as their goddess, thinking instead of her as an average woman who merely bore a surprising resemblance.

After probably around an hour so, the two began to wander around the place in search of other new games. Or at least they did before running into another area filled with less virtual and more "retro" games, such as basketball double hops, ice ball, ice hokey and even a claw crane.

"Huh...I didn't think arcades still had these type of games around the place" Said Kenji while looking around him

"Among those that visit arcades, most people stilll enoy classics such as these. They were the base that helped build today's arcades, after all" Explained Purple Heart while turning her head to look at him

"I see..."

While the young man looked at the old games, Planeptune's CPU went ahead to check them out. Most of them seemed amusing and worthwile, but the cane, or rather the plush toys within it, was what she looked at with the most eagerness.

"Hey, Kenny! Look!" She said while pointing with one finger at the inside of the glass case

After standing next to her and taking a closer look, he noticed she was pointing at a toy. A small plush of a blue hedgehog that appeared as the main character on one of the games she played so much.

"It's cute, isn't it?"

"Sure, I guess" He said with a raised eyebrow

Kenji didn't really think of it as being very cute, but Purple Heart seemed to think otherwise. He diverted his eyes to look at her, staring in awe at the plush before looking at the hedgehog once again. Even if he kept his gaze focused on it, he just couldn't see what was so cute about it that could make her like it so much. Then again, there has always been something about those little balls of fluff that seemed capable of charming any girl, Purple Heart included.

"All right! I decided! I'll take him home with me!" Said Planeptune's CPU with a determined tone

"You sure about that? Getting stuff from these things is hard"

"It's okay! There's no challenge I can't surpass!" She replied with a determined tone and expression while taking out a coin and putting it on the machine "I'll show you! The power of a goddess!"

"(She sure is fired up about this, isn't she?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

Despite his warnings, Planeptune's CPU had set her mind on obtaining that little plush. Once the crane activated, she pressed the arrow-shapped buttons to slowly move it from its initial spot until it hanged over the hedgehog. She then pressed the button, causing the metalic claw to open up and slowly descend towards its target before reaching all the way to the bottom and closing around the plush, grabbing onto its belly.

"Yes!"

Unfortunately, Purple Heart's cheer was premature, as the metal claws merely pulled the little hedgehog up a few inches before the crane eventually slipped off and let go of it, going up without its prize.

"Wha-What!?"

"Told you, those things are hard to get"

"Tha-that was just a test! This time I'll get it!"

Without giving it a second tought, Planeptune's CPU put another coin into the machine and tried once again, but the result was the same.

"I won't give up!"

Purple Heart was not going to let this challenge defeat her so easily. She was decided to win, and that was definitive. For a third time, she tried again, and failed to succed in the same way as before. She tried a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and even a seventh time, but the result didn't change. Even though she put all of her energy into it, the little hedgehog remained in place.

"No way! Why!?" Said the CPU with a dismayed tone in the face of he failure "Even though I was trying so hard to show off my cool side!"

"(Cool side?)" Wondered Kenji with a raised eyebrow

It seemed that, besides from getting a fluffy new friend, Purple Heart also wished to show off her gamer skills to Kenji and impress him by winning at this supposedly "hard" game. Unfortunately, that plan failed horribly as she didn't take into account that being skilled at virtual games and being skilled with cranes were two different things, hence making all of her expertize pale in the face of this challenge.

Purple Heart felt dismayed by this utter defeat, and it was easy to tell by the look on her face. It was a bit saddening actually, to see the usually determined and prideful CPU of Planeptune lower her head in defeat.

"Hey, move aside for a bit"

"Eh?"

After looking at her for a moment or two, Kenji decided to step ahead and try to do something about it.

Once Purple Heart took a couple of steps aside to give him room, the young man took a careful look at the hedgehog, then at the plushies surrounding him. This focused stare of his remained for at least a whole minute before he finally pulled a coin out of his pocket and placed it on the machine. Slowly, he moved the crane until it stood over the little plush. Yet, he didn't push the button right away and instead kept looking at the claw and at the toy. He kept looking until the very last second, at which he then pressed the button to lower the claw. Once reaching the bottom, the claw closed its three metal legs around the hedgehog's arm before going back up, pulling on the toy's little arm with a bit of effort before eventually pulling it out of the pile and towards the exit hole.

"Eh!? Ho-How did you do that!?" Asked Purple Heart while looking at him with a bewildered expression, unable to believe he managed to do in just one try what she failed to do even after seven attempts.

"Take a look at the claw" He replied while pointing at the metal three-pronged machine "Three-pronged claws don't have as good of a grip as four-pronged claws when going for the chest aea, but they're much better at grabbing onto the limbs"

Planeptune's CPU was baffled in front of this revelation. All this time she tried going for the chest since she believed it to be the best option, but failed to realize this was the wrong move.

"Here you go" Said Kenji after picking up his prize and giving it to her

With the little plush now on her hands, Purple Heart took a moment to look at it while it rested on her hands. It was just as small and as cute as it looked behind the glass, probably slightly larger than a mug, but still small enough for her to wrap both hands around it with ease.

"It's really cute..." She said with a blush and a smile before approaching it to her cheek in what could be described as a small hug or even snuggle "Thank you, Kenny"

"You're welcome" He replied with a calm smile

Seeing Planeptune's CPU smiling once again, and knowing he was the reason for it, somehow made him feel more at ease. One could even say it was a joyful feeling.

"I've never seen big sister enjoy a stuffed animal so much" Said Nepgear while looking at them with surprise

"It looks really cute!" Added Compa

"Huh, not bad...I guess i underestimated him"

The trio, who momentarily lost sight of them after they left the amusement park but managed to catch up on the arcade, seemed to be enjoying the rather sweet moment between the two. Kenji, on the other hand, didn't seem to share this feeling nor to enjoy their color commentary.

"(Please, just go home already...)" He tought with his eyes closed while sweat dropping

"Hey..."

Upon hearing Purple Heart's voice this time around, the young man opened his eyes and looked at Neptune again. Her gaze now focused on him again rather than the stuffed toy, which she still held in her hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm thankful for this gift, but where did you learn so much about crane machines?"

"My boss taught me about it back when I worked at his arcade..." Replied the young man with complete calm before a sudden realization made him stop on the spot "...Huh?"

"Kenny? What's wrong?"

Purple Heart noticed the sudden confusion in the young man's expression after he answered. It seemed as though something about his answer caught his curiosity.

"(Did I...used to work at an arcade?)" He tought as he tried to dissect the memory that just struck him

This didn't seem like such a shocking or important fact, but there was indeed something that felt slightly unsettling about it. This something being that, up until he answered that question, Kenji had no memory whatsoever of ever working at an arcade. And judging by his answer, it seemed as though his boss trusted him enough to share a few secrets, something that would mean they had some mutual trust, a trust that could only be built through weeks, if not months, of hard work and dedication.

The colorful and loud atmosphere of the arcade seemed capable of making the memory surge back from the depts of his mind, but it didn't solve his main question. Rather, it only made him question himself even harder. Just how did he forget about that in the first place?

"Kenny! Hey, Kenny!"

After Purple Heart's voice finally managed to catch his attention, the young man snapped out of his train of thought and looked at her. He had no idea what sortof expression he had on his face right now, but the concerned look in the CPU's face made him realize it couldn't be a good one.

"Hey, what's wrong!? Are you okay!?"

"Ah! Ye-yes, I'm fine!" He quickly replied while sweat dropping with a weak smile "I just...Kind of dozed off for a moment there! Sorry!"

"I-I see..."

"A-Anyway! Let's get going!" Said the young man while walking past her "Staying holed up inside an arcade all day long ain't healthy!"

Kenji quickly walked past Planeptune's CPU and headed towards the exis as she and the trio looked at him.

"(Kenny...)"

After following him out of the arcade, Purple Heart walked alongside the young man while keeping her eye on him as they walked down the streets. His mind still seemed to be caught up in his own doubts, but not as badly as before. Unfortunately, this odd and uncomfortable feeling kept lingering around.

"Hey, Kenny?"

"Hm?"

"We've been walking for quite a while now" Said Purple Heart with a weak smile before pointing at a bench "How about we sit down and rest for a moment?"

"Huh? Sure, I don't mind..." He replied calmly

Planeptune's CPU gave a relieved sigh before following after Kenji and sitting right next to him. At first it didn't seem to make much of an effect, but feeling her body touching his caused the young man's mind to put more focus on her, showing in the way his eyes took a look at her every few seconds. This was not something Purple Heart failed to notice.

"(Close...Too close!)" Thought the young man while a slight blush appeared on his face

"(He's blushing again...)" She tought with a mischievous smirk "(Cute...)"

In an attempt to regain some personal space, Kenji moved slightly to the opposite side to get some distance, but Planeptune's CPU did the same as him and got rid of that distance. A second time he tried, and a second time she did the same. Over and over this process repeated itself before Kenji finally reached the edge of the bench, nearly falling off of it as he tried to get some distance.

Seeing he wouldn't be able to escape any further, Purple Heart went ahead and rested her head on his shoulder. This time, he nearly jumped up into the air, but only tensed up instead.

"He-hey...Neptune..."

"Yes?"

"Isn't it a bit uncomfortable to sit this close to each other?"

"Not at all...In fact, it's quite the opposite" She said before leaning her body completely against him, causing her breasts to press against his arm.

The young man's heart began to beat even faster as he felt the warmth of her body and the softness of her hair. And the CPU could only hold back her desire to giggle as she noticed the tense expression on his face.

"Ah! My balloon!"

Fortunately for the young man, both of them suddenly diverted their attention to the voice they just heard. Looking forward, they saw a young boy. Holding onto his mother's hand with one hand while using the other to reach out into the skies as his head was focusedon the skies, looking at a bright red balloon raising up into the skies.

"My balloon..." Said he child as his eyes began to tear up

Both of them looked as the mother approached her child and tried to comfort it, although it didn't seem to work.

purple Heart decided to get up and reach for the balloon, but Kenji beat her to it and got up first. He took a few steps forward before crouching slightly and then suddenly jumping high up, reaching his hand upwards and catching the balloon in mid-air before landing right in front of the child and mother.

"Here you go kid" He said while giving the red trinket back to his owner

"Ah! It's my balloon!" Said the kid with a much more cheerful expression and tone before pulling on her mother's hand to catch her attention "Mama, mama! Look!"

Unlike her son, the middle-aged lady seemed slightly baffled from seeing a man jump 8 feet into the air, but managed to snap out of it and talk to her son.

"Ye-yeah!" She said with a bit of stutter before regaining a more calm tone "Isn't that good, Sho?"

"Yeah!"

After talking to her son, the mother turned her head and looked at Kenji with a grateful expression before bowing her head slightly.

"Thank you very much"

"Thank you, mister!"

"Don't sweat it, just make sure not to let go of it from now on"

"Yeah!"

After a short thanks, the mother left along with her child, who kept his head turned to look at Kenji with a smile while waving at him. He did the same as well, waving at the child for a moment or two while Purple Heart approached him.

"That was quite the nice thing to do, mister" She said with a slightly playful tone

"You think?" He asked while turning his head to look at her "I don't think it was that big of a deal"

"Maybe so, but that child and his mother seemed very grateful"

"I see...I guess you're right..."

As he turned his head and looked at the two walking away once again, the young man's eyes diverted from the child to the mother, who was holding hands with her son while smiling at him along the way.

"(Mother, huh?)" He tought while looking at them

Seeing the affectionate relationship between the mother and her child triggered yet another memory from within his mind. This time, it wasn't a blurry flashback or a hidden memory he had completely forgotten about. This time it was merely a memory of him walking down a street alongside his mother, holding onto her hand as the two of them exchanged smiles. It was a surprisingly warm memory, if anything else. But it also gave him an odd feeling of dread.

"(I hope she's doing okay...)"

"Kenny?"

Unlike last time, the young man wasn't stuck so deeply in his own mind, which helped him hear Purple Heart's voice the first time and quickly turn his head to look at her.

"Yes?"

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, it is" He replied calmly, trying to put aside his earlier thoughts "Why do you ask?"

"You were making that face again..."

"Face?"

"It happened yesterday, and while we were on the arcade too" Said Purple Heart as she tried to find a way to describe his expression "Lately, whenever you start to think deeply about something, you make this pensive face...It's almost as if you missed something"

"(Miss?)" Thought Kenji with widened eyes

Whenever those memories popped up inside his head, the young man could tell he felt bad about it, but it was hard to believe the feeling was a nostalgic one. After all, he felt like he despised his old world and wanetd nothing more than to leave it behind when he was finally given the chance. Yet, he was now feeling nostalgia about it?

"Hey, Kenny...Maybe we should go home..."

"Eh? Are you sure?" He asked while looking at her again, slightly surprised by her sudden words

"Yeah, I'm sure" She replied while looking at him with a smile "It's already getting late, and you seem to have a lot in your mind right now"

The young man looked at her for a moment or two. Despite having a smile on her face, he could tell she was merely forcing it.

At the start of the day, Purple Heart seemed even happier than usual. She probably felt very excited about this date, and even showed to be having a blast despite the obvious setbacks along the way. Yet, he ended up ruining it for her by constantly thinking about the surging memories rather than getting his mind off of the constant concerns he had and focusing on having fun. Perhaps the whole point of her asking him out on a date was to help him clear his mind and relax.

"Well, let's get going"

Purple Heart then turned around and tried heading towards the tower in the distance, but was stopped by Kenji, who suddenly grabbed her hand. This caused her to turn her head and look at him.

"Kenny?" She said while looking at him, slight surprise in her expression due to his sudden action

The young man didn't say a thing, he simply looked at her in the eye for a moment or two in silence.

Planeptune's CPU mustered up the courage to ask him out on a date, and even tried her best to have fun with him. There was no way he could let today end on such a sour note.

In a sudden movement, he gently pulled Purple Heart towards him, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and the other around her inner knees to lift her up in a princess carry.

"Kyah!" She said with widened eyes and strong blush "Wa-Wait, Kenny!?"

"Not yet..."

"Eh?"

"This day ain't over yet" He said while looking at her "There's still one more place we can go to"

"One more place?" She asked with slight curiosity "Where?"

"It's a secret" Replied the young man with a smirk

Purple Heart looked at him for a moment or two in silence, looking at him as he raised his head to look at the orange afternoon skies.

"Hm...It should take an hour or so, but I'm sure it'll be ready by the time we're there" He said to himself before looking at her again "Close your eyes and hold on tight, I'll take you there"

The young man's request seemed to arise even greater curiosity within her, but she prefered to do as he asked of her and closed her eyes while wrapping her arms around his neck. Once she was sure her grip on him was steady enough, Kenji then activated his HDD form and slowly ascended into the skies before reaching a certain height and flying away.

*Scene*

The wind blowing against Purple Heart as her braids waved in accordance to them, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around Kenji's neck. Not a single sound other than that of the blowing wind, along with the sound of waves all around them, could be heard, hinting that they had left civilization long ago and now were flying overseas. Everything around her was darkness and remained that wait for what felt like at least ten to twenty minutes before she finally decided to open her eyes just about enough to get a small peek of her surroundings, but not enough to let Kenji notice it. Just as she suspected, large bodies of water covered her slim line of sight, spreading endlessly as far and wide as one could see, sporting a lively orange color taken from reflecting the skies above. She couldn't open her eyes much more or even turn her head without giving herself away, but she could tell they were probably far away from the mainland already.

Part of her wished to simply ask the young man just where on Gamindustry was he planning on taking her to, but another part kept rejecting that idea. As a gamer in mind and heart, she always knew how to appreciate a good secret or an easter egg, and despised spoilers that could ruin the thrill of the achievement.

The idea of a secret place, which required Kenji to even go into HDD mode and take her out of the mainland and deep into the seas was something that sparked a certain anticipation and thrill within her, which kept building up with each passing moment. Pressing questions or spoiling the surprise any more than this would probably ruin Kenji's plans completely, and the rest of the day as well. With this in mind, she made up her mind and closed her eyes completely once again.

This veil of darkness lasted for at least half an hour longer before she felt the wind pressure slowly decreasing until she finally couldn't feel it anymore, meaning that Kenji stopped. Slowly, she heard him descending for a moment or two before the sound of grass being stepped on echoed into her ears, followed by the same sound repeating itself over and over again. Wherever they were right now, Purple Heart had the feeling they were close to their destination.

"Kenny, are we there yet?"

"Almost there, just a bit longer"

"Okay..."

Truth to be told, the anticipation was already growing a into impatience, but the young man's words helped her hold on to it for a bit longer. Fortunately, those few mintues were more than enough for the short walk, during which she kept the sounds of the grass and the trees as her main distraction, which eventually began to clear out as the grass was replaced by sand.

"Okay, we're here"

"That certainly took its time" Said Planeptune's CPU while sweat dropping, still with her eyes closed

"This place ain't exactly next door, you know?" He replied with an equal tone to hers "Well, just take a look by yourself and you'll get it"

Once Kenji put her down and allowed her to stand on her own feet once again, Purple Heart opened her eyes fully and became able to clearly see her surroundings. They were in a beach, far away from any civilization. An entrance to the forest she assumes they just walked out of could be seen, and on the other side the waves moved back and forth, getting the sand wet before returning back to the ocean, which spread as far as the eye could see.

"Erm...Is this what you wanted to show me?"

In all and all, it seemed like a good and relaxing place, but not exactly something very unique or worth that much traveling. Although she didn't want to say it, it was a bit of a letdown considering all the excitement she felt just mere moments ago.

"Just give it a second..." Replied Kenji with his eyes still focused on the ocean, or more specifically, on the shore "It should happen any moment now"

Purple Heart looked at him with aslightly confused expression for a moment or two before looking at the shore as well once again. She had absolutely no idea what was so special about this place, and Kenji's vague answers didn't do much to fix that either. Then again, he did seem convinced of this, and that piked her interest.

"(Just what is going to happen?)"

As the sun went down and night took over, something that Planeptune's CPU never could've imagined took place right in front of her. Slowly, the shores and surrounding oceans began to glow brightly until they took a bright sapphire color, reaching as far as they could see.

"Wha-What!?"

As the oceans began to glow and the light moved along with the flow of the waves, the sun's light finally dissapeared on the horizon, revealing yet another astonishing view. Hundreds of thousands of stars decorated the nightsky, surrounding the moon, which stood high up in the skies above them and illuminated everything in view. It was almost as if the oceans sprouted into life and danced to welcome the arrival of the stars and the moon, which used their own light to decorate the skies, all of it while both connected to each other on the horizon. This mesmerizing dance of light between the skies and the waters felt like a scene straight out of a fantasy movie, or even the work of magic.

"So beautiful..." Said Planeptune's CPU, as those were the only words coursing through her mind in the midst of her awe.

"I found this place a month ago while learning how to fly over long distances" He explained to her while keeping his gaze focused on the ocean "It's deep in the middle of nowhere and the view is relaxing, so I tend to come here every now and then"

"I see...But why is the ocean glowing?"

Right now, the bigest question on Purple Heart's mind was how could this magical glow be possible. Never in all her life did she see such a phenomenom take place, and there was no magic capable of this as far as she knew.

"I asked Histoire about it the other day, and she told me they are probably Plankton"

"Plankton?"

"A microscopic organism that drifts on the water...According to her, these ones seem to use a natural glow to scare away predators" Explained the young man while repeating the exact same words the tome told him and turning his head to look at her "Most likely, a bunch of them got washed up towards this island some time ago and remain around due to the waves...And since there are no fish to hunt them, they can reproduce freely without their numbers dwindling"

Planeptune's CPU turned her head to look at the young man for a moment or two before looking at the shore again.

"To think such creatures could exist..."

Seeing her awe helped the young man know his surprise was more than satisfying for her. With that said, though, it wasn't over yet.

"Say, do you want to touch them?"

"To-touch them, you say?"

Kenji took off his shoes and rolled up his pants up a bit before walking towards the shore and stepping into the water.

"Come on, what are you waiting for?"

"Even if you say that..." She replied with a weak smile

"Don't worry, they're not dangerous. And going into the water won't hurt them either" He said to persuade her before making a smug smirk "Or what? Is Planeptune's CPU scared of taking a little dip?"

After hearing that little question, Planeptune's CPU looked at him for a moment before making a smirk.

"Oh? Is that a challenge?"

"Maybe" He replied, knowing he already had her reeled in

"Interesing..." She said while looking at him "In that case, I'll take you up on that challenge!"

With an eager and cheerful pace in her step, Purple Heart took of her shoes and went towards the young man, stepping into the water that reached up to the middle of her calves.

"Well, I guess you're a brave one after all"

"Of course! Don't underestimate a goddess!" She replied with a puffed chest and a proud expression

"I'll keep that in mind"

Kenji then crouched down to get closer to the water, and Planeptune's CPU did the same as well. Both of them looked at each it for moment or two before he slowly and gently submerged his hand into the underwater clusters of stars, which was followed by her shortly afterwards. The water was cold, but felt amazingly good to the touch due to how crystal clean it was. Although she imagined the Plankton would have an icky and even sticky or worm-like feeling at first, it was completely the opposite. The water kept drifting the microscopic creatures, which came into contact with her hand and slidded smoothly over her skin without a single care in the world. Despite the strength of the waves, their touch felt surprisingly soft, so soft did this touch feel that it was almost like the ocean itself offered her a gentle caress.

While she dwelved deep into the beauty of the ocean and its soft caress, the young man looked at her once again. Her face illuminated by the blue light of the ocean, which somehow made her look even more beautiful than usual.

"(She's almost like a normal woman right now...)"

Whenever the image of Purple Heart came to mind, Kenji imagined the strong, proud and level headed goddess that fought against monsters and protected all of her citizens without a pint of fear or hesitation in her mind. That was what he always thought, but now he came to realize there was more to her, much more than he could imagine.

As the events that took place today flashed back within his mind, the young man recalled all the expressions Planeptune's CPU made over the course of just the last few hours. She could smile, laugh, get excited, discouraged and saddened just like any other girl out there. That was because of a very simple and honestly obvious reason, one that escaped Kenji until now.

"(No...She's not like a normal woman, she IS a normal woman...)"

Deep down, under that calm personality, that battle suit, those processors and that sword there was a normal woman. A kind, gentle girl that cared deeply about those around her and accepted to bear the burden of a CPU because of it. Sure, she was a bit of an airhead and an extremely irritating idiot with an extreme afinity towards meta jokes sometimes, but even in that childish form of hers she still proved the qualities of a CPU, jumping into harm's way to protect others without hesitation.

"(When was it...When did I start to respect you this much?)"

Thinking back on it, Kenji used to think of Neptune as nothing more than an unbearable brat, but soon developed a deep respect towards her as he got to know her better. Now, just the idea of a life without her around was extremely hard to imagine. Not having her running all over the place, cracking jokes at every turn and breaking even the most severe of moods with her smile.

As he analized these feelings of respect, he soon came to notice that looking at her seemed to arise a warmth within his chest. It was a strong, yet gentle warmth that made his heart beat slightly faster, but also made him feel at ease. It felt oddly familiar, but he couldn't properly recall the name of this warmth, nor its meaning. All that he knew was that Planeptune's CPU, or rather, Neptune, was the reason behind it.

"Hm?" She said while raising her head to look at him after feeling his stare, this time with a smile "What's wrong?"

"Eh?" He quickly replied before making a smile and sweat dropping with a bit of a panick "N-No! I was just-!"

In his little panic, Kenji leaned backwards. This, in turn, caused him to loose his balance and start falling backwards. Planeptune's CPU noticed this and quickly reached out to grab him by the shoulder, but didn't take into account the amount of strength needed to pull on his body and ended up getting dragged along instead.

"Whoa!"

"Kyah!"

Both of them lost their footing and ended up falling into the water, getting completely soaked. After a small moment in the water, both got up and walked back to dry land, sitting down on the sand to dry up.

"Sorry..." Said the young man with an apologetic tone and expression while his eyes were closed

"It's okay, It was just an accident" She replied with a smile while wrapping his jacket, which he gave to her so she would stay warm, around her shoulders and holding onto it

Both of them were soaked to the bone, but the night wasn't too cold, and Planeptune's CPU was enjoying herself too much right now to feel bothered by it anyway.

For at least a few minutes, they looked in silence at the ocean. Kenji took a quick look at Purple Heart, and couldn't help but notice her wet shirt made it possible for him to see the bra she was wearing underneath. It was purple in color and had a sexy, yet simple, design. Faithfully covering her breasts as they moved back and forth in synch with her breathing.

"(So big...)" He thought while his cheecks became bright red as he recalled how soft they felt against his body all those times she leaned against him

It would be a lie to say he wasn't enjoying the view, but gazing at women's breasts usually ended up with terrible consequences for the one staring.

"Hey, Kenny..."

"(Oh, shit!)" Thought the young man with widened eyes before suddenly raising his gaze to look at her with a weak smile, as if attempting to dissimulate he wasn't staring "Ye-Yes!? What's wrong!?"

"Thank you..."

That sudden gratitude made the young man's anxious expression and blush fade away, being replaced instead by confusion.

"Hm? For what?"

"For going out with me..." She replied while turning her head to look at him with a smile "There were a few bumps along the way, but I had a lot of fun today"

Kenji looked at her with a surprised expression for a short moment before smiling as well. Once again the warmth in his cheast beating strongly when looking at her smile.

"Don't sweat it, I had a lot of fun too" He said while turning his head to look forward

"I see...In that case, I'm glad!"

Their day had quite the amount of drawbacks, that's for sure, but neither of them could deny it was enjoyable to say the least.

Once again the silence took over for a short moment while the two took in the scenery.

"Hey, Neptune..."

This time, the one to break the silence was Kenji.

"Yes?"

"Remember when you said I looked like I was missing something?" He asked without diverting his gaze from the ocean "I think you're right, after all"

At that moment, Purple Heart's expression changed into one of surprise. The doubt still lingered within her mind, but she didn't think Kenji would be willing to say it outloud, at least not so easily.

Perhaps this was a show of honesty, or maybe even his way to show he trusted her. As she had always been honest with him, so it was time for him to be open with her. One way or the other, she decided to put this thought aside and listen to him.

"What do you mean?"

"Ever since what happened yesterday, I've been having constant flashbacks of my old world...Things that happened, but that I couldn't seem to remember for some reason"

"Things you couldn't remember? You mean, forgotten?"

"Not like that...More like, things that I can't seem to recognize, that somehow feel...out of place..."

"Out of place..."

Planeptune's CPU couldn't help but feel bewildered by this confession. She wasn't even sure what to make of it at this point, only that there was indeed something worrying about it.

"But the one thing I can't stop thinking about is probably my mother"

"Your mother?"

"Yeah...She's probably around your height, her eyes are brown like mine and she had shoulder-length black hair" Replied the young man as his mind began to recall what it could about the woman that raised him "Her name's Naomi"

"Naomi..."

"Ever since I came to this world for the first time, I never even bothered thinking about her because of all the stuff that was happening and slowly began to forget about her...There was one point where I couldn't remember her face or her name, even if I tried..." He explained before raising his head to look up at the starry sky "But after seeing that kid and her mom, I was able to remember her clearly"

"I see..." Replied Purple Heart, as her mind was too focused on piecing together Kenji's words and tried to find a proper answer "Do you miss her?"

It was probably a bit too simple of a question and not exactly the best one to lift up the mood, but Planeptune's CPU couldn't come up with anything else to say at the moment.

"Yeah, I think so..."

Purple Heart once again looked at the young man for a moment in silence. There was indeed a notable nostalgia in his expression, but that wasn't the only visible trait. She could also notice regret. A lingering regret hidden in his stare, similar to that lonely expression he used to do everytime he looked at a pudding. It was something that made her wonder if that regret he felt towards pudding was related to his mother, or if they perhaps were connected in some way. Then again, they could probably be two completely different matters as well, but there was little to no way for her to make a certain guess with the little information she had right now. This, in turn, made her realize just how little she knew about him.

Just as Kenji learned that there was more to her than her level-headed exterior, Planeptune's CPU was starting to learn a few more things about him as well. Nonetheless, they were just a few meager details, such as that he used to work at an arcade, or that he had a mother, something that wasn't exactly an earth-shattering discovery since he already clarified his powers were gained just in the same way as those of Plutia and the CPUs of the Ultradimension, therefore he was once a normal human, born through a family rather than a share crystal like she and the others were. But that was something she never thought about up until now.

Back when she met him, his cynical and rather emotionless nature made her wonder just what kind of place did he come from, but soon stopped wondering after the young man said he had amnesia. Later he admitted that he was merely lying to avoid questioning, which arose the doubts once again. But at some point she stopped feeling the need to know. It was almost as if the urge to know suddenly subsided one day, and she had no idea why. Little did she know, this being because Kenji already shared part of his past with her before. A confession given during her sleep, and that was lost deep within her subconscious memory.

Besides from that confession which she was none the wiser about, Purple Heart finally came to realize that she, nor any of the other CPUs as for that matter, knew next to nothing about Kenji.

All of them knew that the young man was a stubborn and thick-headed swordsman who never turned down a good challenge, was ridiculously strong due to how much he trained everyday, that telling how he felt was somewhat easy just by looking carefully at his eyes, that he was always honest right down to the point where it could feel offensive sometimes, that he had a bit of an issue with being called generic shounen character and that he loved pork bowls just as much as Neptune loved pudding. Despite seeming like quite a bit of info, it was not much when compared to everything that they didn't know about him. Everything about his past life as a human, his bad moments, his good moments, his efforts, his family, his friendships, his achievements, his failures, his regrets, they knew absolutely nothing. They had all agreed that prying on his past would be rude, but that didn't remove the desire to know.

As her mind kept analyzing this, she was suddenly interrupted by an irritating feeling in her nostrils, which caused her to sneeze outloud.

"Are you okay?" Asked the young man, who noticed Purple Heart's sneeze, while turning his head to look at her

"Ye-yeah!" She quickly replied with a weak smile before wrapping her arms around her as she felt the cold coursing through her limbs "I think I'm just a little cold"

Just by looking at her shiver, Kenji could tell that the cold was more than "just a little".

Now that he focused more on his surroundings, he could feel the cold was stronger than before. At the start they were both too focused in either the mesmerizing views or "other" distractions to notice, but as the night progressed, the temperature lowered with each passing minute and made itself more noticeable. And despite being drier than before, their wet clothes didn't do much to help them retain their body-warmth either.

"Hey, maybe we should call it a day" He said while getting up on his feet and looking at her

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure...It's getting late already, so Nepgear and the others are probably wondering where we went, and I want to get our clothes off soon too"

"Ge-Get our clothes off!?" Asked Purple Heart with widened eyes

"Eh?"

Kenji couldn't help but feel confused by her reaction, or at least that was the case until he finally realized the double meaning behind his own words.

"Ah! Tha-That's wrong!" He said while quickly blushing and going into a short panic "I meant that we should get changed or we'd catch a cold! That's all!"

"Oh dear, Kenny!" Said Planeptune's CPU with her eyes closed while placing one hand on her cheek and turning her head to look away with a blush and a shy smile "Your enthusiasm makes me happy, but my heart isn't ready for such a thing yet!"

"Like I said! That was not what I meant!"

Purple Heart looked at him panicking for a little more before letting out a small giggle and turning her head to look at him.

"I know, I was just kidding with you!" She said with a smile

"Huh?"

"Just a little joke..."

While looking at her, Kenji sweat dropped. It seemed as though he fell victim to her teasing once again.

"You know..."

"Sorry,sorry. It's just that those reactions of yours are quite good for my heart"

"Yeah, well...I can't really say the same for mine, to be honest"

After Planeptune's CPU let out one more gigge, the young man lowered his head and sighed in resignation. Once opening them and looking at her again, he noticed she was extending her hand towards him, almost as if expecting something out of him, while looking at him with a smile. Of course, he didn't hesitate to return the smile and reach out as well, grabbing onto her hand to help her get up. But afer helping her up on her feet, Purple Heart took an extra step forward due to the inertia of the little jump she made after being pulled up. This caused her to move closer to the young man than she expected, making her place both hands against his chest as her body leaned on his. After raising her head, both of them looked at each other, their faces mere inches away from each other. This time, the blush was mutual.

Kenji tried to turn his head and get some distance by placing both hands on Purple Heart's shoulders, but she quickly answered by placing her hand on his cheeck and making him look at her again, effectively stopping him in place.

"(...Ne-Neptune?)" He thought while his eyes focused her face.

Purple Heart was still blushing the same way as him, but somehow she felt different from just a few moments ago.

There was a notable shyness in her expression, but a strong yearning in her eyes. Just looking at her made Kenji feel like she was much more feminine than before, it made him feel the warmth within his chest increase a thousandfold, almost as if it was trying to tell him something, as if it sought something.

On Purple Heart's side, she could feel the warmth as well, and despite feeling quite a bit of embarassment, she didn't mind it a single bit. In fact, she wished to go further, even if it was just a little bit.

"It's okay, isn't it?" She said while looking at him "To be a normal woman...just for today...for this moment"

"Neptune..."

Slowly, she began to move her face closer to his. But this time, Kenji didn't try to back away, or even move his head. He was frozen in place, his body not willing to let this moment be ruined. As her face got closer and closer, his heart began to beat faster and faster, just the same as hers did. So fast and hard were they beating that one could expect them to explode at any moment.

The warmth within his chest growing stronger by the second, perhaps eager to attain what it desired so badly. To compliment this beautiful scenery, to seal the day with this one moment, giving it what to both of them would definitely be probably the most beautiful and best way to end their date. The one kiss that would break any hesitation, any doubts within their minds.

Closer and closer, the distance between both faces decreased, their eyes fixated on each other's, their lips less than an inch away from each other, seconds away from pressing together, from touching and becoming one. Both of them closing their eyes, shutting off the rest of the world, thinking only of the other and of their warmth.

"KENJI! ! ! !"

After a rather sudden and extremely loud shout, both of them quickly opened their eyes and almost jumped up as their bodies tensed up. Both of them froze up for a moment or two before hearing the voice again.

"Kenji! kenji! Are you there!?"

"Huh?"

Once he regained control of his body, the young man was able to notice the voice was coming from his leg. More specifically, from his pocket.

"Is that...?" He muttered before taking out his portable device and seeing he was receiving a call from someone

After pressing the button to take the call, the small screen blacked out for a moment before Histoire's image appeared on it.

"Hi-Histy!?" Asked a surprised Purple Heart with widened eyes

"Thank goodness! I finally connected!" Said the tome with a relieved tone "You won't believe what just-!"

As she was about to announce whatever news she had, Histoire looked at Kenji, then at Planeptune's CPU. She couldn't help but notice both of them were practically stuck to each other in what almost seemed like an embrace.

"Erm...Am I interrupting something?" She asked, slightly worried that she may have chosen a bad moment call.

When the two looked at each other and noticed their bodies still pressed against each other, embarassment quickly rose up as they blushed and quickly moved away from each other. Kenji almost dropping the device before quickly snatching it back in mid-air.

"N-No! It's nothing! We were just taking!" He said with his eyes closed and a weak smile

"Kenji? You're holding it upside-down"

"Eh?"

After hearing Histoire's words, the young man opened his eyes and looked at his device, realizing that it was indeed the wrong way.

"Ah!"

kenji quickly turned it around, making the tome appear right-side up on the screen once more.

Once both him and Purple Heart regained some composture, they looked at the screen once again, still blushing a bit but at least more calm.

"...Should I try to call you later?"

"No, it's okay!"

"Tha-That's right, Histy!" Added Planeptune's CPU, putting a weak smile similar to the young man's "We were jus talking!"

Despite being sepparated by a monitor, Histoire could feel the awkward tension coming from within the two of them. She did indeed interrupt something, but felt like pressing on the subject would be a bit rude.

"I-I see..." She said while sweat dropping before regaining her serious expression "Anyway, you two have to return right now! I have discovered something of utmost urgence!"

"Why!? What happened!?"

"I've been researching the dimensional travel section, and I may have found a way to get you back to your dimension!"


	26. Decision

Amongst a seemingly endless void of darkness, the sounds of battle echoed over the vacuum, flashes of light shinning dozens of times across as two swords clashed against each other in fierce combat. Their wielders fighting to the death without any hint of hesitation.

"(Damn it! He's fast!)" Thought Kenji as he got pushed back a few feet

"What's wrong, pal!? Getting tired already!?" Said the doppelganger with a grin

"Not even close!"

After a short exchange of words, the young man dashed forward, entering a struggle with his look-alike once again. Both of them in their HDD form, and both of them pushing with all of their strength before breaking free and engaging into another barrage of clashes. Dodging, parrying or blocking each other's attacks as they moved around the darkness, only concerned with their enemy.

After a few more exchanges of blows, the two once again entered a struggle, locking blades as the two pushed with all of their might before infusing their flames into them and suddenly releasing all the power at once. Two explosions mixed into a much larger one, lighting up the batlefield as the warriors got pushed away from each other by their own attack.

"(Again...Again this asshole is going at me...)" Thought Kenji while taking deep breaths and looking at his doppleganger, which had a rather smug smirk right about now

"Come on, Pal. Are you even trying here?"

"What?"

Kenji's look-alike raised his sword up to face level and pointed it at him.

"It looks to me like your body's here getting his ass kicked, but your dumb-ass brain ain't here to focus on that right now"

"my brain...?"

Suddenly, the doppleganger's blade got coated in flames once again before he grinned and shot out a horizontal Crescent sapphirus. Kenji's expression turned into one of shock before he reacted and shot out his own Crescent Sapphirus as well. Red and Blue crescent moon-shapped waves of energy clashed against each other, creating a powerful wind pressure for a few seconds before turning into a massive explosion, which released a smoke screen that covered the entire battlefield and forced Kenji to use one arm to cover his face while closing his eyes. Once opening them, the young man saw the smoke in front of him suddenly break open as his look-alike dashed towards him, wearing a wide grin as he held his sword with both hands, ready to attack. With little to no option left, Kenji quickly grabbed his own sword with both hands and prepared to block the attack, getting pushed back almost ten feet as both swords clashed and released sparks like a firework before they entered a struggle. A moment or silence, with the sound of clancking metal as the only thing that could be heard, went by during the struggle before the look-alike finally spoke.

"You can't stop wracking your brains about it, can't you?" He said with a smug smirk "About those memories..."

The sudden question caused Kenji's expression to change into one of slight shock, something which his enemy didn't fail to notice.

"A job at an arcade, a cute girl sitting on your junk and even happily going around with your mommy like a good little boy" Said his look-alike, recalling each flashback he's had so far "All of it clear as day, but somehow weird, ain't it? How they don't add up...With what you CAN remember"

"You...You know about them?"

"Of course I do, pal...I am you, after all. Except that a lot better!" Said Kenji's look-alike before pushing even harder than before

The young man grunted due to the increased pressure before making a more fierce expression and putting more strength into the struggle, regaining some ground.

"You bastard! What do you know about them!?" Said Kenji in a tone that sounded more like a demand than a mere question

"A lot more than you, that's for damn sure!"

The struggle between the two intensified more and more by the second while both warriors increased their strength and desire to kill each other.

"I know about that girl, about your mother, you job, your life and even better...I know the most important thing of it all, the one thing you can't remember..." Said the doppleganger with a grin "Or rather, the thing that you refuse to remember..."

"The one thing I refuse to remember?"

"I know it...the truth..." Said Kenji's doppleganger with an arrogant smirk "About your, about our, original sin..."

"Our...original sin?"

This revelation left Kenji baffled. Hearing that his look-alike knew about those memories was one thing, but hearing that he knew about something that he didn't, something extremely important and severe enough to be called a sin, was extremely unsettling for him.

"Remember, pal...The ********"

"Wha-What?"

When his look-alike spoke once again, the words suddenly got distorted and bent, being replaced by a sound similar to the static you could hear from a television or radio whenever the signal got messed up. The first few were clear as a bell, but the last one was impossible to understand due to that static. It was almost as if something was interferring with the sound, blocking the words coming out of his look-alike's mouth in an attempt keep him from hearing them.

"You...What did you just...?"

Kenji's face showed his bewilderment after hearing that static, which caused his doppleganger's smirk to turn into a grin. Something that only served to fuel his anger.

"You bastard! What the hell did you just-!?"

"...Nji...Enji..."

When the young man was about to demand an answer, a new sound echoed from far away, piercing the thick darkness and reaching his ears.

Taking advantage of kenji's attention diverting towards the echoing voice, his look-alike took the chance to put all of his strength into a powerful kick aimed at his gut. Not only did this push the young man back, but also caused him to feel the impact all the way to his organs, causing him to fall on his knees.

"Sorry, pal. Looks like playtime's over for now..."

"Wa-wait!"

Kenji quickly got up and dashed towards the doppleganger, but the latter walked into the shadows surrounding them and dissapeared from sight.

"Hey! Where did you go!?" Yelled the young man while looking all around him "Are you running away!?"

"Don't rush it, pal. We'll get to play again soon...But next time, I will kill you, and I'll make what's yours mine!"

"Get back here, you bastard!"

As he heard his look-alike's laughter fade into the dark, the voice calling out to him began to hecho once again. But this time, it was stronger and clearer.

"Enji...Kenji...!"

The young man looked around him over and over, searching for the source of the voice as it became stronger and louder, sounding closer and closer with each passing second.

"Kenji...Wake up! Kenji!" Said the voice, which he finally managed to recognize

"Nepgear?"

"Wake up, Kenji!"

After he realized who the voice's owner was, the young man suddenly felt his body falling before closing his eyes and quickly opening them once again. Within the blink of an eye, the world around him changed completely. The endless world of darkness was replaced by the sight of a white roof. He was no longer in his HDD form. Instead, he was laying down on his room's bed on his human form, feeling Nepgear's hands on his chest as they moved back and forth in an attempt to wake him up.

In a sudden and rather abrupt movement, he quickly sat up. This made the CPU candidate take a step back as a sudden reflex.

"(Wha-What!?)"

Upon turning his head around, the young man saw Nepgear standing next to his bed. She had a rather concerned expression right now, and seemed to be in a bit of a panic as well. It was easy to tell why just by taking a look at himself, though. Kenji needed a moment to realize it himself, but he was sweating profusely and his breathing was deeper than usual. At first he thought about asking her what just happened, but it was already pretty clear to him. During his rather unpleasant encounter with his look-alike, his body probably twisted and moved around in response to the fight taking place within him. From an outsider's perspective, one could think that he was in the middle of a war rather than sleeping, or having a rather terrifying nightmare. Both of them partially true, considering what just happened.

"(A dream?)"

Kenji ran his hand through his face to try and raise his awareness before turning his head once again to look at Nepgear.

"Ke-Kenji!? Are you okay!?"

"Ye-yeah...I'm okay..."

"Are you sure? You seemed like you were having a scary dream"

"A scary dream?"

"Yeah" Replied the CPU candidate while nodding "You kept grunting and moving from one side to the other while making an angry expression...It was almost as if you were fighting someone"

Kenji didn't answer to that. Partly because he had no clue what to say, and partly because he felt like telling her what happened would do nothing but increase the CPU candidate's anxiety.

"I see..." He replied with the most calm he could while lowering his gaze before raising it up again to look at her "By the way, why are you in my room? Did something happen?"

"Ah! That's right!" Said Nepgear as her eyes widened, signaling that her mind remembered her original goal "Histoire told me to wake you up. Everyone's already gathered up"

"Oh, okay..." He said while placing one hand on the top of his head and scratching it "Just give me a minute, I'll be right there"

"Okay, I'll go tell them"

The CPU candidate, assuming he would need to get changed, turned around and left the room so he could handle his own business.

Now that he was alone in his room, the young man sat on the side of his bed and tried to get up, but was suddenly struck by a throbbing heat in his gut, causing him to place his hand over it.

"(This is...)"

Kenji clenched his grip on abdominal region for a moment before finally moving his hand and lifting up his t-shirt just about enough to look at it. Despite the painful feeling of of injury, there was no sign of a bruise or a scar. He didn't recall getting hit in the gut during his traning with the old machine nor during his daily quests yesterday, but there was indeed a recent event that came to mind.

"(No way...That was only a dream)" He thought to himself while looking at his abdomen "(I can't get hurt for real within a dream, right?)"

While it did feel like it could make sense, the idea that his physical body could get hurt for real due to an injury caused within a dream was something that shouldn't be possible.

"(...Right?)"

Then again, many things tought by men of common sense to be impossible took place more than once already, some of them happening right in front of him. That, and the fact his look-alike proved to have some level of influence over his physical body, made this terrifying thought far more likely than he'd wish to admit. Although this wasn't the first time he was forced into a conflict against his look-alike, it was the first time the wounds he received in the dream were carried to the real world. Nonetheless, he tried to put these thoughts aside for now and got up. There were more important things to take care of right now, and the pain would go away soon anyway.

Once he changed into his usual clothes, Kenji got out of his room and went alongside Nepgear to meet up with Neptune and the other CPUs, who were communicating with them via a live-feed video from within their own nations.

"Big sister, Histoire, we're here" Said Planeptune's CPU candidate while walking into the room alongside him.

"Good Morning, Kenny!" Said Neptune with a cheerful tone after seeing him

"Good morning"

"Good work, Nepgear." Replied the tome while looking at Nepgear with a pleased expression before turning around to look at the other CPUs "Sorry for the wait, everyone"

"About time you showed up" Said Lastation's CPU while diverting her gaze towards the young man "Just how long were you planning to make us wait?"

"Yeah, nice to see you too" He replied while rolling his eyes

"What's with that sarcastic answer!?"

"Now, now, you two. There's no need to argue right off the bat" Said Vert in an attempt to calm her fellow CPU down "We've gathered today to talk about an important matter, not to fight each other"

"I-I guess so..."

"Besides, the sooner we solve this, the sooner we can return to handling our duties"

"You say that, but you probably only want to go back to your games, don't you?" Asked Blanc while turning her gaze towards Leanbox's CPU

"Oh my, now what would make you think such a thing?"

"Well, she has a solid reason to believe it..." Said Planeptune's CPU candidate while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Well, what really matters right now is to solve the issue at hand, so worrying about such details is a waste of time"

"You're just trying to dodge the subject, aren't you?" Asked Noire while looking at Vert for a moment or two before diverting her sight towards the tome once again "Anyway, what did you want to talk with us about, and why did we need him to be here for it?"

"Ah, yes. About that..." Said Histoire now that all eyes were on her once again "The thing is, there may be a way to send Kenji back to his own dimension"

"What!?"

"So that's what this was about?" Asked Lowee's CPU, who didn't show as strong of a surprise as the other two

"I already knew such a thing could be possible, but how exactly did you do it?" Asked Leanbox's CPU this time with widened eyes

The three women had a valid point in finding this revelation surprising, even shocking to some degree.

From what little they could gather about it back during the Ultradimension incident, dimensional travel was an extremely complex subject. Just opening a portal between both worlds was already difficult enough, and that was without having to search for the exact dimensional coordinates, something which Histoire described back then as "finding a needle in a haysack". The only reason the tome even managed to track down the Ultradimension in the first place was partly thanks to the other Histoire's communications helping her track down the coordinates, so it was indeed surprising that the tome managed to do it yet again, and even without help from the other dimension as well this time around.

"Allow me to explain it, then" Said Histoire while she thought how to explain it in the most concise, yet easy to understand way as possible "Back during the incident with the other dimension, I leadned that the manual within me has actually quite a hefty amount of data regarding interdimensional travel, so I took the freedom of giving it a more thorought reading after the crisis was over. Thanks to it, I learned that the opening of rifts or portals between two dimensions causes a disturbance detectable by the sharicite crystals, probably because of how shares are deeply rooted to the fabric of this and the many other worlds out there"

"So...The crystal works like an alarm that tells something is wrong?" Asked Nepgear, who seemed to have gotten a slight idea of what the tome meant

"Yes, you could call it such a thing, but that's not all"

"What do you mean?"

"The share crystals don't only detect these disturbances, but also track them down all the way to their sources...In other words, one could discover the exact location of other dimensions through this method" Explained the tome

"Amazing..." Said Nepgear with widened eyes, amazed at this fact

"To think shares were capable of such a thing" Added Vert, whose surprise was just the same as the CPU candidate

"It just goes to show how much we don't know about their true potential yet" Said Lowee's CPU with her eyes closed

"With this in mind, I spent the last three weeks analyzing the readings of shares from the last year. It took some throught searching, but I managed to find two other disturbances"

"Two?"

"Yes...One took place twice during the fight against the deity of sin, and the other took place the same day Neptune, IF and Compa found Kenji"

"Then...!"

"That's right. It's very likely that was the portal that brought him into our dimension" Replied the tome while nodding "I have yet to analyze the disturbance more carefully, but I'm certain I'll be able to discover the coordinates of the source dimension, and even open up one that could lead into it"

This time, no one said a thing for a moment. Despite the silence, everyone could tell what this meant.

If that disturbance was indeed the portal that brought Kenji into the Hyperdimension, then Histoire could be able to open a portal capable of connecting with that dimension. This, without a doubt, would mean that the he could finally go back to his original dimension, back to his home.

"(I...Can go back?)" Thought the young man with a surprised expression

Although he already heard it from her just two days ago, the idea that he could truly return to his dimension was one he never even thought about up until now. And it was this thought that made him recall his world, and those vague memories lingering within his mind, feeling a pint of motivation at the chance of unraveling the mistery behind them. Yet, it also made him recall his look-alike's dreadful words.

"(Sin...Just what did he mean by that?)"

"Kenny...Heeeeey, kenny!" Said Neptune while waving her hand in front of his face "Gamindustry to Kenny! You in there!? Heeeeeeey!"

Planeptune's CPU attempted to snap him out of his trance, but it didn't seem to be working as well as she hoped for. Meanwhile, the other CPUs watched this failed attempt. Nepgear and Vert simply smiled weakly while sweat dropping while Blanc merely gazed with her usual monotone and somewhat indifferent expression. Noire, on the other hand, seemed rather irritated by this, and it was easy to tell by her expression and by the popping vein mark on her forehead.

"Hey !" She yelled loud enough to make probably the entire tower hear her

Due to the explosion of Lastation's CPU's irritation, Kenji nearly jumped up from the sudden yelling. It certainly worked to make him pay attention once again.

"Eh!?"

"Just how long are you planning to ignore us!? It's you we're talking about here, you know!?"

"I know, I know, I'm sorry!" Said the young man in an attempt to calm her down

"Nepu...My ears are buzzing now..." Said Neptune, who didn't expect that yelling at all, while placing both hands over her ears

"Seriously, Noire. You can be just as unlady-like as Blanc when you lose your temper"

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Asked Lowee's CPU with a silent irritation, easily noticeable by the shadow that was beggining to appear over her eyes

"And you! How can you take this so calmly!" Snarled Noire while looking at Vert "He's literally asking us to lend him our shares!"

"Lend me your shares?"

"You weren't even listening!?"

"Oh...My bad..." He said while looking downwards, seemingly apologetic about it

"(Kenny?)"

Noire simply crossed her arms and closed her eyes while scoffing while Planeptune's CPU looked at the young man for a moment. She couldn't help but notice his unusually tame behavior meant this was no mere doze off or his mind merely getting bored. Apparently his short train of thought made him unable to keep his attention on the ongoing conversation, but what really worried her was what that pensive train of thought that captured him so badly. Was it related to what he told her last night? about the idea of going back to his dimension? About something he was not telling them? Or perhaps about all three?

Being able to tell was almost impossible, but she could tell this assumption wasn't too far off, considering the pensive expression he had so far and the way he was unusually tame instead of being open for heated verbal fight or simply not put too much concern into it. But out of it all, what truly bothered her to the core was not knowing just what was the thing that weighted so much on his mind, and not knowing what to do in order to solve it.

"By the way, what do you meant by "lend me your shares"?"

"Exactly what it says" Replied the tome instead of the CPUs "Opening a portal requires very large amounts of shares, more than what Planeptune currently has in store. For that reason I decided to ask the other nations to lend us a hand"

"That's right, that's right!" Said Neptune with a cheerful tone "Everyone's gonna work together to get you back ho-"

"I refuse..."

Just as Planeptune's CPU finally found something that could help lift up Kenji's mood, she was abruptly interrupted by a straightforward and direct rejection coming from Lastation's CPU.

"Eh?"

Everyone on the room diverted their eyes towards Lastation's CPU, who now had one hand on her hip and a stern expression instead of irritation like before.

"I said I refuse to lend you my shares" She said once more, this time explaining with slightly more detail what she meant

"Wait, Noire! What do you mean by that!?" Snarled Neptune with a mixture of irritation and surprise

"Just how many shares do you think we had to use to bring you three back here?" She asked while looking at Planeptune's CPU "Even if we wanted to, there's no way we can use what little we have for him right now"

"Unfortunately, I'll have to agree with Noire here and refuse as well"

"Vert!? You too!?" Asked Nepgear with widened eyes while looking at Vert

"I'm sorry Nepgear, but I'm afraid I can't" Said Leanbox's CPU with a slightly dissapointed expression and a slightly apologetic tone "I would gladly help if I could, but it's just as Noire said. Our nation's shares plummeted down quite severely due to our attempts to bring you back into our dimension"

"It's the same for me as well..." Said Blanc with her eyes closed and a calm tone "We are indebted to him for his help so far, but putting our nations even further into peril just for the sake of his personal goals would go against our obligation to our citizens"

"And with that said, I'm sorry but we can't help you" Added Noire with her eyes closed, seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with them "Now then, I have things to do"

"Me too..."

"I'm Sorry, Kenji. There's nothing we can do this time"

"Wait, wait! Everyone!"

With their farewell words said, each CPU took their leave without even listening to Neptune's attempt to keep them in place. One after the other, the screens that showed their images faded away, being instead replaced by static as the communication got cut off.

"They all left..." Said Nepgear, who had no words other than those to say

"I guess that was to be expected, considering the current situation" Added the tome with a mixture of sadness and dissapointment in her tone

Despite Histoire's best hopes and the current period of peace taking place at the moment, it seemed as though her request was one that the other CPUs wouldn't comply with. This was obviously due to the fact their nations, just like Planeptune, were facing a serious drop in shares after the battle with Rei. They were already having enough trouble getting by with what little they had left, and using even more shares in bulk would make things even worse, It was no wonder they all refused without the slightest hesitation.

"My apologies, Kenji. I had imagined this circumstance to be a posibility, but part of me hoped it wouldn't come to pass" She said while turning around to look at Kenji with an apologetic expression

"Don't sweat it, Histoire. They've got their own people to look out for, after all" Replied the young man while looking at her as he scratched the back of his head and made a weak smirk for a moment before diverting his gaze to the side and below while muttering "Besides, I'm not even sure if It's okay to go back anyway"

"Eh? What was that?"

"N-No, it's nothing!" He quickly said while looking at the tome, who seemed to catch on his last few words, again with a weak smile "Just thinking out loud, that's all..."

"I see..."

Histoire couldn't help but feel troubled by his last words. She didn't hear them quite well, but the fact he muttered them couldn't be a good thing. Nonetheless, she decided to put it aside for now and accept his reply.

"What should we do now, Histoire?" Asked Nepgear while turning her head to look at the tome

"I'm not sure, to be fully honest...Even if we used up all of Planeptune's shares, we still wouldn't have nearly enough to power up the portal"

"But we gotta do something, Histy!" Said Neptune, still slightly irritated about what just happened "How the Nep are we gonna advance the plot otherwise!?"

"Please, don't ask for the impossible, Neptune" Replied the tome while sweat dropping with her eyes closed "I'm doing the best I can here"

"Eh? Kenji?"

Upon hearing the CPU candidate calling Kenji's name, Histoire and Neptune turned around to look at him once more. Both of them saw him walking towards the exit.

"Kenji? Where are you going?" Asked the tome, whose question caused the young man to stop for a moment

"Sorry. I just want to go out for a walk, if you girls don't mind" He said while scratching the back of his head without turning around to look at her

A short moment of silence ensued while she looked at him in before Neptune suddenly broke it by speaking.

"Wait, Kenny! What about the-!?"

"It's okay, you're free to go if you wish so" Said the tome, quickly interrupting the CPU's question "I'll make sure to contact you if anything happens"

"Thanks..."

"Hey, Kenny! Wait!"

With Histoire's aproval, the young man once again walked towards the exit without paying any heed to the words of Neptune. Planeptune's CPU tried to go after him, but was quickly stopped by her oracle calling out to her.

"Let him be, Neptune. There's nothing we can do about this situation right now" Said the time while turning her head to look at her "Besides, I'm sure he needs some time to think about this"

"What's to think about!? If we get enough shares, Kenny can go visit his home!"

"Neptune, you don't seem to understand the weight of this situation"

When looking at the tome and at her younger sister, Planeptune's CPU noticed the slight sadness in their expressions. It seemed as though they managed to understand something she had yet to catch up on.

"What do you mean?"

"As I have said earlier, dimensional travel is an extremely complex procedure that requires large amounts of shares and either the power of a tome such as myself or very advanced technology precisely made for the task. Without any of these, traveling through dimensions, or at least doing it with a precise and safe destination, may very well be impossible" Explained Histoire carefully and slowly to make sure Neptune could keep up "Last time we managed to bring you back safely thanks to the help of Plutia and the me from that dimension, but judging by the lack of knowledge Kenji had regarding CPUs, shares and tomes such as myself, it's very likely that none of these exist within his original dimension"

"Then...He can't go home?" Asked the CPU to her oracle

"I'm not saying that he can't go back, I'm saying that, without the required components, he may never be able to leave his dimension again once he's there..."

"Eh?"

Neptune suddenly went silent after hearing Histoire's answer. It took a moment for her brain to process and understand this information, but once it did, she was able to understand the reason for the dread behind her oracle and younger sister's expression. She finally understood what could, or at least could partly be, the reason behind Kenji's constantly pensive state of mind.

"If he chooses to go back, this may very well be the final goodbye..."

*Scene*

Walking down the streets crowded streets, one could hear the sounds of footsteps and voices of different ages and genders from all directions. Some of them were cheerful and happy, others stressed and fast-paced, and some had a slight mixture of both, but the young man could hardly care about these noises, as his mind was dwelling deep within his own matters, using only a portion of the energy put into thought to keep the body's motion constant and stable. For the first time in what he could rememeber, his mind was confused, unsure how to proceed. This hesitation and lack of a clear decision was something he found very unpleasant, but no one could really blame him for it either.

In most stories, the hero that got sent into another world would always go through a hardous journey while seeking a way to return home, finally being able to return and live happily ever after at the end. Kenji always heard those stories as a kid, but never really liked them. After all, if you were to leave your dull and boring life behind to enter a new world filled with magic, fantasy and adventures, then why would you waste so much time seeking a way to return to that boring world? Why abandon such a life to return to the one you abandoned the first time around for an exactly similar reason?

This was something he always failed to understand, be it back then as a kid or even now. But knowing this didn't change nor subside this feeling beating within his chest. This feeling that urged him to return. One way or the other, though. He was no hero, and certainly didn't plan to turn into one anytime soon, which was also why he never thought about this up until now.

Perhaps it was because of those bleak memories that induced an odd feeling of loss and nostalgia, perhaps it was because of that dreadful feeling induced by his look-alike's words, or perhaps it was merely curiosity disguising itself as all those other feelings to help him convince himself he has a much more valid excuse than he should have. One way or the other, there was no way to know. All that he could tell was that something within him urged to return. Yet, there was also the matter of leaving the Hyperdimension.

Although sometimes ilogical and filled to the brim with all sorts of troubles and monsters, this dimension was nothing short of lively and amazing. A fantastic, almost dream-like world where everything was possible, where one could find and become anything he wished for. And although crazy, loud and sometimes annoying to the point of making one go mad, the CPUs were without a doubt the most amusing and amazing group of people he ever met. Sure, they argued a lot and lacked the ability to make use of common sense sometimes, besides from the small fact that they wanted to kill him when they first met, but no one could deny all the good things they did either.

No matter how hard things got,they always looked forward and tried their best to do what had to be done for their nations. Well, or at least they tried in some cases. What really mattered was that, in their own ways, they always tried as hard as they could to make the best out of any situation, be it good or bad. Perhaps it was because of this that, after watching them over and over has he went from one nation to the other, after being surrounded by this cheerfulnes of theirs and learning more about them as people, the young man began to feel the desire to keep trying, even if just a little more. It was thanks to them that Kenji managed to knock off the "edgy teenager" glasess and take a better look around him, helping him realize that, at the end of the day, life wasn't so bad after all. Hell, they weren't even the only people that came to mind either. IF, Compa, Histoire, Falcon, Caelum, even the old man at the ramen shop. All of them were people that, in one way or the other, helped him change into the person he is right now, people that he couldn't help but get attached to some degree. Happiness and cheerfulness aside, this was also the reason behind the weight of this decision. What made this such a hard matter to deal with. And having overheard that this would be a permanent leave didn't make it any easier on him.

Leaving the Hyperdimension meant leaving the CPU and CPU candidates behind, leaving everyone that he met in this dimension. And all to return to the gloom and dull world he left behind. It was like giving up a shiny and priceless diamond to receive a dirty and worthless piece of coal.

"(...What should I do now?)" He thought as he kept moving, a rather confused tone even in the voice of his thoughts

Either to go back to his own dimension and clear out the doubts lingering around his past, abandoning the Hyperdimension and all the people in it or staying here with everyone and live with the doubt for the rest of his days. He would have to lose something in order to gain something else, and that's only by assuming the answers he seeks are indeed hidden away in his dimension. Making a decision would be hard, that's for sure, but he knew he had to make one.

"Hey, did you hear?"

"Hm? What?"

"5pb is gonna give a concert this afternoon!"

As he walked down the street in a sort of automatic mode, Kenji's ears unintentionally caught onto the conversation of two guys walking right next to him. Both seemingly students and probably around the same age as him, or rather, the same physical age as him

Although eavesdropping was never one of his hobbies, he couldn't help but feel curious when hearing about 5pb.

"Whoa! Seriously!?"

"Yeah! She's gonna have one today in a few hours on Leanbox's stadium!" Said one of the two guys with an excited tone "I even heard there's still a few tickets left!"

"Oh, man...That's a bummer..."

"Eh?"

"I mean, it's taking place in Leanbox, right?" said the other guy, who sounded rather depressed "Even if we rushed, we wouldn't make it there in time..."

"Oh...right..."

After realizing their situation, the first guy lowered his head and sighed.

"And I was even planning to break my piggy bank to buy a ticket..."

"Ugh...I wanna live on Leanbox...!"

Forced to admit the facts, both students walked away with their heads lowered and a sense of defeat in their step. All of it while Kenji looked at them for a moment in silence.

"(5pb, huh?)" He thought to himself before looking forward "(Thinking about it, it's been a while since I heard her songs)"

As his mind suddenly diverted towards the pop idol, the young man came to realize how long it's been since he sat down to properly listen to her songs. The last time was shortly before being sent to the Ultradimension, and that was technically twenty years ago, so one could tell it's been a heck of a long time.

"(I guess I could take a look around)"

Thinking so hard about the current situation was unavoidable, and this probably wouldn't make it any less concerning, but perhaps listening to some good music would help him clear out his mind for a bit. Maybe it could even help him with his decision.

With this train of thought in mind, Kenji made haste to Leanbox by flying all the way there. Fortunately, he managed to snatch one of the few remaining tickets just around an hour or so before the big concert took place.

"(Urgh...There's too many people...)" Thought Kenji with a feeling of illness within his stomach that was easy to notice by his expression

Making his way into the stadium and finding a good spot wasn't the difficult part, but there was something to be said about the large crowds of people. Even after all this time, it was still something he couldn't get used to.

Hopefully his mind would be able to ignore this unpleasant atmosphere once the music started like it did last time. And long it didn't last, as Leanbox's pop idol quickly ran intothe stage wielding her guitar and ready to sing her lungs out.

"Everyone! Are you ready!?"

The crowd, obviously excited about the arrival of 5pb, answered with a roaring wave of cheers to show they were definitely ready for it.

"Then, let's start! !" She yelled with the same excitement her fans were giving her before making her guitar roar

With the start of the song, all signs of silence were blown away and replaced instead by the flow of the music, going along with her voice. Each word seeming to fit perfectly with the last one and with the beats, mixing all together into one amazing song that roared all over the stage as people raised their fists up into the air and yelled out 5pb's name outloud. Kenji didn't count himself among these groups, but it would be a lie to say he wasn't enjoying himself right now.

As the time went on and on, soon the songended and was followed by the second one, and the third, and the fourth. Before anyone could even realize it, they already reached the last song.

"Alright, everyone! It's time for the last song!" Said 5pb while raising her hand "This is my newest song! Gracie Star!"

"(Gracie star...)"

Ready to give it her all on the one last song, Leanbox's top idol jumped up into the air before landing on the ground and doing a powerful riff to start her last song. But there was something oddly different about this song. 5pb just referred to it as "new" and the name didn't match any other song that appeared on her list so far, but something about this song that kept beating on the back of his mind. It was almost as if it felt more familiar than new, but there was no way for a song that he heard for the first time to be familiar. Kenji tried to convince himself of it, but it didn't really help too much.

"Everyone! Thank you so much for coming today!" She said while waving her hand up in the air "See you next time!"

With the final song and the concert now over, the crowds of people headed outside to leave, the young man being one of many among them.

The songs were great from start to end, but he had a bit of trouble enjoying the last one due to that odd feeling that kept beating on the back of his brain. Even now that he was outside, he still couldn't shake it off.

"(I'm probably just overthinking it...)"

In the end, Kenji decided to just scratch it off as his mind merely jumping at shadows that weren't even there.

Ever since that nasty dream he has been on edge all day long, and it caused him to overthink about pretty much everything right now, so perhaps it would be for the best to just put the tought aside for now and try to take it easy.

With this decision in mind, he tried to "walk it off" as he tried to do so earlier. It didn't really work all that well the first time he tried, but trying was way better than doing nothing.

"Oh my, if it isn't Kenji?" Said a female voice just a few feet away from him

Surprised by suddenly hearing his name being called, the young man snapped out of his thoughts and turned around to look at the source of the voice. The first thing in sight after turning around being a voluptuous blonde woman dressed in a green dress who carried a paperbag with both hands.

"Vert?"

Leanbox's CPU smiled at the young man, seemingly glad about this unexpected encounter.

"Well, I certainly didnt' think I'd see you around here" Said Vert, who walked down the street alongside him

"I heard 5pb was having a concert, so I came by to check it out"

"Oh, right. I forgot you had taken a liking to her music" She replied as her mind recalled that detail that slipped off of her mind before looking at him once more and smiling "But if that's the case, I think it would be a good move for you to make Leanbox your home and work for me! I could always supply you with front row seats, after all!"

"You're still going on about that?"

"Of course!" Said Leanbox's CPU with a confident smirk "Persistence is the true mark of a goddess such as myself!"

"No thanks, I'm fine where I am right now" He replied with his eyes closed while facing forward before opening them and turning his head to look at her "But anyway, why are you doing out here. It's weird to see you so far away from your games"

"They're not just games, mind you. They're MMOs" Said Vert with an oddly serious face, almost as if Kenji had said something offensive "And not just any MMO either, it's "four goddess online 2"! The latest top selling MMO in all of Leanbox! Praised by many famous gamers and reviewers alike for its innovative game mechanics and gameplay, along with its daring combat system and the high capability for rolepla-"

"O-Okay, okay, I get it! It's an MMO, not a game!" He said while placing one palm between him and her as a sign for her to stop "Please, just stop the lecture. I have enough of a mess inside my head already"

"I see...As long as you understand, I suppose it's fine to leave it at that" She replied after a short moment of thought

The young man closed his eyes and sighed with a mixture of relief and exhaustion while sweat dropping. He fortunately managed to avoid a two-hour lecture on MMOs, but somewhow felt this wasn't the end of it.

"Oh, and to answer your question..." She said while lifting him up the bag, which was tightly secured between her arms and under her breasts "I was on my way back from buying necessity goods"

"(Necessity goods?)" Thought the young man while looking at him with a surprised expression "(So she was buying groceries?)"

Kenji was honestly surprised by this, as he imagined Vert to be the type of woman to make that sort of minor errands be Chika's or some random maid's responsability. Yet, she was here, doing the effort by herself. In all truth, it was unexpected, even respectable of her. Maybe Kenji had gotten the wrong idea of her after all.

"I had to wait in line for a few hours..." Said Leanbox's CPU while putting one hand inside the bag and rummaging through it for a moment before pulling out one of said goods "But I managed to get them in time!"

Once out of the bag, Kenji didn't see food or something to drink, but rather a magazine with a drawing of two lean-looking males holding each other in a rather controversial with their faces very, very close to each other's. Almost as if they were about to kiss, which was pretty much exactly what they were about to do.

At that moment he realized, Vert's necessity goods were in fact Yaoi magazines, and a rather large amount of them, considering how stuffed and heavy the paperbag looked.

"(Figures...)" He thought with his eyes closed while sweat dropping

"Hm? Is something the matter?" She asked while tilting her head slightly to the side with an expression of curiosity

"N-No, It's nothing" He replied quickly

Part of Kenji wanted to demand Leanbox's CPU to give him back the feelings of respect he just wasted away with his misunderstanding, but doing so would probably just cause more trouble than it's worth at this point. Either that or be ignored completely.

"Kenji..."

"I swear, it's nothing!" He said, hoping she wouldn't lash out at him or something

"No, it's not what I wanted to speak about..."

"Eh? Then what?"

"Since I've got the chance, I'd just like to apologize for rejecting your request earlier today" She said with an apologetic expression "In all truth I wished to aid you, but our situation right now just won't allow it"

"Don't worry about it, you're not the only one that shot me down" Said Kenji to her with a more calm expression "Besides, you've got your nation to think about, right?"

Leanbox's CPU looked at him for a moment with slight surprise before smiling.

"Yeah, I suppose you're right"

Not only in appearance, but also his personality seemed to have changed as well. It was merely a slight change and maybe just him trying to make excuses to convince himself, but Kenji was able to think more carefully about others instead of only about himself. Sure, he was still prone to overthinking and taking things too seriously, but he seemed to have matured at least a bit. Perhaps his time in the Ultradimension, or something that happened in it, was the reason behind his change of perspective.

"(Besides, I'm still not sure if it's okay to go back...)" Thought the young man while his gaze diverted forward, his mind concerned once again about something he tried not to think about

"Kenji? Is something that matter?"

"N-No! It's nothing" He said while quickly snapping out of his thoughts and looking at her with a weak smile "I just spaced out for a moment, that's all!"

Leanbox's CPU looked at him with slight concern for a moment. It seemed as though something was indeed bothering Kenji, but he tried not to say it. Although his pensive expression, similar to that she had seen before during the meeting with the other CPUs, didn't do much of a good job at hiding it.

"Kenji, there's something that has been bothering me about the meeting we held earlier today"

"What?"

"Do you...Really want to go back at all?"

At that moment, both of them stopped dead on their tracks. Kenji looked at Vert with a baffled expression, incapable of answering to her. This, of course, was something she used to dwelve deeper into the matter and explain the reasoning for her rather sudden question,

"When Histoire said you could go back to your dimension, Neptune and Nepgear were brimming with cheerfulness, yet you didn't show the slightest sign of such happyness. In fact, you seemed worried more than anything else" Explained Leanbox's CPU "And even when we all refused, you were the only one that remained silent while everyone else around you desperately tried to convince us to co-operate. Such a tame attitude is unlike you at all"

Kenji didn't talk back nor reply to her words. In fact, there was no way for him to argue against that, mostly because she was right and he knew it. All he could do was lower his gaze.

Deep down, he didn't want to go back. He liked the Hyperdimension, he liked the life he made for himself here. The idea of having to give it all up to go back to that color-less and dull world was something he just couldn't bring himself to accept. Yet, something within him was urging him to return.

"(So there is something he's not telling us, after all...)" Thought Vert while looking at him

As someone who usually had to deal both with all sorts of political figures and trolls alike, Leanbox's CPU had developed a natural talent for seeing through people's facades and tell if they were lying or being honest. Right now, said talent was almost screaming at her that Kenji was hiding something from her and the other CPUs, something that he refused to talk about. Why, she couldn't tell. But the fact he was hiding something was definitive.

"Kenji, I don't know what you're hiding from us, and it's none of my business to know so, but you'll never get Noire and Blanc's help this way"

The young man, surprised by her words, raised his gaze to look at her. She was looking straight at him in the eye with a stern expession that showed she wasn't joking around this time.

"We want to help you, we really do, but you need to tell us what you truly want. Or do you expect to us to follow you blindly when you can't even give us a straight answer?"

"No...I just..."

Vert looked at him as he struggled to answer her question, and realize she wouldn't be getting an answer out of him.

In all honesty, she wasn't truly angry at him, but rather at the fact he went and let Histoire go though the trouble of lowering her head one more time for his sake, along with letting both Neptune and Nepgear try so hard to convince them, when all he had was such a half-assed determination. It was incerdibly irritating how Kenji, who always showed such a strong determination and straightforward way to do things, would be so hesitant and beat around the bush like this.

"It seems asking will do no good..." She said with her eyes closed and her head slightly lowered before turning around "I can walk the rest of the way by myself...Now then..."

Once Leanbox's CPU said the words the needed to tell him, she walked away and left the young man to think by himself. On the outside she seemed irritated, but deep down she felt like her words may have been a bit too harsh on him. Nonetheless, she also felt this may very well be the only way to snap him out of that indecisivness he had right now.

"Vert!"

Hearing her name being called out rather loudly made Vert turn around to look at Kenji one more time. This time, she noticed he wasn't looking down or away, but rather straight at her in the eye. His tone did sound less hesitant as well.

"Yes?"

The young man remained silent for a moment, but quickly enough broke it and spoke again.

"You're right..."

Leanbox's CPU's eyes widened in surprise. She expected many things, but not for him to admit she was right, at least not so easily, considering how much of a stubborn person he usually was.

"I'm not sure what to do...I don't even know what to do right now..." He said while lowering his gaze once more "Or rather, I'm not sure if it's really okay for me to go back, or even to stay here..."

"Kenji..."

This time, Kenji's expression wasn't merely hesitant, it was an expression that showed a mixture of shame and dissapointed. He was ashamed of his inability to make a decision with the ease, speed and confidence he usually had and dissapointed in how difficult it was for him to even come up with a way to talk back against Vert's assumptions. He knew she was right, every word that came out of her mouth was right, and there was no way for him to prove her wrong or even argue against it and he knew it. One thing was for certain, though. The irritation Vert felt was still there, but Kenji's confession helped her make it subside slightly.

Instead of leaving like she originally intended, Leanbox's CPU went with the young man to a nearby park, where they sat on a bench to talk.

"Hey, Kenji...Do you mind if I ask you something?" She asked while sitting next to him

"Yeah, go ahead"

"Earlier you said that you weren't sure if it was really okay for you to go back, or to even stay...Just what did you mean by that?"

"well...the thing is..."

The young man went ahead and told Leanbox's CPU what she wished to know. He skipped over a few things, such as his look-alike and his dream, but made sure to tell her about everything else as best as he could.

"I see...So you've been recalling memories of your life back when you were still human? And now you've got a chance to go back, but going may mean you'll never be able to come back...Is this correct?"

"Yeah...But I'm still not sure if going back is okay"

"And why do you say that? Just what is on your dimension that makes you so hesitant"

"Probably my mother..."

"Your mother?"

"...I didn't tell this to Neptune and the others, but I didn't exactly have the best relationship with her back then. In fact, she pretty much kicked me out before I came here"

Vert didn't say anything this time, she simply looked at Kenji in silence for a moment as he looked down at the floor. At the beginning she had a hard time understanding, but now she was able to understand a little better why he was having such a hard time making a clear decision. His vague memories, the fear of never seeing this world again, the feelings he had towards Neptune, and the relationship with his mother, all of those thoughts and emotions mixing into his head like a blender, anyone would be confused in his place.

"Hey, Kenji...There's something more I want to ask you..."

"Sure, what is it?"

"You just said those memories kept resurfacing while you were spending the day with Neptune, right?"

"Yeah"

"Then..."

Kenji felt like the question was an important one due to Vert's tone, but something about it felt odd. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about her sudden pause that bothered him. Out of curiosity he raised his head and turned it to look at her, but saw something he wasn't expecting. Right in front of him, merely inches away, was Vert's face looking straight at him with a smirk and a glitter in her eyes that could more likely be described as a sparkle.

"...You went on a date with Neptune!?"

"Eh?" He replied with widened eyes and slight confusion before answering "Ye-Yeah, I guess you could call it that"

"I knew it! There was something between you two after all!" She said with even more excitement than before while closing her eyes for a moment, as if a fantasy was forming within her mind, before opening her eyes again and looking at him "Hey, what did you do during your date!? Did you go watch a movie!? Did you have dinner together!?"

With every question, Leanbox's CPU leaned closer and closer to the young man, who could only try to move away to regain some distance while sweat dropping.

"No, we just went to an amusement park and to an arcade...Well, we also did go to a beach during nightfall, but-"

"A beach during night!? That's a perfect romantic setting!" Interrupted Vert, clearly too caught up with her excitement to notice she was pretty much almost on top of Kenji "So what happened there!? Did you hold hands!? Did you kiss!? Or could it be...Did you do "it"!?"

"It?"

Kenji didn't quite understand the meaning behind the word at first, but just looking at the blush on her face soon made him realize what she meant. This, in turn, caused him to blush bright red.

"Wait, you can't mean-!"

"That's right!" She said with a smirk before closing her eyes and picturing the scenario inside her head using her imagination "A man and a woman, walking alongside the shoreline of a beach while holding hands...Until they finally decide to lay down on the sand, eyes locked on each other, their bodies locked in an embrace...Then their lips get closer and connect in a loving kiss as the man's hand sneaks his way under the girl's blouse, reaching for her soft, warm chest before they finally decided to remove their clothes and-!"

With each passing word, Vert seemed to get more and more lost into her own fantasy, and this could be easily noticed by her perverted expression and the strong nosbleed. It was probably better to stop her before she went too deep and became unable to be pulled out of said fantasy, which at this point could be called a delusion.

"Ho-Hold on, hold on! You're getting the wrong idea! We didn't go that far!" He said quickly while putting both hands in front of him while in a slight panic

"Eh? You didn't?"

"No, we didn't!" He replied before diverting his gaze away with a blush "I mean, we kind of almost kissed for a moment, but-"

"Then you did!?"

"Like I said, you're getting the wrong idea!" Said Kenji while quickly looking at her again in a panic "We almost kissed, but Histoire suddenly gave me a call so we didn't!"

"Wait! What's with that development!?" Asked Vert with a mixture of irritation and dissapointment "The first kiss is a very important part of every relationship! How could you let it be interrupted like that!?"

"It just got awkward after she called, okay!? I couldn't help it!"

"Then, you're saying you didn't want to?"

"I would be lying if I said I did want to, but..."

"Oh, my..." Said Leanbox's CPU with a pervy smirk "You may act all serious, but you're actually quite pervy, aren't you?"

"I-I was talking about kissing, kissing! Not that!" He replied with his eyes closed and an even stronger blush "I mean, I can't deny I'd like that too but-Wait, what are you even making me say now!?"

"Hmhmhm, I didn't do anything at all..." She replied with a playful tone and smirk, along with a slightly muffed laugh "It was all your pervy little mind's doing"

"Like you're one to talk here!" He snarled with an irritated tone "Or rather, why are you so interested in this!? Aren't you into Yaoi and Yuri!?"

"Having a diverse array of tastes is the mark of a mature and elegant woman!" Said Vert with a smirk and look in her eyes, both of them brimming with a mixture of pride and confidence "Besides, I've never said I wasn't interested in straight couplings as well. I'm merely not interested in engaging into such a relationship myself...For now, at least"

Kenji looked at her in silence before lowering his head and sighing in resignation. As ridiculous or odd of an answer as it may have felt on the first half, the second half actually made a lot of sense. That wasn't exactly what bothered him about this whole mess, though.

"You know, I was really trying to have a serious conversation here..." He said while closing his eyes and lowering his head

"Oh, I'm sorry about that! I just couldn't help myself!" Replied Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile, finally recalling the subject at hand and realizing how she just tossed it out the window "But coming back to the earlier subject, I think that's exactly the problem"

"Eh?"

After hearing her retake the subject, Kenji opened his eyes and raised his head to look at Vert.

"The problem isn't the problem itself, but rather your way of approaching this problem"

"What do you mean?"

"You see, Kenji. The way you handle things is usually through straightforward and rather simple solutions, mixed with listening mostly to your instincts, rather than with complex and predetermined planning like some of us do sometimes. With that said, though, you've proven to have good wits as well" She explained while straightening up, allowing Kenji as well to sit more comfortably and without the "personal space" issues he had up to now "But most of the time you manage to mantain this balance between thought and emotion because both of them are aimed at one particular goal, which is usually related to winning a battle in one way or the other"

As he listened to the explanation given by Leanbox's CPU, the young man began to recall some of the fights he had so far.

Be it by creating a new skill, coming up with a new way to use said skills or even poise through the attacks, the young man always used a mixture of guts and wits to push his way through some of his hardest fights and come out on top against enemies very few people besides the CPUs would dare to face in battle, sometimes even pushing and surpassing the very limits of his body to do so. Many could describe his actions as stubborn, foolish, reckless, and even crazy, and they certainly got him very close to the grasp of the grim reaper's cold bone fingers, but it was thanks to these risks that he was able to survive at all up until now.

"Right now, things are the complete opposite..." She continued on, her eyes still focused on Kenji, but much calmer than before "Unlike all the other times before, there is no simple goal such as "I'll defeat this enemy" or "I'l save this person". Instead, you are faced with a choice that, while seemingly simple, actually a contains quite a complex issue...And this issue is causing your emotions to become divided"

"Divided?"

In order to help the confused young man understand more easily, Vert raised both index fingers up to face-level to serve as reference.

"On one side, you want to stay here with Neptune and with us. Meanwhile on the other, you wish to go back to your dimension where your mother is...This decison is already quite a hard one to take because you wish to see your mother, probably even apologize to her, but you're worried about her rejecting you, causing your decision to turn into a terrible mistake, and your feelings of affections towards all the people you met in this world, especially Neptune, make you wish to stay here as well" Explained Vert while moving each index finger slightly as a sign of which one refered to each side "...Because these multiple emotions are constantly coliding against each other, you're in a state of stagnant hesitation, unable to choose. And your wits, which are usually in synch with your state of mind and were forged for battle situations, are of nearly no use right now"

"Then...What should I do?"

Kenji seemed like he managed to understand Vert's explanation, which was a good thing as it meant both of them were on even ground right now. Yet, it didn't exactly solve the main problem at hand. Nonetheless, it was something of a step forward.

"That's not something for me to tell you, Kenji...And I honestly don't know the answer either..."

"Oh...I see..."

Once more, Leanbox's CPU looked at the young man in a short moment of silence before a smile formed on her face.

"But there is something I know for certain..."

"What?"

"That no matter what you choose, you won't face that decision alone"

The young man's expression changed from one of curiosity to surprise. It was partly because her claim confused him slightly at first, but also because he didn't even imagine she would say that.

"If you wish to stay here, I'm sure everyone will be happy about it, and even if you decide to go back, we'll respect your decision. It's true that you're the one that has to make this decision, but that doesn't mean we can't be at your side when the time comes"

"I see..." Replied Kenji before giving place to a silent pause and then looking at Vert, this time with a more uplifted expression "I think you're right"

"Besides...I'm sure your mother would be happy to see you. In fact, I'm sure she misses you..."

"How do you know?"

"Just call it a woman's intuition" She said with a confident smile and her eyes closed

Kenji looked at her for a moment or two befoe making a smirk as well.

"(A woman's intuition, huh?)" He thought before speaking out loud "If that's what you say, then I guess I'll just have to believe in you"

The two stayed at the park for a few moments, having a short talk before finally leaving. Kenji made sure to walk Vert back to her basilicom before leaving. She did offer him to spend the night in Leanbox and then go back to Planeptune in the morning, but the young man declined, as he didn't want to worry Histoire and the Planeptune sisters any further than he already did.

As he flew over the ocean between Leanbox and the mainland, Kenji's mind wandered once more, but this time, things seemed somewhat clearer to him. Perhaps it was thanks to Vert helping him realize the true problem, the true reason behind his hesitation. One way or the other, he knew he would be able to make a proper decision this time. This process of thought was suddenly cut short as his attention was taken away by a sudden light shinning over him, illuminating the oceans and causing his reflection to appear on their surface, along with a large white circle.

The young man stopped in mid-air and hovered on the skies, looking down at his reflection on the calm waters for a moment before focusing on the white circle, which he recognized as the moon. He then raised his head and saw it, standing tall and proud on the dark skies as it always did, much bigger than any of the smaller stars surrounding it and bringing more light than any of them. A light in the dark, one that had always been there since the very beginning, one that Kenji always looked out for whenever he looked at the skies, whatever the reason for it may be. The minutes went by as he stared at it in a mixture of wonder and calm before reaching out into his pocket and pulling out his mobile device to make a call.

"Hello?" Asked Histoire as her image appeared on the small screen, her expression changing into one of surprise after seeing the young man "Kenji?"

"Hello, Histoire" He replied calmly "Sorry for calling you this late"

"No, do not worry about. I was thinking about giving you a call myself" She replied with a small smile, her expression showing she was glad to receive a call from him but soon changing into one of curiosity due to that very reason "With that said, it is quite unusual for you to be the one calling...Did something happen?"

"Not really, I just wanted to know if I could talk with you once I'm back..." He said with a calm tone and a determined look in his eyes "I'm ready to make my decision..."

*Scene*

The three CPUs appeared on the screens, looking at the tome after being called again just two days after the first time. Some refused at first, but nonetheless reluctantly agreed, as the tome's persistence convinced them that it would be worth their time.

"Everyone, thank you for gathering so quickly"

"This better be important..." Said Noire, notably irritated about this second calling

Among them, Lastation's CPU was the one who felt the most displeased about this sudden summon. The other two weren't exaclty happy about it either, but it didn't show as stronlgy on their faces and tones as it did with her. Although she couldn't be blamed, really. Anyone would be in a less than friendly mood when having to fix a whole nation and having to constantly have your time taken by someone else, especially someone as dedicated to her nation as her.

"Do you mind if we get this over with quickly? I was in the middle of reading a new book..." Added Blanc

"Now, now, you two..." Said Vert while looking at her fellow CPUs "The sooner we let him talk, the sooner we can return to handling our own business"

Lowee's CPU didn't agree nor disagree while Lastation's CPU simply scoffed and closed her eyes, once again showing her displeasure but nonetheless reluctantly accepting to listen.

Now that he knew they would listen, Kenji took a step forward, making all of them look at him.

"Everyone, I know this is kind of sudden, but I want to ask the three of you for a favor..."

"I thought we cleared this out the other day" Interrupted Noire, getting the feeling she knew what he was about to ask "We already told you, there's no way we can lend you our shares"

"I know...That's not what I wanted to ask you"

"Then what?"

"I don't want you to give me your shares, I want you to help me gather new shares"

"Gather new shares?" Asked Blanc, who spoke out loud the question that probably coursed through the trio's minds at the moment "What do you mean by that?"

"Histoire needs a large amount of shares to open up the portal and keep it going, but none of the nations have nearly enough for it, right?" He asked while looking at each of them "So the only way to do this is by gathering the shares...Doing it by myself would take way too long, so I wanted to ask you for your help"

A moment of silence went by as the trio thought about what Kenji just said before Lastation's CPU finally broke the silence.

"And how exactly does that help us?" She asked, the reluctance replaced by a curiosity notable in her eyes, which were fully focused on Kenji now "If we all gather enough shares, then have Histoire use all of them to send you to your dimension, then that just means we'd end up exactly where we began"

"You don't need to lend us all of your shares, a fraction or percentage should be enough" Interrupted the tome

Everyone's gaze diverted Planeptune's oracle, who floated a few steps forward to hover alongside the young man while looking at he CPUs.

"Although everyone will be combining efforts to gather shares, each nation will only need to lend a fraction of what they gained and keep the rest for themselves" Explained the oracle "Planeptune will make sure to gather the remaining shares needed for the process. I myself will try to calculate in a way that will use as few resources as possible"

"And exactly how many shares do we need to lend you?"

"I haven't calculated the exact amount yet, but if I used the last portal we made as basis, perhaps around 45%-no, even as little as 25% would provide more than enough for one person to make a one-way travel safely"

"Hm...If you put it like that, I can see the sense behind it" Said Vert, her expression showing pensive thought towards the oracle's explanation

"With that said, though, I don't see the need for us here" Said Blanc, who up until now remained silent "If the shares you need aren't that many, then why bother asking for our help?"

While quietly listening to the tome's explanation, a sudden thought ran through her head.

Back when they first had to make a portal, the amount of shares everyone had to lend was overwhelming. Yet they agreed to it due to the dire situation taking place at the moment. The amounts requested by the tome this time were still quite large, but still less, much less than before. Gathering those amounts should be well within Keni's capabilities, which was what gave birth to her question in the first place.

"Don't you remember what happened the first time I gathered shares in bulk without telling any of you?"

"Now that you mention it, I didn't think about that..." Said Noire while sweat dropping

It happened some time ago, so it wouldn't be easy to retain within mind for most people, but it didn't take much tought for the CPUs to recall the moment in time Kenji was referring to. It was, after all, the first time the CPUs met him, although it wasn't exactly a very pleasant memory.

Back when he first arrived in the Hyperdimension, Kenji began to build his skills as a fighter by making a living through slaying monsters for quests. Unfortunately, his constant commitment to quests ended up in him unkowingly gathering shares for Planeptune, or rather, for Neptune. This didn't sit right with the other CPUs at all, who stormed into Planeptune to demand an answer, an act which resulted in them being introduced to him in what was possibly the worst way possible. And the rest, of course, is history.

"Besides...I need to do this as fast as possible..." Said the young, now with a more stern tone than before

"Why?" Asked Blanc who, along with the other two CPUs, snapped out of the short reminiscence and focused once again on him "You didn't seem very intent on finding a way to return to your dimension before...What's so different now?"

"Now that you mention it, he didn't mention that to us either" Said Nepgear, who up until now quietly remained on the side along with Neptune

"I...Have someone I need to see..." He said while lowering his gaze, a notable pensive weight on his expression

"Someone?"

A moment of silence went by as the CPUs looked at the young man, who seemed to dwelve deep within thought for a minute or two before speaking.

"I didn't tell anyone about this before, nor did I really bother thinking about it at first, but there's someone I left behind when coming to this world..." He said with his gaze lowered "I didn't get along very well with that person, but she always looked after me the best she could. Even though I owed her so much, I went and left without any thought...I pretty much abandoned her..."

As they looked at him, the CPUs could see the silent regret lingering within his eyes, despite the steady calm of his tone or the lack of eye contact.

"I even began to forget about it after some time, but lately I've been thinking about her non-stop..." Said the young man before raising his head to look at the trio, this time with determination mixed into the look in his eyes "That's why I have to go back as soon as possible...I have to make sure she's okay"

In the end, after finally making up his mind, Kenji managed to understand it. It wasn't about which world was better, or about never being able to see one in exchange of returning to the other. It was about his mother.

In exchange of leaving that world behind, attaining the power of HDD and forming himself a new life, he abandoned the woman that looked after him ever since he was born without a second thought. Sure, his life was rather bleak over there, but that cynical attitude he used to have was to blame more than anything else.

The reason why he wished to make haste and be back as soon as possible was more than just regret, though. He knew from the Ultradimension that time flowed in different ways on each dimension. It was possible that time on his world flowed at a much faster rate than in the Hyperdimension, meaning that his mother could very well be already hitting the last few years of her lifespan. That is, if she was still alive. The CPUs didn't figure out that exact thought, but they certainly were able to imagine something among those lines was wandering his mind at the moment after hearing his words.

"So please...!" He said while suddenly lowering his head to them in a bow "Please, help me go back!"

The trio, along with the tome and Planeptune's CPU candidate, looked at the young man with bewilderment. The CPUs from the other nations were taken quite by surprise when seeing the stubborn and proud man who managed to overpower all three of them lowering his head in such a way, but Nepgear and Histoire weren't as shocked, since it wasn't exactly the first time they saw him doing such a thing. Even now, the oracle could recall that moment when he lowered his head to her in order to be allowed to check on Neptune.

Now, he was doing it once again, and once again it was for someone else's sake, rather than for his own benefit.

Silence fell over the room as everyone looked at him for what felt like an eternity before the silence was finally broken by one of the CPUs.

"Well, I think that's more than enough for me..." Said Vert with a lax tone and a calm smirk "I say we give it a try"

Everyone's gaze quickly diverted towards Leanbox's CPU at that moment.

"Hey, don't go deciding things without asking us!" Snarled Lastation's CPU while

"I mean, Kenji and Histoire seem to have a solid plan this time. And we do owe him a favor lending us a hand against the Deity of sin and Tari's CPU, after all"

"Agreed. Being able to repay debts is important, and their plan does sound convincing enough" Said Blanc while nodding in agreement with Leanbox's CPU "Besides, we need to gather shares for our nations anyway. It'd be like killing two birds with one shot"

Noire alternated between looking at Blanc and Vert for a moment while sweat dropping.

"Urgh...I didn't think I'd get outnumbered this fast" She said with a slightly concerned tone

With both Lowee and Leanbox's CPU on the same page as the oracle and the young man, she was outnumbered two to one, and it was common knowledge that this usually meant iminent defeat. She could try and make an argument against it, but it didn't seem like she would come up with something convincing enough, at least not within such a short amount of time. There was the option to merely refuse by herself and not help, but the worry about rumors of her having an uncoperative nature spreading throughout the nations and affecting the faith of Lastation's people in her kept beating at the back of her mind as if haunting her. Of course, this was merely her mind exagerating and overreacting imaginary scenarios that would probably never happen in the first place. With that said, though, it did help in making her decision much faster.

"Oh, fine! I get it already, I'll help too!" She said with a mixture of irritation and resignation in her tone and expression while her eyes were closed

"Then, it's decided!" Said Vert with a smile while diverting her attention towards the young man "We'll lend you our help in gathering as many shares as possible"

"With that said, we're not going to do all the work here" Added Noire with her stare focused now on Kenji and pointing her inxed finger at him with the other hand on her hip "Listen, you better work just as hard as everyone else! And if you slack off for even one moment, I'm not giving you a single share! Are we clear!?"

"Yes! I understand!"

Despite the notable gratitude and eagerness in Kenji's tone and expession, Noire simply crossed her arms and looked away, seemingly annoyed with the current situation. Deep down, though, she was probably glad to know he felt so happy about her help, but again, not one soul would hear the honest words willingly coming out of her mouth.

"Now then, since we're done here, I'll go ahead and take my leave" Said Leanbox's CPU with a cheerful tone while pressing the tips of he fingers together

"Me too. I'd like to go back to my reading as soon as possible"

Both Lowee and Leanbox's CPU disconnected their calls, their images dissapearing from the screens and being replaced instead by static due to the lack of signal. Lastation's CPU, on the other hand, didn't leave inmediately. Instead, she silently looked at someone in the room, but not the young man. Her gaze was more focused on Neptune.

The usually cheerful and loud goddess didn't say a thing during the whole meeting like last time. In fact, she didn't even seem to be paying attention at all. All she did was stand next to Nepgear with an expression that was surprisingly similar to the one Kenji usually had, along with the shadows made by her bangs hiding her eyes from view and making it difficult to tell what they were expressing right now. This quiet and unusual behavior from her part was nothing short of unprecedent, and it caught Noire's attention right away.

After spending another moment trying to figure out the reason behind this behavior, Lastation's CPU decided not to make any mention of it and instead diverted her gaze towards Kenji, speaking with a more calm, yet stern tone.

"I'll be taking my leave too. I have a lot of work left to do" She said with one hand on her hip before the signal disconnected

With the three CPUs now gone, a short silence took place before a sudden cheer spread thoughout everyone.

"Yes! We did it!" Said Nepgear with a smile and an uplifted tone

"Indeed we did" Replied Histoire with a smile that showed the same cheer as the CPU candidate "With everyone's help, I'm certain gathering the required amount of shares will take far less time than previously anticipated"

"(Thank you, Vert)" Thought the young man while looking at one of the monitors with a smirk

While it was true the CPUs agreed mostly thanks to how he expressed his request personally this time around, most of the credit for this win was due to Vert. Maybe it was because of the chat they had the other day, or merely because he managed to convince her with his request, but it was a certain fact that the other two CPUs probably would've just refused again if she hadn't gone ahead and taken the first step to give him some leverage.

"Now we can all help Kenji go back home, just like you said, Big sister!" Said the CPU candidate while turning her head to look at Neptune

Nepgear expected, or at least imagined, she would see her elder sister's confident smirk or at least hear her saying something, but she received the complete opposite. Planeptune's CPU didn't say a single word, nor even turn her head.

"...Neptune?"

When hearing Planeptune's CPU candidate calling her elder sister's name with a worried tone, both Histoire and Kenji turned around to look at the sisters. Just as he caught a glimpse of her on the edge of his vision, Neptune suddenly placed both hands on her hips and made a cheerful smile while raising her head, revealing her eyes, which didn't show anything other than her usual perkyness.

"See!? I told you things would work out in the end!" She said with a confident tone

"Eh?"

"Nepgear? What's wrong?" Asked Histoire with a confused expression

"It's big sister...Just now she looked kind of-" Said Nepgear before suddenly cutting off as Neptune suddenly grabbed her hand and began pulling on it, leading her outside the room "Bi-Big sister!?"

"Come on, Nepgear! Let's go get those shares!"

"Eh!? But-!"

"No buts! Right now's the time for share gathering!" Interrupted the perky CPU while pulling even more than before "Come on, Nep jr! Time's a buzzer! We gotta move it!"

"Wa-Wait!"

The CPU candidate struggled to say something to stop her, but her older sister didn't slow down her pace and quickly pulled her out of the room and out of sight. Now with only the tome and the young man remaning, all they could do was look at the doorway with bewildered expression.

"Erm...What was that just now?" Asked Kenji with a mixture of curiosity and confusion

"I wouldn't know how to answer to that, in all honesty..." She replied with just as much confusion in her tone as his before turning to look at him and speak with her more usual tone "A-Anyway, Neptune does have a point. The faster we begin gathering shares, the faster we can prepare the portal"

"In that case, I'll go do a few quests. Maybe try to catch up with them while I'm at it too"

"That would be recomendable. But either way, make sure to give it your all!"

"Understood! I'll be on my way now!"

After confirming the plans for today, the young man left the oracle by herself and headed off towards Planeptune's guild. Oddly enough, he couldn't find Neptune nor Nepgear anywhere around the place, but it was most likely that they simply went to do a few quests of their own already, or at least that was what he figured out. Part of him couldn't help but feel oddly concerned about what the CPU candidate tried to say before being taken away by Neptune, but he tried not too put too much thought into it. He had already wasted enough time overthinking things, and right now he had a duty of his own to fulfill.

Through a constant process of doing the same missions over and over again, the young man did the quests he knew from Histoire's database would be prone to giving them more shares. He kept doing and redoing and redoing them over and over again until the end of the day. And he did just the same thing during the following day, and the one after it. This constant process of grinding was exhausting mostly due to it's monothone nature and significant lack of challenge, as most of said missions were about killing weak or mediocre monsters in bulk rather than powerful ones, but nonetheless he pushed on and kept the pace going. During these days he couldn't help but notice how the Planeptune sisters would go about, doing quests on their own rather than tagging along with him, and even getting on the move before he himself had a chance to go with them during the mornings. This did make him wonder if there was something about all of this that bothered them, as it was unnatural for Neptune to be so lenient with anything other than stuffing her mouth full of pudding or playing games from morning to dawn unless the whole world was facing an apocalipsis. Yet, she always went out everyday to do quests alongside Nepgear, who would confirm her efforts to the oracle, and return just in time to have dinner with everyone while being just as cheerful and lively as always.

The days passed surpsingly fast, despite the repetitive nature of their duty. Perhaps because due to his mind being focused on this and losing notion of time. From the moment he wakes up until the time he returns to Planeptune's tower and sleeps. Kenji kept doing this process tirelessly with the end goal as the main focus on his mind, not letting even a single mintue go to waste.

"(Urgh...so tired...)" He thought while resting his head on the counter

"Hey Sonny, you okay there?" Asked the shop owner while placing a pork bowl on the counter, right in front of Kenji's head "You look a bit exhausted toady"

"Yeah...I guess you could say that" Replied the young man while slowling raising his head and getting a hold of the pork bowl

His will was just as strong as the moment he made his request, but it was a given exhaustion would catch up to him after two weeks.

Tomorrow Histoire would call the CPUs and ask them how was their own gathering process going, and if they had gathered enough, then she would prepare everything to open a portal the day after it. This pretty much meant that tonight and tomorrow would probably be the last two days he had left in this dimension, and if this was the case, then he would make sure to at least get a bite of the pork bowl he had come to love so much one last time, no matter how heavy or tired his body felt at the moment.

Fortunately, it didn't take much for the tempting smell of pork to snap some stamina back into him. And it took even less for life to spring right back into him as the sweet and greasy taste made its way into his mouth, dancing on his tongue as he bit down and ate without any restraints. Even with his calm pace, the bowl was cleaned up within minutes.

"Ahhhh...that's better..." He said with a smirk after letting out a relieved sigh "Give me another one, old man"

"Sure thing, sonny!"

The shop owner quickly prepared another serving and gave it to him. As he looked at the bowl in his hands, Kenji made a somewhat sad smile.

"Man, I'm sure gonna miss eating these when I get back home"

"Home?" Asked the middle-agged man, who felt curios about the words the young man was telling to himself and about his expression.

"Oh, right. I didn't tell you..." He replied while raising his head to look at him "You see...The things is...I'm going back to my...continent in a few days"

Once again, the young man was forced to twist the words around a bit, but more because it would be easier to explain that way rather than explain the whole concept of other dimensions to him.

"Ah, so you're all the way from deep overseas?" Said the shop owner "That's a surprise. I kinda figured you were not a local from how little ya knew about lady Purple Heart, but I didn't think ya were from that far away"

"You have no idea..."

"Hm?"

"No, nothing." He replied quickly with a weak smile before going back to his earlier expression "But you know...I may not be able to come back to Gamindustry once I leave..."

"Why?"

"Well, the first time I made it here was partly by accident...And there's probably no way back here..."

"But it's not impossible, right?"

"Eh?"

"You said it was partly by accident, but not impossible, didn't you?"

"Ye-yeah, but..."

"Sonny, I don't know where you're going or why, but It's probably important if you have to travel that far" Said the shop owner while looking at the young man "Even so, you'll probably find your way back here, even if it feels impossible right now"

"How do you know?"

"Simple..." He replied with a smirk "There's someone here you'll want to see again, right?"

Kenji's eyes widened after hearing the middle-aged man's words. An epiphany had struck him square in the head.

Just as he wished to go back to check on his mother, he would eventually wish to return to the Hyperdimension to See Neptune and everyone else. Even if it felt impossible right now, there would indeed be a way to come back.

"Yeah, you're right..." Said Kenji with a more relaxed smirk before rising his head to look at the middle-aged man with a more cheerful expression "Alright! I decided!

"Decided?"

"It's gonna be a while until I'm back, so tonight I'm eating pork till I drop!"

"I see..." Replied the middle-aged man as he made a relieved smile "Leave it to me! A herd's worth of pork, coming right up!"

Although eating inmense quantities of pork sounded rather off-topic and a bit senseless on the outside, the shop owner decided to accept this challenge and make all the pork the young man could take. It would probably be unhealty to eat so much, but he could already survive the stomach ache once, so he could definitely do it again.

After a few hours and dozens of bowls, Kenji said goodbye to the shop owner and went home to sleep. Just as it was imagined, he did have a rather unpleasant pain in his stomach after waking up the next day, but tried not to focus on it and instead kept his attention on the meeting with the CPUs.

"So? Have we gathered enough?" Asked Vert while looking at the oracle

"Please, allow me a moment..."

Histoire analized and calculated the amount of shares gathered by Kenji and the Planeptune sisters along with those lent by Vert, Blanc and Noire. It took quite a few moments of silence with the sounds of processing computers as the only thing that could be heard, but finally after 3 minutes, the oracle looked at everyone with a smile and answered.

"I have confirmed it. We have obtained a plentiful amount of share energy. More than enough for our objective"

"Really!?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at the tome

"Well, that was rather easy to achieve" Said Vert with a pleased smile

"Of course it was. Everyone was working together, after all" Replied Noire with her eyes closed and one hand on her hip before making a rather smug smirk, showing a mixture of pride and arrogance "Well, I'm pretty sure I was the one to gather the most shares, though"

"No...It was me. I'm sure of it..."

"Now, now, you two. Arguing about such a thing is meaningless..." Said Vert, still with her perky smile from before "Besides, it's merely a given I was the one that gathered the largest amount of shares"

"Yeah, right! Keep dreaming!" Snarled Noire "There's no way either of you could do better than ME!"

"Erm...everyone?" Said the tome in an attempt to try and stop the incoming arguments

"I told you two already, I'm the one that gathered the most shares!" Said Blanc, sounding more irritated this time

"And I'm telling you, I gathered more than both of you! Go ahead and make the count if you don't believe me!"

"Why, you little-!"

Before anyone could come to realize, the three CPUs were now arguing about who managed to do better at this task. Those who bore witness to it had an odd feeling of confusion, as they hardly could understand the meaning behind making such an argument out of something like this.

"Do they always have to turn everything into a competition?" Asked Kenji while looking at them and sweat dropping

"Well, It can't be helped...Competing against each other is somewhat of a natural instinct for CPUs" Replied Histoire while sweat dropping with a weak smile "Besides, their pride as CPUs is strong, despite their usually lax behavior"

It took nearly fifteen to twenty minutes of constant arguing before they finally stopped, allowing the tome to retake the current conversation at hand. The trio finally allowing the tome to regain the tome, although the displeasure of the earlier discussion was easy to notice.

"Anyway, as I was saying before...We now have enough shares, so I shall begin to get everything ready" She said as everyone looked at her once more "There's still a few calculations left, but we should be ready tomorrow afternoon"

"I see..." Replied Leanbox's CPU with a smile "In that case, we'll make sure to go by tomorrow to say goodbye"

Both Noire and Blanc agreed with Vert's decision before discussing a few minor details and then finally disconnecting, returning to their own business and leaving the group on Planeptune to handle their own business.

"So tomorrow's the day, huh?" Said Kenji to break the silence left behind afterwards

"Yes, indeed it is..." Replied the tome wih a mixture of wearyness and relief in her tone while turning around to look at the young man "And this was possible thanks to everyone's help...So make sure to thank them properly when they visit tomorrow"

"Of course!" He replied with a smile and a cheerful tone while nodding

"Ain't that good, Kenny!?" Said Neptune while getting closer to him and putting both hands on her hips while smiling "You can go home now!"

The young man turned around and looked at Planeptune's CPU. She had her usually cheerful smile, although something felt off about her for some reason. He wasn't able to figure out what exactly, but he felt like there was something out of place with her.

"Yeah! You're right" He said while looking at her with a smile

"Hey, how about we go play some games together?"

"Games?"

"Yup!" She replied while nodding "I mean, you're leaving tomorrow, right!? May as well get one last gaming session while we can!"

"I guess you've got a point..."

Sitting down and playing videogames wasn't exactly what Kenji had in mind for today, but he agreed nonetheless. After all the hard work they did, sitting down and relaxing felt like just what he needed. Besides, Neptune always made playing games somewhat more fun for some reason.

With that idea set in mind, the young man went along with her and Nepgear to the main hall. There, he sat down and spent the rest of the afternoon playing games with both Planeptune sisters. Sometimes he would relax on the couch and watch while Nepgear took his place or take turns bringing some snacks every half an hour or so.

By the time night arrived, Compa and IF came by and ate dinner together with everyone. Although it was no different from any other dinner they had any other night, this one felt special. Perhaps because part of Kenji's mind wished to make sure he wouldn't forget it, and because not being able to eat Compa's cooking or sharing a lively dinner with Neptune and the others for a long while gave it a sense of value one could only get rarely, if at all.

Night time was, as the rest of the day so far, surprisingly peaceful or even uneventful. Although he couldn't fall asleep for some reason.

"(Damn it...I can't sleep...)" He thought while rolling around in his bed, dressed in a pair of grey gym pants and a white t-shirt, which were more or less his version of night clothes

No matter how hard he tried, his body didn't seem to want to fall asleep for some reason. Maybe it was due to what would happen tomorrow.

Part of him also worried about this calm, just like the last one, being the opening scene to yet another storm ready to hit at any moment, but this line of thought made him felt like he was simply overthinking things. Even so, this strane unease prowling on the back of his brain was hard to ignore, maybe because the worry was partly seeded in his brain, and partly emerging from his gut, almost as if his instincts were capable of subconsciously perceive something he himself was unaware of yet.

This train of thought probably could've lasted the whole night, but the sound of his room's door suddenly being open snapped him out of it.

"(Hm?)"

The young man turned his head to look at the doorway. It was dark, but he managed to recognize a small figure, and a rather familiar one at that.

"(Neptune?)" He thought with surprise

Seeing Planeptune's CPU was quite unexpected, especially at this late hour, during which she was usually already soundly asleep. One thing would be if she were sneaking around for a midnight pudding snack, but she was making her way into Kenji's room.

As he was about to raise his head and ask her if she needed something, the perky CPU suddenly walked towards his bed and got on it, quietly crawling towards him and laying down behind him.

"(Eh?)" Thought Kenji as he saw this taking place "(Wa-Wait! What's going on now!?)"

For some reason, he couldn't help but feel his heart beating faster all of a sudden. A girl walking into a guy's room in the middle of the night and climbing into his bed? It sounded like something one would see in one of Vert's secret book collections.

"(No, no, no...That's not it...There's no way it could be "it"!)" He thought while sweating from the tension building up within him

Kenji did his best to convince himself such a thing wouldn't happen, but it was quite hard to do so. Although that wasn't even the end of it.

After a moment or two of shuffling noises behind him, the young man suddenly felt a pair of arms grabbing onto his waist as Neptune suddenly pressed her body against his back. She didn't reach far enough to wrap her small arms all the way around his waist, but the sudden embrace was nearly enough to make his heart jump out his mouth.

His heartbeat increased once more, the young man could feel his body tensing up and almost freezing. Unless he did something soon, things would probably spiral out of control. Or at least that's what he thought until suddenly hearing a new sound. It wasn't shuffling or any noise of that sort, but rather a voice.

"I don't wanna..."

"(What?)"

Neptune seemed to be muttering something behind him, but it was hard for him to hear it due to the low tone. Out of curiosity, he tried to focus more carefully to try and see if he could hear it better. This would be a choice he would most likely regret later on.

"I don't wanna...Please don't go, Kenny!"

"(Neptune?)"

Although he couldn't see her right now, Kenji could hear her voice breaking midway through. Not only that, but it didn't take long for him to notice a damp feeling on his back, right around the area where Neptune was pressing her face against him.

"(Is she...?)"

Mixing up the broken voice, the sudden shiver of her body and the damp feeling on his back, one could come to a clear conclusion. But the one thing that made it clear to him was without a doubt the sound of sobbing. At that moment it became clear to him. Neptune was crying. The perky and cheerful girl who always smiled without ever missing a chance to do so was holding onto him and crying right now.

Could it be Planeptune's CPU reason to visit him tonight was to try and convince him not to leave? But if that was the case, then why do it in a roundabout way such as this one? That was not like her at all.

Maybe, just maybe. Neptune didn't know he was awake. Instead, she thought he was still asleep, and merely came here to vent out her supressed emotions while he was sleeping, just as he once did with her back then.

Kenji wanted to turn around, he wanted to turn around and wrap his arms around her, or do anything that could cease her crying, but deep down he knew. He knew that the moment he saw Neptune's face, the moment he saw the tears running down her cheeks, he wouldn't be able to withstand it, his will would once again waver. This was something he couldn't allow, as it wouldn't only be like spitting in the face of the CPUs that helped him, it would also be a betrayal to himself, and to his mother, the last family he had left. All he could do was silently stay still, and let Planeptune's CPU ease her burden.

"(I'm sorry...)" He thought while closing his eyes, his hand clenching the pillow tightly as he struggled to remain still


	27. I'm back

**Note from the author: 18/08/2017.**

 **Hey everyone. Hope you're doing okay.**

 **I just wanted to stop by to tell you that just a few days ago, it's been a whole year since Blueflame Heart was published.**

 **Man, this story sure came a long way since then. Honestly, there has been quite a few setbacks and bumps along the way, but I'm really happy after seeing how far I made it. But more than celebrate my achievement, I just wanted to thank all of you for being here. This story wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for you guys.**

 **Also, while I'm at it, I'd like to let you all know I also have a dA and Twitter account where I post drawings I make (Mostly of Kenji, but a few are of other OCs, such as Yuube and Devi, and a few other characters). The links are in my profile, just in case you're interested in seeing my less than efficient drawing skills.**

 **But anyway, thanks again for sticking around and hope you enjoy the read!**

* * *

"Alright, everyone. Now that we're all here, allow me a moment to set up the coordinates" Said the tome while looking at the CPUs and the young man

Everyone nodded in agreement with Histoire, letting her focus on her task while they focused on the matter at hand.

At long last, the day Kenji would return to his own dimension had arrived.

Planeptune's oracle decided to open up the portal on a grassland far away from the town in order to avoid any interruptions or to alarm the citizens. And the CPUs from the other nations, along with the CPU candidates, came all the way from their nations to properly say their goodbyes. IF, Compa and Falcom also made sure to tag along.

A few people weren't able to come by to bid him farewell. Mostly the oracles, because someone had to stay behind and keep an eye over the nations, even if the CPUs were gone for only a short while. Another person that didn't make it was Falcom, because she ended up getting caught up in a shipweck. This partly worried Kenji, who thought about going out to search for her, but Nepgear assured him there was nothing to feel concerned about. Mostly because, apparently, Falcom got caught in shipwrecks all the time, and usually came out of them unscratched, eventually popping back up around Gamindustry with a whole new story to share and a hefty amount of treasure and gear to sell.

It was honestly quite hard for him to tell whetever the adventuress was extremely lucky or downright cursed.

"So I guess the time has come" Said Blanc while aproaching the young man

"Yeah...To be honest, I never thought this day would come, though"

"I think I can see what you mean there..." She replied with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at him once again "But even so, the time you spent here will remain as pleasant memories at the very least"

"That's true, too" He replied with a somewhat pensive smile on his face

"Hey, Kenji..."

The young man turned his head and saw Blanc's younger sisters Rom and Ram.

"Are you okay?" Asked Ram with a slightly concerned tone in her voice

"Eh? Why?"

"I mean...You look really tired..."

"Ah, now that you say it" Added Ram while taking a good look at him "You look like big sister when she stays up all night long"

"Oh, that's what you mean"

Due to the events that took place last night, neither Neptune nor Kenji got much sleep, leading to the eye bags they both had. The two tried to make sure not to let the others notice this fact, as it would only create questions among the others. But of course, some of them were able to notice nonetheless.

"We-well...I was a bit too nervous about today, so I couldn't really catch enough sleep last night" He said while scratching his left cheek with his index finger and making a weak smile

Lowee's twins took a minute or two before feeling convinced by his explanation, but their elder sister didn't seem to buy it so easily. She had the feeling there was something he wasn't telling them, something important. Yet, she decided not to pry about it, as it would probably only cause needless trouble at a moment where it wasn't needed. Fortunately, Vert walked into the scene and diverted the trio's attention towards her by breaking the short-lived silence.

"Now, now, Rom, Ram..." She said while approaching the twins with a smile "Today is quite an important day for Kenji here, so the unease he felt was probably too strong for him to fall asleep easily last night...It can't be helped, really"

Rom and Ram seemed to be slightly more confused by her explanation than by Kenji's, but nonetheless accepted it quicker. Perhaps because they shared a deeper trust in her knowledge, or her honesty, or both. Either way, it did the trick, and that was more than enough.

As Lowee's CPU went along with her younger sisters, who then focused on talking with Lastation's CPU candidate, Leanbox's CPU now focused on the young man.

"Now then, I think congratulations are due"

"About that..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Nothing much, I just wanted to say thank you..."

"Oh...Well, if that's the case, then there is no need for it" She replied with a relieved smile "We all worked together, but you're probably the one that pitched in the most effort, and who convinced all of us to help after all"

"That may be true, but neither Blanc nor Noire would've listened to me if you hand't backed me up back then" Replied Kenji as his eyes looked at Vert for a moment before slightly diverting downwards and then closing as he slightly lowered his head "So that's why, thank you...for everything"

Leanbox's CPU looked at him for a moment with slight surprise before her smile became a mixture of comfort and relief. Looking back at the conversation they had the other night, one could come to think that he was thanking her not only for supporting him in his effort to gain the help of the other CPUs, but also for helping him clear his doubts and gain a clearer view of what he truly wanted.

"No, it was my pleasure" She replied with a pleased tone

"Speak for yourself" Said Noire while approaching the two of them

Both Vert and Kenji turned their heads to look at Lastation's CPU, who approached them while Uni and the twins spoke with Nepgear. Judging by the expressions of the CPU candidates, though, it didn't seem like a very cheerful conversation.

"Noire?"

"Having to gather all those shares, only to give away half of them over to another nation..." She said with her eyes closed "Seriously, it's like some kind of bad joke"

A short moment of silence went by while the young man lowered his gaze once more. No word other than "I'm sorry" came to mind, but saying that at this point would feel like nothing more than just a lax answer.

"Then again, we did owe you a favor" She added while a small smile formed on her face as she opened her eyes to look at him "So I guess this makes us even"

Kenji raised his stare to look at Lastation's CPU. He was slightly confused and surprised, but also relieved to know that, despite everything she said before, Noire was glad to have helped. Then again, part of what convinced her to do so was the worry of looking like the villain due to being the only one not lending a hand, along with her pride to show she's the best the CPU in what the trio ended up turning into some sort of competition.

Honestly, it was rather hard to tell which was the strongest and most prevalent reason, but the young man believed she helped mostly because she wanted to do so, or at least he tried to believe she did.

One way or the other, he would probably never hear the answer to that doubt. At least not from her.

"Yeah, it does" He replied with a more confident tone

"With that said, though..." Said Lastation's CPU as her smirk became a more stern expression "I don't think everyone is feeling the same right now"

"Certainly, there's "that" to consider too..." Added Leanbox's CPU as her expression changed into one of slight concern

Kenji didn't say anything this time, but he knew very well what they were talking about. So clearly that he, along wih both CPUs, diverted their eyes to look at Planeptune's CPU, who was talking with Compa and IF.

Despite her smile, which was probably enough to fool the CPU candidates at most, the CPUs and Kenji could tell she wasn't her usual self. Noire knew something was wrong with her ever since the young man asked them to help, but up until now she could only guess. Vert, on the other hand, had a much clearer idea of the situation, as she spoke directly with Kenji about it before. Or to be more specific, she spoke about the date he had with Planeptune's CPU.

Judging from what he told her, his reactions to it, and the extra information she managed to get from Nepgear, it seemed as though things went more than better during their date. It wouldn't be too hard to imagine he may have already developed feelings for her, although he may not have fully realized this yet. Or perhaps he is aware of it and is merely trying his best to supress his feelings.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though these feelings were not one-sided, considering Neptune was pretty much doing the same thing as him. She was doing quite a good job and would probably have fooled even the CPUs if it weren't for the bags under her eyes which, although hard to see at first, were notable to anyone that looked carefully.

As he saw them, Kenji recalled the events of last night, which were still as clear as crystal within his memory. Even now, he could still hear her sobs echoing within the back of his mind, almost as if she were still clinging to his back, crying her eyes out.

Deep down, he felt like an idiot for not thinking about how Neptune would feel up until now. He was so focused on how he felt that he forgot about her. It was a horrible thing, and something he wished to apologize for a million times over, but doing so would only make things worse at this point. There was no turning back anymore.

Wethever he wanted it or not, this was a regret he'd have to live with from now on.

"Everyone, I apologize for the wait" Said the tome while turning around to look at the group of people, who also turned their heads to look at her "I have finished preparing everything. The portal is ready to be opened"

"(It's time, huh?)" Thought the young man as his eyes thinned

In accordance to the oracle's words, the young man approached her while everyone took this last few minutes as a chance to properly say goodbye.

"Well, It seems the time has arrived" Said Blanc while looking at him "Best of luck with your journey"

"Bye, bye, Kenji"

"See you later!"

"See you later, you three" He replied while looking at the twins and at Lowee's CPU

Afer Lowee's CPU and her younger twin sisters, Lastation's CPU and CPU candidate took the chance to move forward.

"Goodbye, Kenji! take care!" Said Uni with a cheerful smile.

"Thanks. You too, give it your all"

"Yes!"

"I guess it's time to say goodbye" Said Noire while looking at him for a moment before crossing her arms and turning her head away "Don't go getting the wrong Idea, though. It's not like I'll miss you or anything like that!"

"I-I see..." Replied the young man while he and Uni both looked at her and sweat dropped

In all honesty, Kenji didn't expect the Tsundere line now of all times. Yet,he was also slightly relieved by it, as it was Noire's way of saying the CPUs may miss him for a while, even if just a little. She probably wanted to say it in a more straightfoward way, but she couldn't bring herself to do it in front of everyone, even if it was an important moment such as this. In retrospective, though, it reminded him a bit to the Noire of the Ultradimension for some reason. Maybe because both of them admitted that they would miss him, or because their tsundere line was very identical.

"But you know. Just because you're leaving doesn't mean you get to take it easy either" She added while lookingat him with a smirk "When you come back, I'll have far more shares than now, and then I'll prove you I'm really the best CPU! So you better not slack off, you got that!?"

Surprised by her sudden challenge, Kenji looked at her for a moment before making a smirk and nodding with a more uplifted tone than before

"You bet I do!"

Both the young man and Lastation's CPU looked at each other with a look of determination. The idea of a rematch was tempting, as it would help Noire get some payback on Kenji, and he would like the idea of sparring against her once again, more because he simply enjoyed the idea of fighting her than the idea of winning. Not that he wouldn't aim for victory, of course.

"I suppose it's my turn now..." Said Vert while approaching him

After Lastation's CPU said what she needed to say to him, she moved aside, allowing Leanbox's CPU to stand in front of him.

"With that said, though. I'm not all too sure what to say besides what's been said already" She said with a weak smile

"You don't need to say anything...You've already done more than enough for me" He replied with an honest smile

"I see. In that case, I'll just go ahead and say this...Take care"

"Yeah...you too..."

With those few words, Leanbox's CPU moved aside. Last but not least, it was the turn of Planeptune's gang. Compa, IF, Nepgear and Neptune. The first group of people he met at the start of his journey through the Hyperdimension, the ones that helped him find his way, and to get to where he was today.

"Goodbye, Kenji. Please, try keeping a healthy diet" Said the nurse with a smile

"And while you're at it, try to stay out of trouble" Added the guild member with a smirk while placing one hand on her hip

"I'll try...Can't make any promises, though"

"Couldn't really say I didn't see that one coming..." She said while shrugging with a smirk and both hands up raised up to face level, along with her eyes closed for a moment before opening them to look at him again "Well, one way or the other, I'm sure you'll be okay."

"Goodbye, Kenji. I hope you have a safte trip" Said Nepgear as the young man's gaze was diverted towards her

"So do I...Also, thanks for letting me stay with you and your sister for so long"

"It's okay, you don't need to worry about it! You helped us a lot, after all!"

Nepgear didn't spend as much time with Kenji as Neptune, compa, IF or even Histoire did, but the few times she did were more enjoyable than she expected. Not as much as being with Neptune, but enjoyable nonetheless. Of course, there was no way she could deny how much fun she had thinkering around with the robot under Caelum's castle, which she only managed to discover thanks to Kenji.

But the most important thing was that no matter what happened, he was always ready to lend a hand, be it when fighting against some enemy or monster, or with something as simple as carrying heavy objects and setting up the table for dinner. It was almost like having that silent, yet reliable elder brother you could always go for when you needed help with something. An elder brother with a huge and ancient robot that she could always entertain herself with whenever she lacked Neptune's attention, of course.

"Also, don't worry about the robot under Caelum's castle. I'll make sure to keep it up to date"

"Try not to go too overboard on the weapons, though. It'd be bad if that thing went wild while fully armed" Replied the young man while sweat dropping with a somewhat concerned smirk

"Don't worry. I already planted a bomb on its head...If it ever goes on a craze, I just need to push a button and it'll explode right away" She explained with a surprisingly innocent smile before placing her left index finger on her chin "To be honest, though. I think it'd be kind of a waste to do that, so maybe I'll just find another way to restrain it"

"I-I see" Said Kenji while sweat dropping once again "(I'm still not sure whetever I should be concerned or amazed that she can say stuff like that with such an innocent smile on her face...)"

Kenji never liked or hated machines in particular, and he used to beat the bolts out of that robot almost everyday, but even he couldn't help but feel like Nepgear's restraining methods may be a bit too ruthless, even for a deadly war machine. Sometimes it frightened him to think about the things she'd do if her interest laid on biology instead of hardware.

"But anyway, have a safe trip"

"Don't worry. I will"

After the nurse, the guild member and Planeptune's CPU candidate were done saying goodbye, it was time for the final person to move forward.

"Hey, Kenny" Said Neptune after stepping forward and standing in front of him while smiling

"Hey..."

"So...You're going now, right?"

"Yeah, I am..."

"I see, I see..." She said before making a moment of silence and then suddenly putting both hands on her hips along with making an even bigger smile than before "Well, I guess this means you cleared the game! Congratulations!"

"Thanks"

"Try to be careful when saving on your way back, though! Otherwise you might not be able to carry over to new game+!"

Although so far Kenji did his best to keep a weak smile, hearing Neptune's fourth wall-breaking comments surprised. At first he had trouble understanding, but soon enough he realized the truth.

She was feeling hurt by this too, she didn't want this either. Even so, she was doing her best to keep up the positive attitude and smile that gave him and everyone else so much hope over the years. Not only for her sake, but for everyone else's sake as well.

"Man, you sure love going meta, don't you?" He said while closing his eyes and smiling, this time far more honestly than before.

If Neptune could manage to do it, if she could withstand it, then he had to step up his game as well.

"Of course! I'm the protag of protagonist, after all!"

"Yeah, you really are..." He said with his eyes closed before opening them and looking at her "...You're one hell of a protagonist"

Both the young man and Planeptune's CPU looked at each other for a moment or two in silence. This may very well be the last time they see each other, so at the very least, they wanted to make sure a clear and solid image of the other one's face would remain in their memory.

Meanwhile, the others watched this scene take place. It was sad, even heart breaking to some degree. Seeing two people who fell in love with each other, two people whose lives changed for the better thanks to each other's prescence, depart far away from each other.

Kenji, who had once lost the desire to move forward in life, found the will to move on and strive for greatness, and Neptune, who was able to feel for the very first time in hundreds of years how it felt to fall in love, found even greater joy in life. Yet, they were now forced to be appart from each other, to say goodbye and probably never see each other ever again, just as they had finally managed to realize that what they felt was love.

"Big sister, Kenji..." Muttered Nepgear while looking at them with a mixture of sadness and concern

For a moment, the CPU candidate thought about approaching them.

She didn't like the idea of seeing either of them so sad. In fact, she hated it. Right now, all she wanted to do was find a way to ease their burden, a way to help them. Yet, nothing came to mind. All she could think about is approaching them. Maybe to try and convince Kenji to stay, to persuade Neptune into convincing him of staying. Anything would be fine, if it did the trick.

Before she could even give the first step, though, a hand softly placed on her shoulder stopped her from moving.

"Eh?" She said while turning her head over to see the guild member keeping her in place "...IF?"

IF didn't say a thing, she simply closed her eyes and moved her head slowly from one side to the other, signaling her not to interrupt this moment. A notable sadness in her expression as well.

Nepgear looked her for a moment, then at the two again.

She didn't want to comply, she didn't want to just sit idly by and watch this happen, but she knew it. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop it. Right now, all she could do was staying out of the way and not interrupting them. As painful as it may be, it was the only thing she could do.

"Well, I guess it's time to get going..."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Hey, Neptune..."

"What?"

"Thank you...For everything"

"Don't sweat it! We're friends, after all!"

Kenji didn't reply this time, he simply smiled at her once again and remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.

"That's true..." He said with a mixture of happyness, yet pensive sadness in his expression "Well, then...I'll see you later"

And with those words said, the young man turned around and approached the tome.

Deep down, he didn't want to say goodbye. Rather, he couldn't bring himself to say goodbye. Instead, he decided to say what he did, as he believed they would meet once again somewhere, someday. This belief was pretty much the only reason he could keep himself calm, and most likely was how Neptune managed to do the same as well.

"(I don't wanna...)"

"Okay, I'm ready..."

"Are you sure? There is no need to rush" Asked the tome, slight concern in her tone and expression

"I'm sure" He replied by nodding

"(No...)"

"I see...In that case, we'll begin" Said Histoire with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at him "First of all...Here, hold this"

"Hm?"

While looking at the oracle, Kenji saw her extending something similar to a rock with both hands towards him to grab. As he took the small object and looked closer, he suddenly managed to feel a strong share energy coming from within it, helping him realize it's true nature.

"A share crystal?"

Unlike the share crystals he had seen so far, this one was much bigger than any other share crystal he had seen so far. Proably almost as big as a CPU memory.

"This is the crystalization of all the shares you and everyone else managed to gather...This will be the catalyst"

"Catalyst?"

"That's correct" Said the tome while nodding "Earlier I said I'd open a portal, but it won't exactly be the same as the one you used to come back from the Ultradimension. Instead, this will be more like an instant movement, a sudden warp from one dimension to the other"

"So...like a teleportation spell, but between dimensions?"

"That's not exactly the most scientific nor precise term, but it certainly is a far simpler explanation...So yes, I suppose you could call it that"

"I see..." He replied while looking at the crystal in his fingers, then at Histoire again "So what do I do with it?"

"Just as you said, this is quite similar to a spell, if not almost the same thing" She explained while trying to give him proper instructions step by step "First of all, you need to hold out the crystal in front of you and focus your power on it the same way you do with your weapon...If everything goes according to calculations, the catalyst should react to your share energy. It may make you go into your HDD form, but there's no need for concern there. It will merely be a side effect of the large flow of shares coursing through your body"

"And what happens after that?"

"Once you properly infused your shares with those within the crystal, focus on thinking about your world. The coordinates are already set, but having a clear memory directly connected to your world will make the process more effective at warping you closer to the place you wish to reach...And finally, after all of these steps are completed, I will run the programm, creating a rift that will safely warp you back to your dimension"

"Infuse the crystal, think of home, warp back...Okay, I got it"

"Also, Kenji..."

"What's wrong?" Asked the young man while turning his head to look at her

"Thank you for everything you've done so far..."

Kenji looked at the oracle, who lowered her head, for a moment before simply smiling at her

"Don't sweat it...In fact, I should be the one thanking you for giving me a place to stay"

"If there's anyone who deserves to be thanked for that, it would be Neptune" She replied while raising her head and looking at him again "When we were first introduced, I have to admit I had my doubts about letting you stay, but Neptune convinced me to do so nonetheless...Sometimes it makes me think she may have seen something in you that no one else could at the time"

"Honestly, I think she was just trying to be kind to me..."

"Yeah, that may have been the case...But even still, I'm really glad I listened to her"

"Me too" He replied while looking at her, then facing his head forward once again "I really don't want to sound any cheesier, and I'm probably sounding like a broken record already, but I'm really glad I met all of you..."

"No, the pleasure was all mine..." Said the oracle with a calm and warm smile "Just remember this...No matter what happens, you'll always be welcome here"

Once she told her own farewell to the young man, Histoire turned around and floated away from him, gaining a moderate distance.

"Now then, everyone...Please move away. It's time to start"

Everyone quietly obeyed the tome's request and took a step back before she looked at the young man.

"Alright...You can begin, Kenji"

"Understood"

"(No...Not like this!)"

While holding onto the share crystal, Kenji did as he was told and extended his hand forward, letting it rest in his palm as he focused his shares into it. Almost twenty seconds of silence went by before the little rock began to glow.

Just as Histoire predicted, his HDD drive activated, making him transform. Yet, he did not mind this and remained focused on the crystal as hard as he could. And at the same time, the tome extended her hand towards him, casting a large sigil with him on the center.

"(Home...think about home...)" He thought calmly while trying to recall the memories that had resurfaced within his mind

"(Stop...don't do this, please!)"

Slowly, the memories began to resurface again and to materialize within his mind. He began to visualize his town, his neighborhood, his house, the streets, the places he hanged around, but more importantly, he focused on two specific memories. First the one regarding his mother, then the other one where he sat with the unkown girl. Oddly enough, the latter was the strongest memory he had of the two, even when her face was almost impossible to see.

"(It can't end like this...I won't let it end like this!)"

"Wait..."

Among those watching, Nepgear was the first one to notice Planeptune's CPU walking towards the young man.

"Big sister!?"

"Wait...Kenny, wai-!"

Just as the young man heard Neptune's voice and before he could even turn his head, the crystal began to glitter, suddenly causing the share energy to be released far more violently than before.

"Wha-What!?"

"Hey, what's going on!?" Said Noire while covering her face from the wind pressure with one forearm

"I-I have no idea! The shares suddenly went out of control!" Replied Histoire in a panic

The tome tried to stop the program as fast as she could. She accessed the command within minutes, but the book didn't react to her orders.

"Wha-What is the meaning of this!?" She said with shock mixed in with the panic

"Histoire! Hurry up and stop the warp!"

"I can't! Something is denying me access!"

"Daaaaamn it! !" Said the young man forcibly as he struggled to keep the power under control

"Kenji! Get out of there!" Yelled IF at him

Kenji heard her clearly, but he couldn't do that. If he let go of that much share energy, it was likely to explode and send everyone to kingdom come. The only choice he had was to try and stop it from overflowing anymore than it already did.

"Kenny ! !"

"Neptune, wait!"

Despite the danger, Neptune quickly ran towards him without any hesitation, followe by Noire, who went after her to try and stop her from getting too close.

"You two! stop!"

"Wait, Neptune!"

Both Vert and Blanc went as well to try and stop Planeptune's CPU from jumping into what could be a time bomb. After nearly a few steps, the sigil suddenly became brighter and increased almost three times in size, covering the ground where the four CPUs were standing. Almost at the same time, it imploded into a hurricane of light and share energy, almost muffling their screaming voices.

"Big sister!"

"Neptune! Everyone!"

The CPU candidates, along with Compa and IF, tried to help their elder sisters, but were stopped and pushed back by the powerful wind pressure that emerged from the sigil.

"Everyone! Get down!" Yelled IF

Everyone quickly got down into the ground as the light suddenly became blinding bright and finally erupted into a pillar that went high into the sky, piercing into the clouds with a boom sound similar to that of a thunder. Once the light faded away, everyone opened their eyes and looked around them, trying to grasp what just happened.

"I-Is it over?"

"Everyone! Are you okay!?" Asked Compa while checking up on the CPU candidates

"Hey...what was that just now!?" Asked Uni while getting back up on her feet

"I'm not sure..." Replied the tome with a mixture of shock and confusion in her tome

"Hey...Everyone?"

At that moment, the guild member, the nurse, the tome and the CPU candidates looked at Nepgear, who seemed to notice something the others didn't.

"Where is Neptune?"

It was then that everyone realized, Planeptune's CPU was nowhere to be seen. But she wasn't the only one, though.

"Wa-Wait...Where's Noire!?" Asked Uni, who couldn't see her anywhere around

"big sister isn't here either..." Added Rom

"Hey! What's going on here!?" Asked Rom, a mixture of confusion and irritation in her tone "Where did our big sisters go!?"

"He-Hey...you don't think they..." Said IF while sweat dropping with a worried tone

"Ye-yeah...maybe they did..." Replied Compa while sweat dropping with a weak smile

While confusion spread among the remaining members of the group and a few of them were already starting to get an idea of what happened, little did they realize they were not the only ones present at the scene.

Not far away, up in the sky away from everyone's view, was Chronos quietly watching the events that took place while standing over a sigil in mid-air.

"Huh...That didn't really go quite like I expected" Said the elderly man with a raised eyebrow while placing his right hand on his chin, remaining on this pensive state for a moment before smiply making a rather carefree smile "Oh, well. One way or the other, it did work anyway, so I'm sure Ibiem won't mind...maybe..."

Although not everything went according to how he exactly expected it to go, his duty was fulfilled, or at least to the extend of what was required to happen.

With this in mind, he proceeded to close the tome he held in his left hand, which made the glowing power symbol on the front cover much more clearer to see.

*Scene*

Darkness stretched all around Kenji as he felt unable to move even a single finger in his body. This made him think he may very well be in the interdimensional space once again, being tossed around from one dimension to the other. Yet, this felt oddly different from the other times. The darkness covered everything, yet it didn't feel as opressive as before, and although unable to move, he felt like his body was being washed up a river, rather than harshly dragged violently by an invisible force. Of course, there was a certain sense of pressure caused by this unnatural process, but it wasn't as rough as before.

Another detail was that he could hear something in the distance. It sounded far away and broken at some points, but he was indeed hearing something. This distorted sound kept echoing from far away, always coming first from the direction in front of him, never getting closer, but steadily getting clearer as he kept advancing. Almost as if it were some sort of lighthouse trying to guide him to the shore through a misty ocean in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, after what felt like almost half an hour, a light appeared in the distance. Within less than a minute, this light devoured the darkness, blinding him for a few seconds before everything became darkness again as he closed his eyes.

Merely a few seconds of silence went by before Kenji heard a loud boom once again, followed by the clattering sounds of metal and small objects being tossed all around along with nearly a dozen screams as he felt his body falling down and hitting the floor.

At first he could only realize those were screams as most of what he could hear right now was a beeping sound, but it shortly faded away, allowing him to hear more clearly.

"Kyaaah!?"

"Wa-Wait! What the hell just happened!? What was that flash just now!?"

"Is it the boys from the soccer club!? Did they sneak in again!?"

As he heard the countless voices around him and finally regained control over his body, the young man slowly opened his eyes. His vision cleared up as well and allowed him to see what looked like tiles. They felt lukewarm to the touch of his hand, and somehow soft too.

On hindsight, the air around him felt rather lukewarm as well, and somewhat humid too.

"(Urgh...where am I)" He wondered while raising his head to look at his surrounding

To his surprise, or rather, shock, he saw that his surroundings were not the grasslands or a place located outside, but rather inside a building. Now the shocking part wasn't this, but rather the fact he was surrounded by young women. Women in nothing but their underwear, to be more precise. Some with even less than that, with nothing more than just a towel to cover themselves and their most private possesions..

"Eh?" He said with widened eyes before blinking twice

He didn't see much of his surroundings except for the young women due to the steam lingering around, but anyone could pretty much guess where he was at right now.

Somehow, someway, he ended up on the women's changing room. And by the looks of it, he just happened to land by during the busiest time, which was also the worst time for him, or for any male at all, to be there.

"(EHHHHHHH! ? ! ?)"

At that moment, everything went silent once again as he looked at the girls while sweat dropping profusely with a baffled expression, and they looked at him with the same shock. Or at least he thought they were looking at him, until he heard a mumble under him.

When lowering his head, he saw something that was even worse than warping into a women's changing room. There was a young girl laying under him. Most likely, one he fell over after suddenly warping into the room.

"Ah..." He said while looking at her, then suddenly noticing the warm and soft sensation in his other hand wasn't actually the tiles

As if warping into such a situation and falling over a girl wasn't enough, he just noticed his hand accidentally ended up taking hold of a rather soft asset. This one being her left breast. It was more or less the same size as Noire's, and felt just as soft too, although that wasn't exactly Kenji's first thought. Or at least that's what he tried telling to himself.

"Ah!" He quickly said in a panic while suddenly letting go of it and raising his upper body to be on his knees "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that!"

"Hm..." Muttered the girl while slightly moveing her head from one side to the other for a moment or two before opening her eyes and looking at him

Despite the initial panic he felt, the young man slowly calmed down and looked at her more carefully.

She was quite a young girl, probably around the same age, or at least physical age, as him. She had fair skin. Slightly pale, but no to the point of seeming unhealthy. He smooth and light brown hair reached down to her chest, along with large bangs that framed her face and light blue-green eyes.

She was quite cute, all things considered. But what really caught Kenji's attention was something else.

"(Huh?)" He thought while looking at her, his expression changing into one of curiosity "(This girl...where did I...?)"

For some reason, looking at her face filled him with an odd feeling he couldn't quite point out for some reason. He could tell it wasn't arousal, as the situation was a bit too stressful for that right now. Yet, he could tell looking at her made him feel something.

"Hey...are you...?" Said the young man while looking at her before suddenly feeling a sharp, indescriptible pain in his crotch "Guoh!?"

Kenji's stare didn't hold any ulterior motives, but the girl probably didn't notice this and reacted in a most logical manner. This manner being kneeling him right in the crotch as hard as he could, which was both an extremely effective tactic from her part and an extremely painful thing for him, for a lot of different reasons.

The girl didn't seem to mind this, though, and quickly followed up by moving her leg up and out of underneath him before giving him a powerful kick in the stomach, making the young man move off of her and fall on his back as she quickly got back up on her feet.

"Ohhhhhh damn it! What was that fo-!?" He said in a pained voice while raising his head to look at her

"You...!"

Kenji was about to ask in a rather upset tone what was the need to hurt his most sensitive spot, or at least he was going to do so before seeing the girl's face, which was more filled with rage than embarassment or shock like the others.

"Eh?"

"How dare You sneak into the women's changing room, you pervert!?"

It was at that moment that Kenji remembered his current situation. And it was about to turn even worse, as the girl's anger seemed to spread out into the other ones as well.

"Wa-wait a moment! I can explain!" He said while getting back up on his feet, with his knees still slightly bent from the injury on his most important duo "Also, I'm not a pervert!"

"Yeah, right! That's what all the boys say when they're caught!" Said one girl on the back

"No, really! I do have an explanation!" He quickly replied in a panic while placing one hand in front of him as a way to signal them to stop before looking to the side with a weak smile "(Thinking about it, though, they probably wouldn't believe me...If anything they'd think I'm crazy)"

The young man could go right ahead and tell them exactly what happened, why it happened and even how it happened up to some extent, but doing so would probably make them think he was completely out of his mind, or just making up incredibly ridiculous stuff.

"See!? He's suspicious!"

"No, no, no! I didn't mean anything bad just now!"

"Do you really think we'll fall for that!?"

"Yeah! I mean, just look at how he's dressed too! I bet he's some sort of creep too!"

"Wa-wait..."

Kenji slowly stepped back as the group of angry women stepped forward, each one just as angry as the next one. Right now, he was having flashbacks of his little "accident" back in Leanbox. And he couldn't help but feel things may end up the same way, except multiplied a few dozen times.

"(This is bad...this is really bad!)" He thought while sweat dropping as he kept walking backwards

Things seemed horribly bad, and they were just getting worse with every passing second. He had to find a way out of this lynching, and fast.

After a few steps, Kenji suddenly bumped his back against something. And luckily for him, that something was the door. But he couldn't just open it and leave, as the angry mob would definitely leap at him and rip him appart the moment he turned his back on them. Fortunately, a sudden idea ran through his mind.

"Okay, now...No need to get all violent here" He said with one hand still place in front of him, while slowly moving the other one behind him to find the handle

He made sure to keep them all focused on his left hand and his words until he managed to grab onto the handle. And once he finally did, Kenji quickly put his idea into action.

"Quick! Get out of here, dude!" He said while yelling at the back row, as if trying to warn someone on the back of the impending danger.

The mob of girls, unsure whetever he could have any companions hidding or trying to run away, turned their heads to search for any other hidden males. It was then that Kenji took the risk and went for it.

"(Now!)"

He quickly turned the handle and burst the door open before turning around and running into a hallway. From there, he turned to the left and ran as fast as he could.

"Ah! He's running away!"

"Get him!"

Although he managed to slip by most of the girls, some weren't completely convinced by his act and made sure not to lose him from sight. These, were the first ones to notice his escape, and the first ones to give chase.

With brooms and mops and every blunt object they could get their hands on, the angry mob of young females chased after him with the intent to reduce him into a bloody pulp by beating him half to death. Fortunately for Kenji, he was much faster on his feet than any of them, even if the pain on his groin made him slightly slow for the first few minutes, and soon managed to get quite a good distance in between, even managing to slip away from most that either lagged behind or simply didn't have the stamina to keep going for long enough.

At every turn, the young man ran past a few people that were wandering around the hallways, sometimes almost bumping into a few of them.

"Ah, sorry!" Said the young man after accidentally bumping against a couple of guys who were turning around a corner

From looking at the two guys, one was slim with a black beanie over messy and unkept pitch black hair, a white T-shirt with a lipstick-decorated mouth showing it's tongue on it, baggy blue jeans and white sneakers. Meanwhile, the other one was on the chubbier side. He was wearing a blue t-shirt with grey jeans and black shoes, he had curly orange-ish hair and quite a few freckles.

"Hey, watch it, dude!" Said the skinny one with an irritated expression

"Huh?" Said the chubby one while looking at Kenji "Hey, aren't you that guy who punched a teacher in the face?"

"Eh?"

"Who?" Asked the skinny one

"You know, the blonde guy that punched that Pinowsky guy from math and got expelled. The one with the japanese name...Genji, Kanji, or something like that?"

"Kenji?" Asked the young man

"Ah, yeah! That one!" replied the chubby guy with a slight smirk and widened eyes, as if the memory had sprung back thanks to him

"Oh, now that you say it, he does look like him"

"No, I AM Kenji" He said with slight confusion before his eyes suddenly widened in front of this ephypany "Wait...you guys know me?"

"Not really. We just heard about you from a couple of dudes that were in your class about it"

"(My class? Then...this really is...!)" Thought Kenji with a baffled expression

"Quick! Don't let him escape!"

The young man did discover something interesting, but there was not much time to think about it as the angry mob managed to catch up. Of course, Kenji didn't hesitate to turn around and run away, leaving the two students by themselves to watch with shocked expressions as a mob of young women in underwear and towels ran past them.

"Dude..."

"Yeah...Nice"

"Yup...Hey, by the way..."

"What?"

"just kind of came back to me, but I think I saw him before he got expelled, and I don't think he was that buff"

"Maybe he got a job as a boxer or something?"

"Yeah...maybe..." Replied the first one before something else caught his mind "Why was he dressed like that, though?"

The two students remained there, talking with each other while Kenji kept running away for his life. After talking with them, there were quite a lot of things he could recognize from both the hallways and the class rooms he was runnig past. This was, without a doubt, the high school he used to attend to before getting expelled and sent to the Hyperdimension.

He couldn't really ponder too hard on it, as the chase was still ongoing. Unfortunately, memories of the hallways weren't exactly very strong nor useful, as he ended up leading himself into a dead end.

"Uh-Oh...Guess I gave a wrong turn..."

"Nowhere to run now, you pervert!" Said one of the girls

"Like I said, I'm not a pervert!" Replied the young man while turning around to face the mob

"Whatever! There's nowhere for you to go now!" Said the clear brown-haired girl while pointing at him "Surrender now, and we won't hurt you more than we need to!"

"So you're not denying you're gonna beat the crap out of me, huh?" Muttered kenji while sweat dropping with a somewhat weak smirk before looking around him and then focusin on an open window "With that said, though...I'm not the type to give up easily..."

"Oh, yeah!? Then what are you gonna do now!?"

Kenji didn't reply this time, he simply smirked and approached the window before placing one foot on the frame.

"Wa-wait, what are you doing!? That's dangerous!"

He didn't reply this time either, instead he faced forward again and, with a slight skip, he jumped through the window into the outside. An act that probably made almost everyone watching have the fright of their lives.

"Oh my God! He killed himself!" Yelled one of the girls with a terrified tone

The clear brown-haired girl, along with a couple more, quickly ran towards the window to see what happened. At first they thought they'd see Kenji down on the ground, probably half-dead if not completely dead, but instead they saw him descending towards the ground and landing without any issue. Lifting up some dust from the landing, but nonetheless without a scratch.

"No...He's completely fine..." Said the brown haired girl while sweat dropping, a bewildered expression on her face

"Oh..." Said the girl from before while approaching the window and seeing the young man was indeed fine, then raising her arm and yelling angrily "Get kicked by a horse and die, you pervert!"

"Wa-Wait a moment! We're on the third floor, you know!?" Said another woman, who looked at him in shock "How did he do that!?"

While the girls spoke among each other about what just happened and tried to figure out who he was, the clear-brown haired girl kept her gaze focused on Kenji, looking at him as he ran through the yard and jumped over the fence.

"(That man...Was he...?)"

The entire ruckus that took place in the school was slowly turning into a sound on the distance as Kenji kept running at full throttle. The moment he made it into the street, he kept going for a few moments longer before finally hidding on an alleyway and stopping to catch his breath.

The smell of clogged water and puddles, along with bags of trash, gave of an almost nauseating smell, yet he tried to ignore it as there were other things he needed to think about right now.

"(Alright. I doubt anyone's gonna chase me this far...)" He thought while taking a few deep breaths with both hands on his knees

Once his breathing normalized, the young man stood up straight and looked out at the street. He couldn't recall the name of it, nor the exact neighborhood he was at right now, but one thing was certain. Right now, he was back in his original word. Although the warp seemed to go unstable at the last moment, he made it back in one piece.

Part of him wondered just Where on Earth did he end up on right now, but something else quickly caught his attention.

"(My shares...I can still feel them)" He thought while lowering his head and looking at the palms of his hands for a moment

Despite returning to his original dimension, where the idea of shares didn't exist, he could still feel them flowing within his body. They were slightly weaker than usual, but that sense of fatigue could be due to the strain his body went through due to the warp. The surge of adrenaline he received due to the slight accident from before made him unable to realize this up until now

Perhaps it was due to this world and it's inhabitants being none the wiser about shares that he imagined retaining them in this world would be impossible, but that wasn't a reason for share energy to not exist.

Basically it was the same principle as the idea of fire or wind still being a common part of nature even if a newborn didn't know the slightest thing about either of them.

Most likely, the CPU memory within him was still active and producing shares, just as it did both in the Hyperdimension and the Ultradimension, regardless of whetever he had a connection to a nation's sharicite or not.

"(No harm in trying, I guess)" He thought while clenching both hands into fists

If he still had the power of shares at his disposal, if he could still use them freely even in this world, then it would be a good idea to see up to what extent he could control them. And the best way to test it out was by transforming.

With just a mere thought, almost as if flipping a switch, light engulfed his body for a short moment before fading away once his transofmation was complete. Just as he did the first time, and how he did every single time ever since them, Kenji accessed HDD mode without any issues.

Using that form felt a bit exhausting right now, but it was the definite proof. He still had his powers, and they were still usable, even in this world.

As he closed his eyes and focused his mind on the shares within his own body, Kenji suddenly felt even more share energy, but not from within him. Rather, from those around him.

From the people on the streets, the birds on the skies, even the dogs and cats scurrying around the vicinity, he could feel the share energy flowing within their bodies. It was far weaker and less regulated than that of the other dimensions, perhaps due to the lack of CPUs, or perhaps the lack of share-awareness this world had, but it was there nonetheless.

This quiet moment of focus was abruptly interrupted by the sudden sound of glass shattering just a few feet away from him. He quickly turned his head to look at the direction from where said sound originated, and saw a dirty, hairy man laying against the wall, his face a mixture of terror and shock.

"A...A..."

"(Ah!)"

Most likely, he was resting behind a trash bin, and Kenji was unable to notice him. This easily meant he just saw him transforming right in front of his eyes.

"Erm...Thi-this is! You see...!" Rambled the young man in an attempt to come up with a way to explain something that definitely had no easy explanation while a notable panic could be heard in his tone

"A...A..."

"A?"

"A...A...ALIEEEEEEEEEN! ! !" Yelled the homeless man in a panic before quickly getting up and running away

"He-Hey! Wait a minute!" Said the young man while extending his hand towards him

It was of no use, though. The homeless man was already on full throttle, and didn't seem like he would stop anytime soon.

"(Whoops...)" Thought Kenji as he looked at him running deeper into the labyrinth of alleways while sweat dropping "(We-Well, he was a hobo, so It shouldn't be a problem...maybe...)"

As the man was homeless, there was little to no chance of anyone believing his words. In the worst of cases, he'd be marked off as just another crazy guy roaming the streets. It didn't really make him feel any better about it, though.

"(From now on, I should try to make sure no one's around if I transform...)"

Nonetheless, there were other matters to attend to at the moment.

Since his HDD form may be a bit too "flashy" to go unnoticed, he reverted back to his human form and quickly walked out of the alleway before the hobo's screams or the flashing light of his transformation could attract unwanted attention.

Most of the street names were unfamiliar to him, and the only things he had to guide himself around the place right now were just vague memories of a few buildings and stores he used to use as landmarks. It was surprising that, even if vague, he even had been able to recall these details, specially considering he didn't walk through these streets for over twenty years.

"(Man...it almost feels unreal...)" He thought as that last fact came to mind.

Despite all those years going by, neither he nor the streets of this world changed in the least. He couldn't quite remember the exact date of his departure to the Hyperdimension, but judging by the newspapers being sold on the streets, the year was the same as the one he could remember. The month didn't feel quite right, though. Perhaps a few weeks went by, or maybe even a couple of months at most. What for him were two decades, for this world was less than half a year, maybe even less.

Fortunately, he managed to find a phone booth with an updated address book after walking around a couple of blocks and asking around. It was more of a gamble than a sure fact, as not all addresses were written down nowadays in this outdated communication method, but taking the chance paid off in spades.

It took a few minutes of thorough searching, but he managed to find his mother's full name and the address, which he managed to recognize once he saw it.

Before walking out of the booth, he thought about giving her a call, maybe seeing if he could manage to get in contact with her sooner, but he didn't have any money on him right now. Besides, if he was going to finally talk to her after so long, he wanted to do it in person. He wanted to tell her what he wanted to say right in front of her, all of it while looking at her in the eyes.

Once he was sure he memorized the address, Kenji walked out into the open once again and made his way through the streets.

The walk wasn't particularily long nor difficult, but something began to change along the way. At first it was hardly noticeable, but once he made it into the cluster of neighboorhoods that compromised the residential districts, a strange weight began to fall over the young man's mind, making his body harder to move, his every step heavier than the last one. When he crossed through the neighboorhoods and made it into his own, he could feel the weight crushing him, almost as if he were carrying a bus on his back. By the time he reached his block, he could feel his legs shaking, his body shivering without him being able to avoid it nor controll it.

"(Here It is...)" He thought while standing in front the place that he used to live in, taking a moment to look at it

Although it had been quite some time ever since he left, the place didn't change at all.

It was a two store house with a windows on the front of the second floor and first floor, the one at the top being the one belonging to his room and the two next to the door. Usually the largest one of the two would give a view to the living room, but right now the curtains were closed, making it impossible to see anything inside. A few feet of front yard stood between him and the door as the property and street were split appart by a medium-sized wooden fence. It wasn't particularily fancy, imposing or very well decorated one, but that small patch of green, along with the humble and straightforward appearance, did give the place a somewhat welcoming feeling to it, which was mainly something his mother always spoke about whenever mentioning it. Back then he didn't really think anything of it, but now he could somewhat understand what she meant.

After looking at the house for a few more moments, Kenji began walking towards the door. It was merely a few feet of distance, but every single step was far heavier than anything he felt so far. His heartbeat grew faster and more intense with each step, his legs becoming harder to move, his hands sweating profusely. All of these symptoms of a strong anxiety, a lingering within,beating the back of his brain as hard as it could, constantly making him doubt what would await for him on the other side of the door, and how to even react to it.

Once he finally stood right in front of the door, the young man slowly raised his hand to knock on the door, but freezed up before he could do so. His hand wouldn't obey him, despite how badly he wanted to do so. It merely stood up, frozen in place while shivering.

"(Come on, just do it already!)" He thought to himself before closing his eyes and lowering his head, placing the once frozen hand against the door while clenching the other one tightly "(You already came all the way here, didn't you!? The hell are you so scared about!?)"

What should he do once he saw her? How would she react to seeing him? How angry would she get? What should he say to her? How should he explain things to her? Were there even words capable of doing these things? Capable to suffice in this situation? All of these questions that lingered within his mind like a cloud, making him unable to move, unable to react, unable to even think.

But perhaps the biggest question within his mind was the same one that plagued him from the start. The one wondering if it was really okay for him to be there, if it was really okay for him to intrude back into her life, hoping she could accept him and that things could work out just like that.

"Erm...Excuse me?" Said a female voice "Is there something you need?"

Kenji's eyes suddenly opened after hearing a voice behind him. It was a slightly mature, yet surprisingly gentle voice as well. But more importantly, it was a very familiar voice, one that he hadn't heard for a long, long time.

Calmly,he raised his head and turned it to look over his shoulder. There she was, standing just three feet away from him, holding a paperbag filled with groceries. After twenty years, he finally saw her again.

Her chest-lenght hair was pitch black and quite tidy, with the bangs framing her face. Her brown eyes, calm and gentle as he could remember, but also framed by slight eye bags, perhaps due to lack of sleep. She was shorter than him by probably half a head or so, most likely as tall as Vert, if not a little less.

Her outfit consisted of a white blouse with sleeves that covered up to half her forearms under a yellow, open sweater with grey-is pants and clear-brown loafers. She also had a necklace with a sapphire stone attached to it.

Kenji was speechless right now. Despite how much he wanted to say something, nothing came to mind, nor he was capable of saying anything. He had no idea what to say, or how to even say it in the first place.

Kenji's mother looked at him for a moment with slight confusion as he turned to face her before her mind managed to recognize him, causing her eyes to widen as a result.

"...Kenji?"

At that moment, the silence broke, faded away in just an instant as Naomi called out his name.

He mumbled and stuttered, trying to form words, yet his mind was unable to say anything, as white as a piece of paper. He lowered his gaze while trying to think as hard as he could, but still nothing. What could he even say either way? Just what, out of everything he wished to say, could truly be the right thing to say at this moment?

Even so, there was no more room for hesitation. He had to say something, and he had to say it now.

"Mo-Mom...I...!" He mumbled after a moment of struggling, saying the first thing that came to mind while raising his gaze to look at her

Before he could even say anything other than that, the young man was suddenly pushed backwards as he felt a strong pressure against his body. He felt confused for a moment, but suddenly realized it after looking down and seeing his mother leaning against him, her head strongly pressed against his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his torso, the bag she once held in her hands now laying down on the ground after she dropped it.

Just as he had raised his head to look at her, Kenji's mother ran towards him and hugged him without the slightest hesitation, without any need for him to say a thing.

The moment she recognized him, she already had all the reason she could ever need to act.

"Kenji! It really is you, isn't it!? It's not a dream, isn't it!?" She said with a broken voice between sobs, tears running down her eyes like waterfalls

The young man looked at her with widened eyes, completely bewildered by her reaction.

He thought she would be furious, he though she would yell her lungs out and lash out at him for leaving like he did, but he couldn't be more wrong. Right now, she was hugging him as hard as she could, crying her eyes out like a child. Instead of angry, she was probably worried sick about him. In the end, it was just as Vert told him.

"I missed you, Kenji! I missed you so much!"

At first, the young man had no idea what to do, what to say or how to even react, but now that he was there, now that he saw his mother, it finally dawned on him.

Slowly, he raised his arms and wrapped them around her in a hug, holding her with a steady, yet gentle grip before finally saying both what he wanted to say the most, and what she wanted to hear the most right now. Perhaps not the right nor the best words, but definitely the ones that needed to be said the most.

"Mom, I'm back" He said softly while looking at her with a mixture of relief and gratitude

"Welcome home!" She replied between sobs, her voice still broken, but surprisingly clear and filled with the relief she felt right now.

Hearing those words from her after so long gave Kenji a feeling of peace that he hadn't felt in a long while. Before he could even realize, he hugged his mother tighter than before as his eyes began to get teary as well.

After twenty long years, after so many hardships and fierce battles, he finally made it back, he had finally found his way back home.

"And so, the brave hero finished his quest and made it back home, giving the audience a tender tearjerker scene before rolling the credits..."

"Truly, a memorable ending moment, even if not very original or innovative...I'll definitely keep this as reference for my next story. It's bound to be a top seller"

"I-I'm not crying! I'm not crying at all! Don't any of you dare get the wrong idea!"

"Certainly, this is indeed the best way to make an ending..." Said Vert with a relieved smile before it became a rather weak one while sweat dropping "Or so I'd like to say right now..."

"(Eh?)"

Although his mind was mostly focused on the heartfelt reunion, Kenji's ears couldn't help but catch the four familiar voices talking about him just a few feet away. Out of curiosity, the young man opened his eyes and raised his head slightly, seeing four people trying to hide behind the wooden fence, and failing rather badly at it.

"Eh?"

"Oh, my...He saw us..." Said Leanbox's CPU

"And what did you expect? we didn't really make that much of an effort to hide" Replied Noire, who had already cleared away her teary eyes, while sweat dropping with her eyes closed

"What!? Did 'ya gals think the writer was gonna end it here!?" Said Neptune with a lively smile before pointing at Kenji "Kenny's story is far from over yet!"

It took a moment for him to fully grasp what was happening, but afterwards it became clear to him.

It seemed as though he wasn't the only one that got warped there.

"EHHHHHHHHHHH! ? ! ? ! ? ! ?"

*Scene*

A dark, seemingly endless corridor stretched out as far as the eye coud see. Torch-like crystals shining a light from start to finish, allowing Chronos to walk without any concern for lack of vision.

At the end of this hallway there was a rather large door, which he knew led to the room where most likely Ibiem was awaiting for him.

And indeed what he found was the lord of the Nexus, sitting down calmly on his seat at the top of the wide staircase, on which the oracles that served under him stood two on each staircase. Yet, the only ones present today were currently Yuube and Devi.

"Master Ibiem, just give me another chance! I can beat the shit outta that bro! I know I can!"

The CPU of the beat seemed determined to request Ibiem a chance to face off against Kenji, something he had been doing constantly for the last month or so. Devi, on the other hand, was there for a different business. That didn't stop her from watching, though.

"Yuube, how many times have you made the same request of me, and got the same answer exactly?"

"A lot, I think...But that's besides the point!" Replied Yuube with slight discomfort at first before suddenly regaining his strong and determined tone "One chance, that's all I'm asking for! Please!"

The lord of the Nexus looked at the CPU of the beat for a moment in silence, the mask he wore hiding away his indifferent expression, before Chronos saw the chance for him to join the conversation.

"Oh, my...Looks like everyone is being quite lively today" Said the elderly CPU, who quietly watched the conversation up until now and found the chance to jump in

"So you're back already, Chronos..." Said Ibiem after diverting his gaze from Yuube to Chronos "I assume you completed your task, then?"

"Yes, indeed..."

"Good job-nya" Said Devi after turning around to look at him

"Oh, thank you" Replied Chronos while walking closer to the staircase "With that said, though. There was a slight inconvenience along the way"

"And that would be?"

"It seems those girls got sent along with him at the last moment"

"Is that so?"

"Yes" Replied the elderly CPU while nodding "The little sisters are still there, though"

"I see..." Said Ibiem before growing silent for a moment, seemingly going into pensive thought for a minute or two until he finally broke the silence by speaking to Yuube "Yuube...It seems luck favors you today...I'll grant your request"

Hearing he had gained his master's approval, Yuube quickly made a grin and clenched both fists, filled with excitement and eagerness to get his revenge against Kenji.

"Hell yeah! I won't screw up this time! I swear!"

"But...It won't be a fight against him"

"Eh?"

"I want you to travel to the Hyperdimension and keep an eye on the CPU candidates that remained there. Keep me informed of their actions and movements for the time being"

"Wh-What!?"

"Devi, you will go with him as well..." Said Ibiem while diverting his gaze towards the cat CPU

"Understood-nya"

"Wait a moment, master Ibiem!"

"What is it?"

"Why are you sending me to there!?"

"You asked for another chance, Didn't you? I'm giving you just that..."

"But-!"

"Yuube!"

Everyone in the room suddenly went quiet.

Ibiem once again said Yuube's name, but this time there was a certain impatience in his tone. This, along with the increasing pressure emanating from him, was enough to make the CPU of the beat's defiant attitude weaken greatly, if not fade away completely.

"It seems to me like you're unable to understand my orders" Said the lord of the Nexus, his gaze focused on him, his eyes piercing deep into the red-haired man's soul "Or maybe you do understand, but you're intending to defy my rule...Is that it?"

"N-No...I just..."

"Are you trying to defy me? Is that what you wish for, Yuube?"

"No...I was just..."

Right now, the CPU of the beat's skin paled slightly. His body shivering while taking a step back. Although there was no anger in the lord of the Nexus's tone, the notable impatience in it was enough to tell the unlucky individual behind it was just one step away from a gruesome doom.

Even Devi, who wasn't even the one it was aimed at, could feel the intense aura from the sidelines.

For a moment, it seemed as though Ibiem would get up, sealing Yuube's fate, but Chronos jumped in at the last moment, diverthing his attention towards him.

"Now, now, Master Ibiem...There's no need to resort to violence" Said the elderly CPU while standing next to Yuube and looking at Ibiem with a smirk "I'm sure young Yuu here didn't mean to defy you or anything like that, so how about giving him a second chance?"

At that moment, Ibiem and Chronos looked at each other, their eyes locked up onto each other, unspoken words seemingly traveling from one individual to the other through the mere gazes that connected.

"I see...I suppose you have a valid point there" Said the master of the Nexus while closing his eyes after a minute of silence, then taking a more relaxed position in his seat "Yuube...I'll forgive you this time, but it better not happen again...Are we clear?"

"Ye-Yes! I understand!" Replied the CPU of the beat, snapping out of his fright, while lowering his head

"Regarding that boy...I have my own set of plans awaiting for him..." Continued Ibiem while keeping his gaze focused on Yuube "If you wish to become part of that, then prove your worth to me...Fulfill your mission, and I shall grant you the re-mach you yearn for...Now go"

"Understood, Master Ibiem..." Said Yuube, his head still lowered, but the expression of impotence on him as clear as a day

Once he was given his orders, the CPU of the beat and the feline CPU walked out of the large room and back into the hallway, where they kept walking it down for a moment or two before stopping.

"God fucking damn it! !" Yelled the CPU of the beat while punching the wall, a mixture of impotence and irritation showing in his expression "I couldn't even keep my cool at all back there!"

Devi turned her head and looked at Yuube as he beat himself up over the fact he couldn't remain calm under Ibiem's induced pressure.

"Stop moping about it, will you? It's a pain in the tail-nya" She said while looking at him, her expression more tired than anything else "Most people would usually pass out in your place. At least you kept yourself standing-nya"

"Even so...!"

The feline CPU looked at Yuube and sighed. It seemed as though her words didn't help at all. Then again, her rather direct and blunt personality made it difficult for her to compose words capable of easing up the weight lingering within the minds of others. If anthing, it would usually just make things worse.

"Yuube, do you remember what happened to Commodorian?" She asked, this time using a more stren tone, as if mentioning a taboo or a rather dark subject

"Of course I do..." Replied Yuube, his expression paling slightly and showing a grisly expression of disgust "The hell am I supposed to forget THAT!?"

Over the course of the years he served as an oracle, the one event Yuube still remembered most clearly, and would probably never be able to forget for as long as he lived, was that one incident.

Just a couple of years ago, there were twelve oracles instead of just ten, but two of them perished. The first one died after an internal fight between him and the second, which was known as Commodorian. This individual was one of the strongest oracles, probably the third one in scaling, but it was the overconfidence and arrogance he held in his power what doomed him.

Convinced of his superiority, Commodorian challenged Ibiem directly in front of all the other oracles after announcing he murdered a fellow oracle with his bare hands. Ibiem, who didn't take his defiance kindly at all, accepted the challenge to a fight. Little did anyone know, what took place afterwards was no fight, but rather a one-sided slaughter.

Ibiem allowed the renegade oracle to go all out, tossing everything he had at him, all just for the sake of letting him know just how meaningless the power he held in such high regard was, before thoroughly and literally ripping Commodorian in half with his bare hands. Leaving nothing but chunks of minced meat and shattered bone laying all around, any of it hardly recognizable as a living being any longer.

The blood splashing everywhere, the sound of bones cracking like fiddlesticks, flesh being ripped like paper and the screams of agony let out by the renegade oracle's grisly last moments remained crystal clear in the minds of the remaining oracles, who had first-row seats of this brutal and inhumane execution. Yuube in particular was hardly able to keep his food down for a few days, and the oracle's screams echoed inside his nightmares for at least a week.

Even now, that gruesome memory came back to him when Ibiem questioned if Yuube was being defiant, freezing him in place, horrified at the idea of ending like that.

"If you can still remember it, then just think of yourself as lucky for not ending up like he did-nya"

Yuube didn't reply this time, but that proved he didn't deny Devi's words either. This, at the very least, meant he would cooperate without much issue.

"Now then, let's get going. We have a job to do-nya"

"Ye-Yeah...you're right..." Said the CPU of the beat, nodding his headslightly

Once they agreed, the two oracles kept walking down the hallway next to each other once more.

Along the way, Yuube decided to break the silence once more by speaking out something that kept lingering within his mind.

"You know...I still can't believe that old timer could keep his cool so well"

Among the things that surprised Yuube the most, one of them was Chronos's ability to remain calm and pretty much unfazed in the face of almost everything, being able to keep that seemingly carefree and cheerful smile in the face of everything. Even the most brutal or disturbing of things that took place were thing he hardly even seemed bothered about. Not even Ibiem's opressive and overwhelming aura seemed to alter him, which was something he had a hard time understanding.

"It's not that much of a surprise, really..." Replied Devi with her gaze still focused forward "From what I was told, Chronos is the very first oracle to serve under master Ibiem's orders. They spent thousands of years together, so he's probably used to it already-nya"

"Now that you say it, how old are they?"

"Beats me. I don't give a catnip about that sort of thing-nya" She replied with her eyes closed before opening them once more "But if I had to make a guess, I'd say they go back well over ten or twenty thousand years, probably even more-nya"

"Twenty thousand, huh?" Said Yuube while sweat dropping, slightly unable to believe such extremely long life-spans could be possible

"Well, it's more of a guess than a fact. The flow of time between dimensions is a total mess, after all" She said to try and keep his mind from dwelling too deep in thought "The point is, Chronos has worked under master Ibiem for way longer than any of us. He knows him and what he wants better than anyone else-nya"

"What master Ibiem wants..."

On hindsight, Yuube never knew what was it that Ibiem truly wanted or why he even gathered the oracles in the first place. At first he thought about forming an army by how he gathered so many oracles and was preparing for total interdimensional domination, but these were nothing more than an hypotesis based only on what little he knew, and the fact Ibiem usually spoke of his plans in cryptic ways didn't help so much.

One thing he did notice, though, was Ibiem's strong interest in Kenji and his power. The exact reason why, though, was just as much of a mistery as everything else so far.

"Hey, Devi. Any idea why master Ibiem is so hooked up on that blue bro?"

"Maybe he finds him interesting-nya"

"Interesting?"

"From what I've seen over the years, master Ibiem seems to do things based more on whetever he finds them interesting or not..." She explained to make her reasoning easier to understand "Resurrecting the deity of Sin, re-igniting the power of Tari's CPU, even gathering the oracles and sending them around the dimensions. They're all things done to set a series of events in motion...maybe because he wants to see whetever something interesting will happen or not. And right now, that boy and his ability to topple down anything thrown at him so far are what caught his interest the most-nya"

"That fucker's just lucky, if you ask me..." Replied Yuube, seemingly irritated from thinking about Kenji

"You're still salty about him beating you up, aren't you-nya?"

"Like hell I am!"

"Yeah, I thought so-nya" Replied the felince CPU while diverting her eyes away, seemingly uninterested in Yuube's irritation due to her hitting bullseye "Either way, luck or not, it doesn't change the fact master Ibiem finds him fascinating...All we can do right now is go along with his orders-nya"

"Damn it..." Said the CPU of the beat while raising his hand up to face level and looking at it

Although Kenji stabbed right through it, Yuube's palm managed to heal fairly fast thanks to the fast healing abilites all CPUs were granted naturally. Even so, the irritation he felt from that loss still made the wound sting and burn as if it was still there, bleeding profusely.

"You just wait and see...Next time I see that fucker, I'm gonna beat the crap out of him!"

"Yeah, yeah...Give it your all-nya" Replied the feline CPU sarcastically with her eyes focused forward "Anyway, let's hurry it up. There's a lot to work to do-nya"

Yuube simply scoffed at her sarcastic comment and kept walking forward, both of them heading off to attain a crystal that would teleport them to the Hyperdimension.

Meanwhile, Ibiem and Chronos remained in the gathering room, which the elderly CPU liked to nickname the "throne room" due to the seat occupied by the lord of the Nexus at the top of the staircase.

"I have to say, it's been a while since I saw you lose your patience like that" Said Chronos, who walked up towards Ibiem and stood next to him

"It can't be helped. Sometimes they need to be put back in line"

"Respect breeds obedience, while fear keeps its consistency...Isn't that right?"

Ibiem didn't reply, he simply placed one hand in front of him, seemingly growing pensive about those words for a moment. All the while Chronos looked at him, seemingly curious about his thought process, before shortly after making a somewhat carefree smile.

"It's okay to loosen up a bit around me every now and then, you know? Keeping up the "No-nonsense" attitude for so long has to be a bother"

To this remark, the lord of the Nexus looked at his trusty oracle and right-hand man for a moment before looking forward.

If it weren't for the mask being in the way, Chronos would be able to see the smirk forming on his face, but even so, he could tell it was there.

"Easy for you to say, mister "carefree oracle""

"Well, I do my best to live up to the name" Replied the elderly CPU with an equal smirk

Unlike the rest of the oracles, Chronos held the honor of being the very first one to serve Ibiem faithfully ever since their group was formed. And over the years, the two built a surprisingly stable trust that could be described as friendship, or perhaps companionship. Either way, Chronos is, without a doubt, the only person who Ibiem can loosen up with and act in a more relaxed manner instead of having to act like the devilish and intimidating devil-like figure the other oracles made him out to be. This wasn't a completely accurate description of him, but it certainly did hit quite close to the spot.

Even so, keeping up the image exactly and to the near-perfect degree he had right about now was, as the elderly CPU described earlier, rather bothersome. Nonetheless, it was the only way to make sure the oracles, some of which were quite haphazard and difficult to keep under control, obedient enough for his stratagems to work.

"So? What do you think about this?" Asked the lord of the Nexus while turning his head to look at Chronos

The elderly CPU, in accordance to Ibiem's question, began by opening his book at a random page, causing the paper to shine brightly and making a projected screen appear in front of both of them, which showed an image of Kenji and the CPUs in his homeworld, along with the young man's mother still holding onto him.

"Hm...I don't think it should be a problem for them to be there, if that's what you mean" He replied with one hand placed against his chin, trying to wonder what could this situation lead to, before making an amused smirk "If anything, it should make things even more interesting, don't you think so?"

"Indeed..."

Truth to be told, even Ibiem found the curiosity of how things would play out in such a crazy scenario interesting. Unfortunately, though, that wasn't exactly what he was thinking about.

"With that said, though,you're probably thinking about "that", aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Replied the lord of the Nexus as his gaze focused on the young man once more

"Are you sure it's okay, though? Letting him know what happened, I mean..."

"Whetever it's okay or not, there's no turning back anymore..."

Although the result of the current decision could very well lead to disaster, there was no chance to undo this anymore. A course of action was taken, and whatever that path was going to lead to, it was only for those walked it to tell.

"But it's quite ironic, isn't it?" Said Chronos, his gaze now focused on Kenji as well "Even though he was the one that willingly gave it away, now he's also the one yearning to gain it back..."

"That's the nature of the human mind...We seek answers to our doubts, yearn to know the truth, even if that truth could very well destroy us beyond recovery"

The two men kept their stare focused on the young man, recalling that moment he could no longer remember. The truth hidden deep within his consciousness, and whose key to be unlocked laid hidden in that world. A truth that could very well restore his whole past, and define his entire future as well, if not destroy it completely.

"Do you want me to keep an eye on him?" Asked Chronos

"There's no need for that. I already decided who to send..."

"Who?"

Just as Chonos asked, the door opened once more, allowing someone to walk in. This time, though, it wasn't Yuube nor Devi, but someone else entirely.

"Excuse me for intruding..." Said a female voice after walking into the room

Once the young woman stepped into the room, she quickly took a few steps forward standing up straight in front of both of them.

She had long pale blue hair that reached all the way down to her hips, being more loose at the the end and a bit more shaggy at the top, causing it to go for something of a bed head style. Her blue eyes, although calm and quite beautiful to boot, seemed quite stern as well. In terms of height and body type, one could compare her to Purple Heart's, except that she was taller, but only by an inch or so.

Her outfit consisted of an apparel similar to a general or military officer's outfit that was black with blue accents. It reached out all the way to the middle of her thights, where it opened at around hip height on both sides, making the illusion of cloth that covered both that front and the back, or something close to a skirt. It also had a pair of blue decorations on the shoulders that bore a strong similarity to military shoulder boards, and a row of buttons that reached all the way down to her hips, but only about half or so of it was buttoned up, mostly because of her chest making it difficult, if not impossible, to close it. This, in turn, resulted in a rather seductive view of her cleavage. a pair of long, black fingerless gloves covered her hands and most of her forearms, almost reaching up to her elbows. Another detail to notice was a pair of belts crossing eachother at the center under a blue side moon-shapped buckle. A long sword sheat rested on her right side, holding a sword that seemed like a saber, but with a longer and thicker sword than that of most normal sabers.

A pair of thigh-high black socks covered her legs, connected to her hips and most likely her underwear. She also wore black knee-high boots with blue footing, along with black and blue star-shapped metal knee caps, along with a moon-shapped necklace made of a white stone.

"Luna, Huh?" Said Ibiem after looking at his oracle "Good timing...I was just wondering where you were"

"My apologies, master Ibiem. I rushed here as fast as I could" She said while lowering head "Even so, I shouldn't consider that to be a valid excuse for my lacking aptitudes"

"(I guess Ibiem isn't the only one who could use some loosening up)" Thought Chronos while sweat dropping

Luna was the second highest ranked oracle and the one Ibiem placed the largest amount of trust upon after the elderly CPU. Part of this was due to her relentless and resolute loyalty to him, along with her unmatchable skill in battle, being only surpassed by Ibiem himself. Unfortunately, these perks didn't come with their own setbacks.

Although both extremely strong and loyal, the oracle had a very straight-laced personality, directed completely towards her duty to serve Ibiem while she hardly felt empathy or interest towards anything else. This, in turn, makes it nearly impossible for her to establish proper trust with her fellow oracles in the same way that Yuube and Devi have a somewhat stable fellowship and trust with each other. Nonetheless, she hardly cares about this fact, as she doesn't see it as something capable of affecting her ability to fulfill Ibiem's orders.

"Don't let it concern you. Your punctuality is more than satisfactory"

"Thank you, Master Ibiem"

"For now, raise your head"

As she was ordered, the oracle raised her head and looked at the lord of the Nexus, who went on now that she was paying attention.

"As you may have imagined already, I called you here because I have a mission for you" Said Ibiem before looking at Chronos and nodding at him

The elderly CPU, who had been looking at Luna up until now, looked at him and gave a slight nod as well before extending his book forward, causing a projected screen to appear in front of her, showing her an image of Kenji.

"I assume you recall who this man is, right?"

"Yes. He's Kenji nijimura. An HDD-user..."

"Correct..." Replied Ibiem while nodding "Recently, he has traveled to a different dimension along with other CPUs...I want you to go there and keep an eye on them. Keep me informed of their actions and movements over there, especially the boy's..."

"Understood, master Ibiem..."

"Oh, and one more thing..."

"Yes?"

"This is a scout and spy mission, so make sure not to kill them nor let them know who you are...Outside of that, you're free to act at your own discretion"

"Understood...I won't dissapoint you"

"In that case, I'll leave it up to you" Said Ibiem, a mixture of trust and confidence in his tone "Now go...And keep in mind, failure is not an option..."

"Yes, Master Ibiem..."

The oracle lowered her head in sign of reverence after accepting her mission for a moment before raising it and looking at him again. Two power symbols shining brightly instead of pupils in her eyes, filled with an unwavering determination.

At long last, it was time for Luna, the CPU of crystal moonlight and strongest among Ibiem's oracles, to make her move.


	28. Twinkie

"Now then..." Said the young man with his eyes closed, a stern tone in his voice "Who should start?"

A slight silence fell over the room, remaining still for a moment before one of the CPUs finally spoke.

"If It's okay, I'd like to go first" Said Vert with a confident smirk and her eyes closed before opening them and looking forward "My name is Vert. It may have been a rather sudden and unexpected meeting, but it's a pleasure to make your aquaintance,ma'am"

"N-No! The pleasure is all mine!" Replied Kenji's mother with a bit of nervousness in her tone "Also, there's no need to call me ma'am! Naomi is fine!"

After returning to his original dimension, the young man managed to reunite with his mother in a rather heartfelt way. Unfortunately, the moment didn't last long, as it was interrupted by the arrival of the CPUs who, unintentionally, ended up being warped along with him. It was a rather shocking situation for him, and it didn't seem like the CPUs could find it very amusing either. Well, except for Neptune, who didn't seem all that worried or shocked. On the other hand, she looked like she was in quite a good mood.

Putting everyone's mood regarding the current situation aside, there was an important matter to attend to. That matter being explaining things to Kenji's mother in a way that she could understand without thinking they were nuts. Fortunately, she was more than willing to hear them out, and even allowed them to go inside in order to talk more comfortably.

Now in the living room, the four CPUs sat down together on one couch while Kenji and Naomi sat on the other, which was facing it. And while the latter took a short trip to the kitchen to prepare something to drink for them, the young man took the chance to make sure to tell the CPUs not to tell her anything about the power of HDD or them being Goddesses. Mostly because she would either think they're crazy or go into a panic.

It was a given it would be slightly difficult for the CPUs to introduce themselves without mentioning their status of Godesses, and this worry lingered within Kenji's mind, but it quickly dissipated away after Vert took the first step and began the introductions in a more than proper way. This, in turn, motivated the other CPUs to introduce themselves.

"(She talks in such a polite way, and she's even dressed like a princess! Maybe she's from an European country?)" Thought Naomi while looking at Vert with a pensive expession before focusing on a rather hard to miss detail "(But moreover...They're huge...!)"

As a woman with a slim, yet average body shape, Naomi couldn't help but feel a bit shocked about the massive size of Vert's chest, along with feeling a bit low as well. This was something that didn't go unnoticed by Leanbox's CPU, who sweat dropped after feeling her piercing stare and seeing her sudden drop in mood.

"Well, I guess I'm next then" Said Noire with a smile while looking at her "My name is Noire, it's nice to meet you...Also, I'm sorry about what happened earlier."

"Please, don't worry about it...Also, it's nice to meet you too" She replied with a smile before going into pensive thought once more "(She's also really polite too, but why is she dressed like that? Or rather, why is the skirt so short? Isn't she worried someone may see her undies?)"

"I'm next..." Said Blanc this time, her monotone expression now focused towards her "I'm Blanc..."

A short moment of silence fell over the room at that moment. Everyone seemed to wait for her to say something, as it didn't feel like she had said everything she wished to say. Perhaps she was trying to think carefully about what to say, and decided to take a moment.

"...Nice to meet you..."

"(Eh!? That's all!?)" Thought Kenji's mother with widened eyes while sweat dropping, slightly surprised about the time Blanc took to say just that "(We-well, maybe she's just shy or something like that...Also, she's really small and cute, but she seems to be dressed a bit oddly too...Maybe she's also a foreigner?)"

"Hey...Is it just me, or is she...?" Asked Noire, who seemed to take notice of Naomi's constant pauses to dwelve into pensive thought, while sweat dropping

"Yeah...She's analizing us" Replied Blanc, who didn't seem all too bothered by it

"It seems she also has the tendency to get lost in thought easily, especially when analizing people" Added Vert with a weak smile and sweat dropping "They really are alike in that aspect"

After hearing them talk about her, Naomi managed to snap out of her train of thought and realize all stares were now on her. All clearly thinking about her little analisis.

"Ah!" She said while quickly panicking and putting both hands in front of her, along with a concerned expression "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean anything bad by it! It's just a bad habit I picked up at my job! I'm really sorry!"

"No, please don't worry about it. We were just surprised by how similar to Kenji you were just now"

Kenji's mother lowered her head once more to apologize while Vert tried to convince her not to feel bad about it and Kenji looked at both of them.

"(I...I don't look like that when I think about stuff...Do I?)" He wondered with slight concern in his expression while sweat dropping

"Okay! My turn now!" Said Neptune with a perky smile while raising her hand high up like a student in the middle of class, causing everyone's attention to be diverted towards her "My name is Neptune! And I'm...!"

At that moment, Kenji, Vert, Noire and Blanc broke a cold sweat. They were worried Neptune was about to say she was Planeptune's CPU, and she almost did before recalling Kenji's words. Unfortunately, it was too late to take that last part back.

Naomi's curious expression showed she wanted to know what the perky CPU was about to say, and she wouldn't be able to change the subject so easily. At least not in any way she knew.

For a moment of thought, Planeptune's CPU wondered what to say, completely out of ideas, before looking at the young man and suddenly getting the perfect idea, or at least what she considered the perfect idea, of what to say.

"...I'm Kenny's lover!"

At that moment, silence fell over the room once again, but for a completely different reason.

The three CPUs looked at her with a blush and widened eyes, unable to believe what she just said out loud. Kenji's expression was one of even more shock, with his mouth wide opened in a rather funny, almost cartoonish way. Kenji's mother didn't seem that shocked, but it was probably due to her brain not being able to process what she just heard. She merely looked at Neptune with widened eyes before the words finally seeped in.

"Eh?" She said before blinking twice, giving a head-start to everyone's reaction in an almost perfect synch "EHHHHHHH!?"

"Lo-Lovers!?" Said Noire with shock

"Oh, my...How blunt!" Added Vert, who seemed to have recovered the most, while blushing with slight surprise

"For that Neptune to say that...Unbelievable...!"

While Neptune believed that to be the perfect thing to say since she considered it to be true, her words came as a rather heavy shock due to how blunt they were, and the impact proved to be even more severe on Kenji's mother of all people.

"Lo-Lo-Lo-Lo-Lovers ! ? ! ?" Said Naomi in a rather concerning panic while stuttering, as if unable to form the word properly for a moment, before turning her head to look at his son "Kenji!? Is that true!?"

"Tha-That's wrong! We're not lovers!"

"There you go again, being all shy like that!" Said Neptune with a blush and a perky smile

"Kenji, I never thought you had that sort of taste!"

"I'm telling you that's not it!" Snarled the young man with a strong blush and a slight irritation while looking at her mother "Why does everyone keep saying that!?"

"Wait a moment, Neptune! What are you even saying now!?" Asked Noire with shock

Although Vert and those who lived in Planeptune were quite aware of the little relationship forming between Kenji and Neptune, along with the other CPUs getting suspicions, none of them actually thought they were solid and properly established lovers for real, which was part of what made such a blunt confession so shocking.

"I mean, I was worried about saying it before 'cause my fans may get sad and all, but everyone's really liking the romance stuff, so we may as well say it to the readers now!" Explained Neptune through her own logic "Besides, we've been living together for a while now, too!"

"Li-Living together!? You've been living together!?"

"Yeah! And not only that!" Replied Planeptune's CPU while recalling everything she and Kenji did together ever since they met "We've been living together, eating together, sleeping together, bathing together...!"

"Ba-Bathing! ? ! ?" Said Naomi and the CPUs, who were none the wiser about it either

"We even raised three kids together!"

"Wai-!"

With every word that came out of Neptune's mouth, the situation, along with the growing panic within Kenji's mother, got worse and worse. But it was the last one that truly broke everything beyond recovery.

"Ki-Ki-Ki-ki-Ki-Ki-Ki-Ki..." Muttered and stuttered Naomi while sweating profusely, her skin as pale as a ghost and her body shivering in fright

Right now, one could think Kenji's mother went through something traumatic rather than merely being told something shocking just by looking at her. Then again, the words she heard right now could very well count as something traumatic if misunderstood, which, unfortunately, is exactly what was happening right now.

She kept stuttering and mumbling, both shocked and terrified at the words she just heard, for a moment longer as her eyes seemed to become swirls before all of this insane flow of news was too much for her mind and heart to handle, resulting in her brain shutting off and her consciousness fading away as she passed out and flopped down on the couch.

"Mom!?" Said Kenji while quickly looking at her, feeling rather concerned about his mother's mental well-being "Hey, mom! Are you okay!? Hey!"

The young man shook his mother by the shoulders for a moment or two, trying to wake her up, but it was no use. Naomi was out cold.

After that short burst of crazyness, a few hours passed before Kenji's mother finally regained consciousness.

"Hmmm..."

Slowly, she opened her eyes and saw everything blurry at first. Once she managed to get rid of the initial drowsyness, Naomi noticed she was looking at the roof, most likely her room's roof. The room was dimly lit, with only the light from the hallway coming out through the door. And for some reason, her forehead felt wet too.

"Hmmmm...?"

"Oh, are you awake already?" Asked Vert's voice

When hearing the voice next to her, Kenji's mother turned her head and saw Vert sitting on a chair next to her bed. At first she felt confused, but looking at Leanbox's CPU suddenly made her remember what happened.

"Kenji!" She said quickly while sitting up, the wet piece of cloth on her forehead falling down onto her lap

"Please, take it easy" Replied Vert in an attempt to keep her calm while placing one hand on her shoulder to keep her from moving too abruptly "It's bad for your body to move so suddenly after what happened"

"Wha...What happened?"

"You lost consciousness during our conversation, so Kenji brought you up here to rest for the time being" She explained while grabbing the piece of cloth and putting it away.

After losing consciousness, Naomi was brought up to her room by Kenji to rest in a more comfortable place while Vert offered to look after her and try to explain what happened after she woke up.

"Oh...I see..." She said, seemingly still confused and slightly disoriented from just waking up, before looking at her "Where's Kenji?"

"He's downstairs having a...talk...with Neptune about what just happened" Replied Vert with a weak smile

As she said it, both women were suddenly able to hear the disscussion taking place downstairs, along with sounds of something being stretched in a very brutish way.

"Nepuaaaaaaghhhhh! ! !" Yelled Planeptune's CPU, her voice seemingly altered by the stretching of her face "Ke-Khena! Shtaaaaap!"

"Are you trying to give my mom a heart attack or something, you friggin' idiot!?" Replied the young man, clearly irritated quite a lot right now "The hell did you think was gonna happen if you said that!?"

"A-Am shorryyyy!"

The rather lively conversation lasted for a while longer as both women listened to it, each one with a different reaction of their own.

"And as you can see, he's indeed there" She replied with a smile, seemingly unconcerned about the nature of said discussion

"Erm...Will she be okay?"

"You mean Neptune?" Asked Leanbox's CPU while opening her eyes and looking at Naomi "I wouldn't worry too much about her. She may not look like it, but Neptune is quite a resilient individual, and I doubt Kenji would be rough enough to hurt her"

Once again, almost right after Vert said it, Neptune's yelling and incomprehensible rambling suddenly became much louder, seeding a slight concern within kenji's mother even more.

"We-Well...At least not in any severe way..." She said while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"I-I see..." Replied Naomi while sweat dropping as well for a moment before a thought suddenly ran through her head "Oh...Now that I think about it..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Of course. Go right ahead"

Kenji's mother was relieved to know of Vert's willingness to answer her doubts, but seemed a bit hesitant for a moment before finally asking the question that lingered within her mind.

"About Kenji and that girl...Are they really...like that?"

Vert didn't answer the question right away, as she was wondering whetever she meant the way they were arguing right about now or about Neptune's words. It didn't take too long for her to realize the answer was the latter.

In all honesty, it made her glad to see Kenji's mother held such an honest concern for his son, despite whatever may have happened between them before.

"That's...a bit of a complex question" She replied with a bit of a weak smile

"Complex?"

The answer seemed to take Naomi by surprise, if not confuse her slightly as well.

Leanbox's CPU wanted to give a clearer answer than that, but not even she could do such a thing. At least not that easily, since the relationship betwen Neptune and Kenji wasn't an easy one to explain in few words.

"I'm not fully sure about the answer myself, but I think there is indeed something between them" Replied Vert calmly as she tried coming up with a way to explain it without confusing her even further "From what I've seen, Neptune does have honest feelings for Kenji...I also think Kenji shares these feelings for her as well, but has yet to fully realize it himself"

"So...They love eachother?"

"I think so, yes...But both of them have to fully realize this, or rather, Kenji has yet to fully realize this"

"I see..." She replied before something else came to mind, which didn't seem all to good from the way her expression changed in a rather concerning way "The-Then, they don't really have any ki-ki-ki-ki-"

"N-No, no, no! They don't! It was just a phrasing mistake! A misunderstanding!" She said quickly while placing both hands in front of her and sweat dropping "You see, the thing is..."

For a moment, it seemed as though Naomi was about to have another panic attack after recalling Neptune's words, but Vert quickly spoke once more to calm her down and proceeded to give her a somewhat reasonable explanation. It was a rather difficult task, considering she had to explain things that happened between different dimensions and distorted timeframes in a way that would make it rational for an average person, not to mention everything she heard was all fragments from conversations with Kenji, Histoire and Neptune, but all those years spent playing alongside hardcore roleplayers in RPG and reading roleplay message boards gave her the ability to create convincing stories quite fast, making her able to handle this situation rather smoothly.

Instead of saying the story as it actually happened, Vert simply told her those two were actually helping look after the children of one of Neptune's relatives for a while, which wasn't exactly a lie if Plutia's status as a CPU of Planeptune was taken into account, and that they lived together initially not because of their relationship, but rather because Neptune offered Kenji a place to stay out of kindness after seeing him in need of help, as well as telling her about how Kenji helped her out whenever they were in a pinch quite a few times, which eventually resulted in them developing their current relationship.

She didn't quite make up a story to explain the bath part, but Kenji's mother didn't seem quite as bothered about it as before. Or at least she wasn't focused hard enough on it to be affected.

"And that's what really happened..."

"I think I get it now..." Said Naomi while looking at Vert and lowering her head slightly "Thank you...Also...I'm sorry about making you look after me..."

"Please, don't let it worry you. It's just natural for a mother to panic if they suddenly had to hear such things about their son"

"I-I guess so" She replied with a weak smile after raising her head and scratching her right cheek with her index finger

A moment of silence fell as Naomi lowered her head to look at her lap, a mixture of nostalgia and pensive thought mixing up into somewhat distant smile on her face as she reached one hard towards her chest, placing her fingers over the necklace hanging on her neck, or more specifically, on the sapphire connected to it.

"Finding the people who need it the most...I guess that's always been his specialty" She muttered to herself in a low voice

"Hm? What did you say?"

"N-No! It's nothing! I was just thinking outloud!" Said Naomi with a weak smile while looking at Vert once again and placing both hands in front of her

Vert couldn't help but feel curious about those words she muttered, but the expression on her face proved it wasn't something all that good, and that perhaps it would be better not to press on the issue.

As her mind tried to come up with something else to talk about, she diverted her eyes to look at the room and happened to notice a framed picture on the nigh table which caught her attention. Naomi was able to notice this and went ahead to point it out.

"Are you interested in that picture?" She asked, a more uplifted expression appearing on her face now "You can take a closer look if you want"

"Thank you...If you excuse me" Replied Vert with a smile before reaching out for the framed picture and looking at it more carefully.

Now that she could analize it more carefully, she noticed three people standing together, one of them being Naomi. Although her appearance wasn't quite that different, she seemed much younger in it, which meant that picture was most likely quite a few years old. Among the other two, one was a rather small and cute child wrapped in her arms, probably between 3 to 4 years old. He had clear blonde hair and big brown eyes, along with a wide and very heartwarming smile. Vert felt like she could stand there, looking at him almost the same way she'd look at the pictures of Rom she had secretly stashed in her room.

"(So this is how Kenji looked like at a young age...He was quite cute)" Thought Leanbox's CPU, who didn't need too much effort to figure out the child's identity, with a smile

After looking for a bit longer at the younger Kenji, Leanbox's CPU finally focused on the third and last one.

It was a middle-aged man. He had a rugged-face with a few wrinkles around his blue eyes, along with a dark blonde beard and hair, quite similar to Kenji's except that his hair was shorter. He was quite tall, perhaps even taller than Kenji by a head or so. Even though he was wearing a shirt, Vert could tell he had a burly, muscular build that could easily put even people half his age to shame. Despite this manly and hardened appearance, he had a calm and friendly smile that emanated a feeling of safety and confidence.

"Erm, excuse me for asking, but is the man in this picture..." Asked Vert while raising her gaze to look at Naomi

"Yes, that's Kenji's father...His name was Joel..."

"Joel..."

Leanbox's CPU focused on the picture once more, looking at the man who was Kenji's progenitor. On hindsight, he shared a lot of features with the young man. The only exception being his eye color and shape, which were slightly more similar to Naomi's.

In the middle of her analisis, though, Vert suddenly noticed something concerning about part of what Naomi said.

"Wait...Was?"

Naomi didn't reply for a moment, she simply lowered her gaze, focusing on the picture as well while recalling the man in it with a melancholic expression. This silence lasted for a moment or two before Kenji's mother was finally able to answer Vert's question, although without diverting her eyes from the picture.

"Kenji's father...Joel...He died in a car accident a few years ago" Replied Naomi with a slight, yet notable sadness in her tone

Leanbox's CPU's eyes widened in front of this revelation. She had imagined Kenji may not have shared a good relationship with his father due to how little he spoke about him, but this was far from what she imagined, or at least from what she hoped, to be the answer.

"Oh...I'm sorry..."

"It's okay. It happened a long time ago..."

A short moment of silence lasted between the two women as both tried to come up with a way to break it. Vert couldn't help but feel bad about bringing back such a sad memory and wished to say something to lift up the mood, but no words came to mind.

In the end, it was Naomi who broke the silence.

"By-By the way, you wouldn't know the hour, would you?" She asked with a weak smile, speaking the first thing that came to mind after looking out the window and noticing it was already getting dark.

"Eh? Erm..." Replied Vert after snapping out of her trance and looking around her at the window, then back at her "I'm not fully sure myself. But if I had to estimate, I'd say it's already past seven o' clock"

"I imagined it could be so" Replied Naomi before making a more uplifted smile "Say, would you and your friends like to join us for dinner?"

"Are you sure? I mean, we're quite a large group, after all..."

Vert was happy by Naomi's kind offer, but she couldn't help but feel concerned about the high costs of feeding so many people.

Just by looking around, it didn't seem as though Kenji's family suffered any economic difficulties. Even so, feeding six people would be difficult and cost quite a lot for a middle-class family such as this one.

"Of course I am!" Said Kenji's mother before moving the blankets off of herself and sitting on the edge of the bed ""Food is always better when shared with more people...And besides, I want to know more about the time you and Kenji spent together"

"I see...In that case, I'll gladly take you up on your offer" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a cheerful smile before it suddenly became a weak one as she sweat dropped "(With that said, though...How should I explain the events that transpired?)"

As the worry of how to create such a convincing story for everything that happened lingered within her mind, the two women went downstairs to find Kenji and the four CPUs sitting down on the couch. Noire turning her head from one side to the other to look at her surroundings, seemingly curious about the house itself while Blanc distracted herself with a book she borrowed from a bookshelf laying against the wall just a few feet from them. Kenji simply laid down on the couch in the same way he always did on Planeptune's couch while Neptune laid down on it as well with her head resting on the arm, both her cheecks red like tomatoes as she rubbed them to try and make it heal faster.

"uuuuuuuhhhhh, my poor cheeks...You're awful, Kenny!" She said, a slight sadness in her tone before it became irritation "What'cha gonna do if my cute face gets all swollen!? How am I gonna explain that to my fans!?"

"I'm sure you'll find a way"

"You demon! devil! eggplant! Generic character!"

"What was that?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at her with a rather scary stare in his eyes

"Nothing!"

"I see...Then it's okay"

While the two talked without a single care in the world, Vert and Naomi looked at them after going down the stairs.

"See? They're already getting along again" Said Vert with a smile

"I-I see..." She replied while sweat dropping with a weak smile "(I'm not all too sure if you could call that "Getting along", though...)"

Somehow, Kenji's mother couldn't really feel the "love" part showing between those two, but she could certainly feel good synergy between them for some reason. Perhaps this was merely just a petty argument typical of couples? One way or the other, it was too soon for her to discern this merely by looking at it.

While Vert approached the others and told them about having dinner together, Naomi made her way to the kitchen to make something to eat.

Some of the CPUs asked if it was okay, just the same way as Vert did, but Leanbox's CPU assured them it was indeed okay with Kenji's mother, as she was the one who suggested it.

Nearly an hour went by as sounds of fire and grilling kept coming from the kitchen before suddenly stopping, most likely meaning Naomi was done.

Although they couldn't help with the cooking, the CPUs and the young man helped set up the table. Well, or at least Noire and Vert tried to while Neptune laid down on the couch and Blanc remained with her focus on the book she currently had, which seemed to be about an 80 day adventure across the world, according to what could be read from the cover.

Once everything was set and everyone sat on the table, Naomi proceeded to serve what she prepared. It was smothered hamburgers with mashed potatoes, all of it smothered in brown gravy.

At first she couldn't help but worry that she couldn't make anything better for her guests, but the CPUs were actually quite happy with this dinner, especially Neptune, who didn't hesitate to stuff her mouth as full as she could.

"Sho good! Thish shtuff ish sho good!" Said Planeptune's CPU with a muffled tone due to everything inside her mouth being in the way.

"Don't talk with your mouth stuffed" Said Kenji, who was sitting next to her, while looking at her and sweat dropping with a somewhat exhausted expression

"That's right, Neptune! That's terrible table manners!" Added Vert while looking at her and speaking with a scolding tone before turning her head to look at Blanc "And you too, Blanc. Reading on the table is also unpolite"

"It's okay, I'll find a good stopping point soon..."

"Urgh...Green Peas again...Why did it have to be green peas?" Wondered Noire while looking at the green peas on the side next to the mashed potatoes

Among this ruckus of conversations, scolding and oppinions, Naomi looked at the CPUs and at the young man instantly tagging along with the flow.

Within her mind, she couldn't help but remember those times she had to eat by herself in silence or with Kenji, who at the time would eat quietly, without saying a word and leaving right away. Unlike those gloomy times, tonight's dinner was just as lively as if it was a party, filled with voices and people sharing some time together and talking with each other, and Kenji forming part of it as well. It honestly made her remember those time back when Kenji's father was still with them, and it made her happy to see this. Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel a bit left out as she was hardly doing anything to contribute to this liveliness. Even so, she wasn't quite sure what to talk about either.

"Mom?"

Naomi's train of thought was spiraling deeper and deeper by the moment, but it got suddenly cut off by Kenji's voice calling out to her.

"Yes?" She said quickly by turning her head to look at him

"Are you okay?"

"Ah! So-sorry, I was kind of thinking about some stuff!" She said with a weak smile

Kenji couldn't help but feel she wasn't being fully honest, but pressing the matter probably wouldn't help anyone.

"Oh, okay..."

"Erm, by the way, Kenji..."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"I didn't notice this before, but you seem to have gotten a lot more muscular"

"Now that you mention it, I guess I did" He said while looking at his arms, then at his torso

"You didn't notice up until now?" Asked Noire while looking at him and sweat dropping

Although she wasn't able to notice due to the heartwarming reunion and the chaos from before, Naomi came to realize Kenji's musculature changed a lot since the last time she saw him. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he became more or less twice as muscular as before. Kenji didn't really keep check of this nor worried about it too much, so he hardly felt bothered by it.

"I've been wondering this, but what have you been doing this last 3 months?"

"Three months?" Asked Kenji while looking at her "(So that's the amount of time that went by since I left, huh?)"

"Kenji?"

"Ah! So-sorry! I've got kind of lost in though for a moment there!" Replied the young man with a weak smile before trying to come up with an answer "Well, I've been...erm..."

"He's been practicing boxing" Interrupted Vert

Once again, it was Leanbox's CPU who jumped in to save the day.

Although Kenji had a hard time coming up with something that could explain his growth of muscle in such a limited span of time, Vert was quick to take a reference from one of her dating games. And on hindisght, it was the perfect alibi.

Boxing was a sport that required quite a lot of training and dedication, resulting in an individual developing quite a stunning increase of body musculature through enough time.

"Boxing?"

"That's right!"

"Huh...I never though you liked boxing..." Said Naomi, quite surprised with the news, before worry suddenly showed in her expression "Wa-wait! Isn't boxing dangerous!? People usually get broken bones and concussions when boxing,don't they!?"

"Well, I can't deny getting a few punches is usually a downside of such a sport, but you don't need to worry about any severe injures. Protective gear is a strictly-followed rule when training, after all" Explained Vert to try and ease her worry "And Kenji here has proven to be actually quite a skilled fighter"

"That's right, that's right! Kenny beats all the baddies in a flash!" Added Neptune with a perky smirk

"Even so..."

Looking at his mother, Kenji could tell Neptune and Vert's words didn't fully erase her worries. This made him feel a bit bad, but it's not like he could lie and make it convincing without a bit of a downside.

"(If that's bad, then she'd definitely get a heart attack from hearing the truth)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping as he recalled the severe and sometimes horrible injuries he received while fighting against the strongest of enemies

After that somewhat difficult explanation, everything else went rather smoothly. Most of the conversation circled around questions about Kenji's time spent with the CPUs, but they weren't that hard to answer, and some of them didn't even need to be made up either. Pretty much the largest changes were about them being CPUs, instead being human girls and instead of being a hunter for the guild, Kenji got a part-time job as a waiter at a restaurant.

Although hastily made and lacking a bit of deeper explanation in some parts, Kenji's mother believed it nonetheless. Seemingly more interested in the life Kenji has been building up for himself rather than worried about his "passion" as a boxer.

They kept talking on and on about these stories until everyone was finally done eating. And by the time the dishes were all washed and stored tidly back in place, the CPUs all gathered on the main hallway.

"Well, I guess we should take our leave" Said Vert with a smile

"Eh? Are you sure?" Asked Naomi while looking at her with a surprised expression "It's already gotten very dark out there"

"Don't worry about it, we can look after ourselves when we're together like this"

"And just where are you gonna go anyway?" Asked Kenji this time

"Well, we don't have any proper place to stay, so I guess we'll go to an hotel or something of the sort"

"There's no hotel anywhere in this part of town"

"Eh?"

After hearing Kenji's blunt reply, the CPUs all replied at the same time. It seems none of them knew of this little detail.

"As far as I know, the closest hotel is around two hours away from here, and that's if you take the bus"

"We-Well I guess we'll have to-"

"Also, how are you even gonna rent a room without a single penny?" Interrupted Kenji, further proving his point

Just as the young man said, the closest hotel was too far away for a trip at this late in the night, and the CPUs wouldn't even be able to rent a room even if they made it all the way there since this world had a different kind of currency focused around dollars rather than credits.

"...I guess there's no choice" Said Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"With that said, though, where are we even supposed to sleep in?" Asked Noire this time.

In the end, the CPUs gave in and decided to stay. Now the problem was where they'd sleep, as there was only one guest room, and the bed could only fit one, probably two people at most if they stuck together closely.

"You can sleep in my room if you want, I'll just use the couch here or something" Said the young man while pointing at the living room

"That won't do, Kenji" Said Vert, this time her gaze diverted towads him with a slightly more stern look "I do appreciate the gesture, but making you sleep on the couch of your own house while we take your room wouldn't be right at all. And besides, it's not like your room can fit all of us anyway, right?"

"We-well, I guess that's true" Replied Kenji while sweat dropping

"Oh, I know! How about we get lots of blankets and make one big bed on the floor!" Suggested Neptune "Kinda like a classic japanese bed or a big sleepover!"

Everyone's gaze focused now on Planeptune's CPU and thought about what she said. Although somewhat simple, it was actually quite a decent idea.

"Hm...Now that I think about it, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea!" Said Vert

"Making the best out of the little space we have available...A classic custom of eastern people indeed..."

Once everyone agreed on this, Naomi picked up a few extra blankets and bedding along with a few cushions from the couches as pillows to make a few makeshift beds on the guest room. Surprisingly enough, they made for a rather decent and comfortable set of beds.

Certainly, they were not like the beds the CPUs were used to, but there was something oddly amusing about sleeping all together in such a way, and they could just move down and use the couches if it got uncomfortable anyway.

While the CPUs set themselves up in the guest room with Naomi's help, Kenji went into his room.

"Man, it's sure been a while since I've been here" He muttered to himself while walking inside

It didn't seem quite as small as he recalled, but still somewhat smaller than the room he was given back during his stay in Lastation. The floor did seem a bit cleaner than before too. Perhaps his mother tried tidying up a bit while he was gone.

One way or the other, he didn't put too much thought into it. He had a rather long day and only wanted to lay down and sleep.

*Scene*

"Seriously, Twinkie...You're always so serious" Said a female voice softly before it changed into a somewhat playful tone "Then again, I guess that's part of what I like about you"

The voice then giggled, as if she found her own words funny. Perhaps because of the slight contradiction in them.

As he came to, Kenji realized he was once again reliving the memory of him sitting cross legged with a girl on his lap, leaning her back gently against him as he wrapped both arms. The first memory that began to linger within his mind and the one that began all of this. An odd and fragmented, yet clear and very warm memory that kept repeating itself quite few times already.

Surprisingly enough, this time something was different. Not only could he feel her warmth, but he could also hear her voice. He couldn't quite recall where he heard it before, but it felt soothing, calming, almost like a lullaby, or even a sweet song. Just hearing it made a strong warmth emanate from his chest, making his body move on its own and wrap his arms tighter around her.

Just who on earth was this woman? Why did she make these feelings surge from within him? And most importantly, just what was this woman to Kenji?

It was hard for him to think clearly for some reason, but he could tell one thing. She had to be someone important to him if just one memory of her was enough to alter his heart in such a way.

Kenji rested his head on her right shoulder and closed his eyes,dwelving deep into this calm for a while longer, but it was then that a new voice echoed from within the darkness, breaking the silence with words that etched an eerie sense of dread within him.

"I'm sorry, Cocoa..." Said a voice that sounded exactly like kenji's

At that moment, the young man quickly opened his eyes and saw the roof of his room. The light of the sun coming in through the window's glass, signaling it was already daytime once more.

"(Whe-Where...?)" Wondered the young man, seemingly confused about his whereabouts for a moment or two before the drowsyness faded away, allowing his mind to recall the events that took place so far "(Oh...Right)"

Slowly, Kenji sat up and looked out the window, seeing the streets and other houses outside. The light of morning falling upon them, bringing a start to a new day.

"(I made it back here...To my own world)" He thought while looking at the world outside

The trip back to his world, the reunion with his mother and the events that took place yesterday. All of these memories flashing back within his mind as his stare remained focused on the outside. This moment of pensive thought was interrupted after Kenji suddenly realized the odd feeling circling around his waist, almost as if something was wrapped around it.

"(Hm?)"

Out of curiosity, the young man lowered his head and removed the blankets.

Right next to him, sleeping soundly, was Neptune. Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist as she pressed her head against him, seemingly using him as if he was a hugging pillow, or something of the sort. Her hoodie nowhere to be seen, with her underwear as the only thing covering her.

"(Oh, it's just Neptune...)" Thought Kenji with a slight sense of relief while raising his head to look forward, remaining calm for a moment before his eyes suddenly widened after his mind processed what he just saw "(Wait...)"

Once again, the young man looked down at Planeptune's CPU, this time reacting more properly. And by properly, I mean with shock.

"Wha-What the hell! ? ! ?" He yelled loud enough for probably the whole house to hear him

"Hmmm?"

Due to his loud reaction, Neptune mumbled for a moment before waking up and opening her eyes slowly. At first she was too drowsy to notice anything around him, but it slowly faded away as she sat up as well and looked around her, with Kenji being the first thing she noticed.

"Good morning, Kenny" She said with a clumsy smile while looking at him

"Don't "Good morning" Me!" He replied with a slight irritation "When the hell did you get into my bed!? Or rather, why are you even in my bed to begin with!?"

"Seriously, why are you so loud this early in the morning?" She replied while looking at him with certain exhaustion "You're gonna go bald and wrinkled if you get angry this early in the morning"

"Don't dodge the question!"

Out of all the things he expected to happen the following morning, this was not among those Kenji expected, and it was clear by his irritated tone that he didn't like Neptune's sneaky infiltration into his bed at all.

"I mean, we're lovers and this fanfiction's OTP, right?" Said Planeptune's CPU with a perky smile and a blush while placing both hands on her hips, now fully awake once more "It's just a given we'd do fanservice and romantic stuff like sleeping together!"

"I really can't keep up with your logic sometimes, you know?"He replied while looking at her and sweat dropping before closing his eyes lowering his head slightly "Well, whatever...Just go back before the others wake up. Last thing I need is to give everyone else another misunderstanding"

"Seriously, you're no fun, Kenny! At least try to amuse the fans every now and then!" Said Neptune while getting up on her feet on the bed

"Well, sorry for not being the funny type"

"It's okay! Not everyone can be prime main character material like me!"

"Just go back already!" Said the young man with a popped vein mark on his forehead.

"Aye sir!"

Planeptune's CPU began walking towards the edge of the bed to get off, but her foot suddenly got caught in the blankets, causing her to lose her balance and fall forward towards Kenji, who got pushed towards the edge of the bed as well and fell down.

"Whoa!?"

"Nepu!"

Both of them fell down to the floor while tangled up in the blankets, causing a loud crashing sound as they fell down on the ground.

"Owowowow..." Said Kenji while scratching the top of his head

At the same time, the door suddenly opened, revealing Naomi walking in.

"Kenji! I just heard a loud sound! Are you oka-?"

After hearing the loud crashing sounds coming from within the young man's room, his mother couldn't help but worry something bad may have happened. This led her to go into the room and check out if he was okay. Unfortunately, that would do anything but help.

As she opened the door and looked inside, Kenji's mother saw him lying down on the ground with Neptune sitting on top of him, with her lower half quite close to his face, to be more precise. The fact this pose could easily be misunderstood by a rather indecent act and the fact Kenji was half-naked, along with Neptune being in nothing but her underwear, opened path for a rather bad outcome.

"Ah..."

"Eh?" Said the young man while opening his eyes to look at her, slightly confused by her expression, before noticing Neptune's current position and realizing what was probably happening right "Ah!"

"Ah! Good morning, Kenny's mom!"

A short moment of silence went by as both people remained still, looking at each other in complete silence, unable to come up with what to say. Except for Neptune, of course, who didn't seem to even understand the situation right now.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-s-s-s" Stuttered Kenji's mother for a moment with a strong blush before suddenly yelling it out with her eyes closed "Sorry for interrupting!"

As suddenly as she arrived, Naomi quickly shut the door closed and ran away from the scene, her face red as a tomato due to what she just witnessed, or rather, the misunderstanding she just ended up with.

"He-Hey! Wait a moment! You've got it all wrong!" Yelled the young man while trying to reach towards the door, with to no avail

"This is bad, Kenny! We got found out by your momma!" Said Neptune witha blush and a slightly embarassed, yet playful expression

"No, we didn't!" Snarled the young man while looking at her again "We weren't doing anything to begin with, and get off of me already!"

After that unfortunate accident, Neptune quietly picked up her hoodie and shoes and went back to the room where the other CPUs were staying at. Meanwhile, the young man got dressed and went downstairs, hoping to find a way to clear the misunderstanding.

The rest of the morning was a rather awkward time, so much that Kenji even decided to go out on a short trip to a grocery business to buy some extra groceries for lunch just to get away from that atmosphere for at least a little bit.

"(Man...It's not even mid-day yet and I'm already tired)" He thought while sweat dropping with his eyes closed and sighing "(How am I even gonna explain what happened back there?)"

"Oh, what's wrong, Kenji? You don't seem to be doing very good today" Asked Vert while looking at him as she walked alongside him

"I just had a rough morning, that's all" He replied calmly

"Is that so?"

Naomi didn't make any mention of what she saw earlier during breakfast, but her silence and expression made it rather easy for Leanbox's CPU to realize something was off.

"Could it have something to do with whatever you and Neptune were doing together earlier this morning?" She asked with a playful smirk while leaning her upper body forward

Vert's sudden question caused the young man to blush strongly as he turned his head to look at her, quite shocked by her knowledge about the events that took place without her prescence.

"Ho-How did you-!?"

"Oh, Kenji. You should already be aware of this, but I've got my ways of knowing things such as these" Replied Vert with confidence

Although she didn't get to see both of them together, Vert caught a glimpse of Neptune sneaking into the young man's room in the middle of the night while she was coming back from a trip to the bathroom. And not only that, but she also caught a glimpse of her coming back, still in her underwear, before Noire and Blanc woke up. Seeing Naomi's expression and the awkwardness between them during breakfast was the last confirmation she needed.

"I understand you're still in the most passionate stages of your relationship, but to think the two of you would do such a thing right under your mother's roof!"

"We didn't do anything! It's a misunderstanding!" He replied with a bit of a panic

"Well, if that's what you say. I'll just have to take your word for it" She replied while walking forward with both hands behind her back, along with her eyes closed and a rather satisfied smirk on her face "But you shouldn't worry so much about it. There's nothing wrong about having special tastes, after all"

"Like I said, It's a misunderstanding! And for the millionth time, I don't have any special tastes!" He said with his eyes closed and an even stronger blush "Is that turning into a running gag or something!?"

In front of his panic, irritation and embarassment, Leanbox's CPU gave a slight giggle. She was already aware that the couple most likely didn't do anything erotic, but she couldn't help but want to tease him a little. After all, Purple Heart wasn't the only one that enjoyed getting such reactions out of him.

Planeptune's CPU did it because she found the discrepancy between his manly body and attitude and his rather innocent reactions and tendency to get embarassed easily cute, but Vert did it mostly because she found it amusing. Not as much as when doing it to Nepgear, of course, but it certainly helped to put the mind and heart at ease, along with being a good way to get some daily enjoyment.

"By the way, Vert...Mind if ask you something?"

"Hm? What is it?" She asked after snapping out of her train of thought and opening her eyes to look at him

"Why did you tag along? And more importantly, why are you dressed like that?"

"Oh"

Although he was still slightly embarassed about Vert's little tease, Kenji's mind was able to take these facts into account. And out of curiosity, along with the hope they'd be a good way to change the subject, he decided to ask.

Unlike her usual princess-like dress, Vert was now wearing a long, with a black stripped blouse under a denim jacket and grey, thight jeans that reached down to half her calves, along with a pair of white shoes.

"Well, there's not much to do in your home at the moment, so I thought learning a bit more about the surrounding areas would be useful in case we needed to move about by ourselves in the near future. Besides, it's always good to stretch one's legs by taking a walk every now and then"

"I see...I guess it makes sense" Replied Kenji while thinking about her answer

"And regarding these clothes, your mother was kind enough to lend them to me when I told her I'd go along with you" Explained Vert to him before lowering her head slightly and taking a look at her chest while using one finger to pull on the top "With that said, though, they're a bit...tight...around certain areas. Especially my chest"

True to her words, Naomi's clothes seemed to fit Vert's body surprisingly well due to both of them having a slim build. Unfortunately, they were rather tight around the chest area, and also a bit around her hips. Kenji couldn't help but blush slightly at this rather tempting view, but tried not to stare too much, as it would only give Vert yet another chance to tease him.

"Somehow, I get the feeling she won't be able to use those clothes anymore..." He said while sweat dropping after coming to realize just how stretched that top would be afterwards

"Yeah...I suppose I'll have to apologize about that later as well..." Replied Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile.

Along with the obvious stretching making those clothes no longer usable for his mother, the young man couldn't help but feel like this large difference of womanly proportions may come up as a low blow to her self-esteem as a woman.

The two of them kept walking and doing small talk for a while longer before finally reaching a grocery business.

It wasn't quite a big place and the selection wasn't very varied like in larger supermarkets, but the location just outside of of the residential area made it quite convenient for those that didn't want to make a long trip to a supermarket downtown or had no car nor anyone with one to accompany them.

Using a small list given to the young man by Naomi, the two of them split appart and searched for the goods. Fortunately, the store had everything they needed, making it rather easy to gather everything in the list before regrouping on the counter and paying for the groceries.

On the way back, Kenji carried most of the bags while Vert carried a couple as well. And as the two of them walked back, the young man's mind thought about a box of twinkies he passed through while searching for groceries, which in turn made him think about that memory once more while making a pensive expression. This was something that Vert didn't fail to notice.

"(Cocoa...Why did I-?)"

"Kenji? What's wrong?"

"N-No, nothing" He said quickly after snapping out of his trance and turning his head to look at her while sweat dropping with a weak smile "I was just thinking about something, that's all"

"May I ask what?"

Leanbox's CPU wasn't exactly that curious about it, but Kenji didn't get lost in thought unless it was something bad, or at least moderately serious, and she couldn't help but feel concerned about this.

The young man looked at Vert for a moment, seemingly thinking about something in silence before looking forward again and answering her question.

"Not much, really. I was just thinking about a dream I had last night"

"A dream?" Asked the surprised CPU "What kind of dream?"

Vert was partly surprised Kenji hardly hesitated to tell her, but the young man didn't think too hard about it. He knew she didn't mean to pry in any bad way, and telling her a lie wouldn't make any sense either, especially when she was so skilled at detecting them right away.

"Do you remember that memory I told you about? The one where I'm hugging a girl?"

"Yes"

"Well, it was about that one"

"I see..."

Vert looked intently at Kenji, thinking about his words once more.

Back when the young man visited Leanbox and told her everything about his mother, he also did mention the gap in his memories with some of them randomly popping up lately every now and then at random, with that one in particular appearing quite a few times ever since he first saw it. Mostly in his sleep or when he began to daydream. At the start this seemed like a good signal since it meant Kenji's memory was starting to restore itself, but this was a subject of worry for Vert. Or rather, something regarding this was worrying her. The core of the concern being not the memories themselves nor his amnesia, but rather the cause behind the amnesia in the first place.

According to a medicine and psychology expert Vert knew from her MMORPG's guild, memory loss was in no way something common or that should be taken lightly.

For an individual's memories to be affected, he or she had to suffer some sort of physical or emotional trauma strong enough to force the brain to blur or forget a certain memory of the event in order to protect itself. In the worst of cases, causing the individual's mind to completely erase his memories in order to avoid the psyche from collapsing entirely. And even then, the person's emotional state would definitely end up suffering a serious blow in one way or the other. This seemed to be the case for Kenji, and it was clear in his behavior when they initially met.

At that time, Vert thought he was merely an extremely stubborn and reckless man, but she quickly came to realize this wasn't bravery, but a strong apathy. In other words, an utter lack of concern for one's own well-being or safety. Whetever it was living, fighting, getting hurt, breaking bones or even dying, it was all the same to the young man. He didn't care in the least about it, or rather, he was unable to care about it. This definitely was, according to that expert's words, the result of a traumatic event that shook the young man's mind right down to the very core, forcing him to kill his ability to feel for the sake of retaining his sanity.

The missing memories suddenly beginning to resurface were most likely the result of his memory starting to heal due to his psyche improving over the time he spent with the CPUs, but the worry that hit her was that whatever they were hiding, it could most likely be a horrible trauma, an event so gruesome, so horrible and so devastating, that it was possible his psyche could suffer some severe damage once more if he were to remember everything. And it was this that arose a question within her.

If those memories really enclosed such a horrible past, such a horrible trauma capable of turning a cheerful and happy child into a wretched and apathetic man, were they really worth remembering? Wouldn't it be better to just let them locked away? lost within the darkest, deepest corners of his mind and past?

Vert wanted to ask him this, she wished to suggest this to him, but there was no way she could do it. The young man had already made his mind up to restore his memory, and she had no business in it. She had no right to reject nor deny him of his past, and she knew it.

"It was kind of similar to before, except that this time she talked with me" Said the young man, breaking Leanbox's CPU out of her train of thought

"She talked?" Asked Vert, her eyes widened with surprise after hearing this piece of information "And what did she say?"

"She said something about me being too serious all the time"

"Anything else?"

"Not really, though...She did call me by an odd name, though" Replied the young man with a pensive expression while raising one eyebrow and looking upwards to the sky

"What name?"

A short moment of silence suddenly fell between the two of them before Kenji finally broke it.

"You promise not to laugh?"

"Eh?"

"You have to promise me you won't laugh...Otherwise I won't tell you"

"Erm...Sure?"

Vert was slightly confused by his sudden request, but it seemed important to him for some reason. So much, that he was even trying to make her promise to keep it a secret.

"That didn't sound very honest, you know?"

"Kenji, I won't laugh, I promise...So please, tell me"

Seeing the young man wasn't playing around here, Leanbox's CPU decided to make a more honest promise. With everything that was coursing through her mind right now, she didn't really feel like whatever Kenji said would be able to make her laugh, though.

"...Twinkie"

"Eh?"

"She called me"Twinkie"..."

A short moment of silence went by as Vert looked at Kenji with widened eyes and he looked away from her, his expression impossible to discern from her angle, but the slight blush in his face still noticeable. She kept looking at him for a moment or two, the word repeating itself in her mind once more before a little smile formed on her face as she held back a bit of a laugh. Unfortunately, this didn't go unnoticed by the young man.

"Hey. You laughed just now, didn't you?" He asked bluntly while turning his head to look at her

"N-No, I didn't" She replied while trying to hold back the laugh, but failed to do so completely

"You did laugh! Or rather, you are STILL laughing!"

"M-My apologies, Kenji! It's just..." Said Vert before being unable to hold back anymore "It is, in fact, quite a fitting nickname"

Truth to be told, Leanbox's CPU didn't laugh because of the name "twinkie" itself, but rather because of how cute and surprisingly fitting it was, consideing Kenji's blonde hair could indeed be thought to make one think about a twinkie's yellow-ish color.

Kenji didn't find it very funny, though. In fact, he was feeling quite embarassed right about now.

"Ah, forget it! I knew I should've kept my mouth shut!" Said the young man with an irritated tone and a strong blush as he turned around and walked faster

"Ah! Wait, Kenji!"

Leanbox's CPU quickly hastened her step to catch up to the young man, whose blush was still brightly red.

By the time they made it back to Kenji's home, Vert managed to stop laughing and he had calmed down a bit, but he still made sure to make Leanbox's CPU promise she wouldn't tell anyone about it. Little did either of them imagine what would happen once they went back inside.

"Hey, we're back" Said Kenji after opening the door and going inside

"So cute! !"

"Hm?"

"Oh? That sounded like Neptune..."

After hearing Planeptune's CPU yelling so loudly, both Kenji and Vert followed the voice into the living room, where they saw her, Noire, Blanc and Naomi gathered around, seemingly oggling something intensely. And whatever it was, they seemed to be enjoying it quite a lot.

"Look at this one. It's one of my favorites" Said Naomi cheerfully while pointing at something hidden away among the circle they were making

"Ahhhhh! He's hugging a little bear!"

"(Bear?)"

Out of curiosity, the young man walked a few steps forward and leaned towards them to look over Neptune and Noire's heads. What he saw made him break a cold sweat and go blue from sheer shock.

Laying down on the table, there was a large book opened. And in it, there were dozens of pictures of a small baby dressed in blue pajamas. Among those pictures, one was of the child sleeping peacefully on his crib or while leaning onto his mother's chest, another one of him hugging a teddy bear that was almost his size, and another was of him simply sitting down on the floor, looking up at the camera with a tilted head and a curious expression. Truly, the little child's cuteness and innocent look were more than enough to charm any woman, and the CPUs seemed to have already fallen for this charm.

Putting all of that aside, they didn't seem very shocking or capable of disturbing an individual in the way they were doing to Kenji right about now, or at least they wouldn't if it weren't for the fact the young man recognized those as the old pictures his mother took of him back when he was still a toddler. Not exactly something he'd want to show to everyone.

"He-Hey! The hell are you all doing with that!?" He asked loudly, causing everyone's attention to be diverted towards him

"Ah, Kenji! Welcome back!" Said Naomi with a cheerful smile after noticing his son's prescence

"Don't "Welcome back" me! What the heck are you doing showing that to them!?"

"Oh, you mean this?" She asked while looking at the picture album "Your friends happened to find it while helping me tidy up the living room, and they were really curious, so we took a break to look at it"

"So cute! Baby Kenny is sooooo cute!" Said Neptune while blushing with a smile "I'd totally be okay with you getting an OC power that turned you into a baby so I'd get to cuddle you!"

"Who the hell would want an useless power like that!?"

"I honestly imagined you'd look grumpier as a toddler...but I guess I was wrong" Said Blanc without diverting her attention away from the pictures, a small smile appearing on her face.

"It's kind of a shame your face went so grumpy over the years" Added Noire while looking at him with a smirk

"The heck is that supposed to mean!?" He asked with an irritated tone and a blush while looking at Lastation's CPU "Either way, stop looking at them already!"

"Looking at what?" Asked Vert while walking closer "What is everyone looking at?"

"You stay away!" He quickly said while turning his head to look at her

"Ah, Vert! Good timing!" Said Neptune while turning her head to look at Leanbox's CPU "Come look! There's a lot of Kenny's baby pictures!"

"Really!?" She asked, a strong interest easy to notice in her tone, before suddenly moving past Kenji and leaning forward "Let me see!"

Since just a picture of him back when he was four years old was enough to strike her fancy, baby pictures would definitely be even better. With this in mind, Leanbox's CPU didn't even hesitate to leap forward and get a good look at them.

"Ahhhhh, you're right!" She said with a smile and a blush "There are so many pictures! And they're really cute too!"

"Right, right!?"

"Yes, they're all really cute" Added Kenji's mother with a smile before turning the page and pointing at one "But this one is among my favorites!"

"Oh!? You're giving him a bath on this one! And it's on the sink too!" Said Neptune, a mixture of surprise and happyness in hertone

"WHAT! ? ! ? ! ? ! ?"

"No way! He could fit on a sink!?" Added Noire with widened eyes

"Yes, he was very small back then, and I always feared he could drown on a bathtub, so the only way to give him a bath was by using the sink" Replied Naomi "He always seemed to enjoy it, though"

"You people...!" Said the young man while clenching a fist with his eyes closed, a rather thick vein popping on his forehead along with a very strong blush, before yelling loud enough to make the whole neighboorhood hear it "STOP LOOKING! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"

*Scene*

"So everyone made it through safely?" Asked Histoire over Kenji's portable device

"Yes. Fortunately, none of us got harmed during the procedure" Replied Vert while looking at the oracle "And we managed to regroup rather quickly as well"

"I see...Itseems luck was on our side this time around" She said with a relieved expression before something caught her attention "by the way, where is Kenji? It's rather unusual for someone else to answer in his stead"

"Well, about that..."

Vert made a weak smile and sweat dropped for a moment, causing Histoire's curiosity to increase, before moving her head slightly sideways and showing the young man just a couple of feet behind her. He was sitting on the edge of his bed with both hands placed on his lowered head while the elbows were rested on his thights, along with a gloominess emanating so strongly from within him that one could almost see the black aura of despair emanating around him.

"They saw...They saw everything..." He muttered with a very heavy and gloomy tone

"Is that...Kenji?" Asked Histoire with widened eyes and a bit of a surprise in her expression from seeing him in such a state

"Yeah..."

"What on Earth happened to him?"

"Well, I guess you could say he took a bit of a debuff earlier" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a weak smile

"And it was super effective..." Added Blanc while looking at him with a monotone expression

"I-Is that so?" Asked the tome while sweat dropping

Due to the revelation of Kenji's pictures from his years as a toddler being shown to everyone, including those which showed some of his most embarassing moments, the young man caused quite an uproar, and it probably would've lasted far longer if it weren't for the fact Kenji's portable device suddenly received a call in the midst of it all.

As impossible as it may have seemed before, the Oracle used her knowledge of interdimensional travel, along with the previously set coordinates, to send a signal across dimensions hoping Kenji's device would be able to receive it. In other words, almost the same as a satellite and a TV or a radio device, except that in an interdimensional scale.

Eager to talk with the tome, the four CPUs made haste upstairs and into Kenji's room along with him to answer her call. And once the young man calmed down, the irritation and embarassment turned into a gloom, and quite the intense one at that.

"Erm...Is he going to be all right?" She asked with a slight concern in her tone

"There is no need to worry, I'm sure he'll recover shortly afterwards" Replied Leanbox's CPU calmly before making a weak smile and sweat dropping once again "At least...I think he will..."

"I don't think he'll be recovering any time soon, to be honest" Added Noire, who looked at him and sweat dropped as well

Just looking at the young man's current state made the tome wonder just what on earth could cause him to end up in such away, but her attention was suddenly taken by something else.

"Anyway, Histoire...There is something I'd like to ask you" Said Vert while diverting her gaze once again towards Planeptune's oracle, her expression now stern "Do you have any idea what could have happened to cause the warp's malfunction?"

"Ah, yes..." Replied Histoire, now her gaze once again focused on Vert and her expression just as serious as hers, except that slightly more apologetic "I'm afraid I can't tell for certain what went wrong, but I do have a few hypotesis that could partially explain it"

Planeptune's oracle couldn't come up with an explanation that could make sense out of everything that happened, but she could make a group of conjectures about the multiple events that took place.

"For starter's, the fact I was unnable to stop the process in any way wasn't merely the raw power of the warp was too much to handle, but because I was denied access to it"

"Denied access? Is something like that even possible?" Asked Noire, surprised by the tome's words

"I'm not sure...Such a thing has never happened to me before, and I couldn't find anything that could explain this despite searching through the interdimensional section of my manual for the last three days"

"Three days? But it's only been a day and half at most over here" Said Vert

"I explained this before, but time flows differently in each dimension" Replied the tome "It seems time flows at around half the speed of ours in that dimension"

The CPUs, with the exception the young man and Neptune, who was nowhere to be seen, were very surprised by this information. They did hear about this from them before, but it still felt unreal to experience it in the flesh.

"As far as I'm concerned, there are two possible scenarios. Either there's some detail about the process or of my limitations which I'm still unaware of, or some outside force forcibly interrupted my ability to interfere"

"So someone sabotaged us...Is that what you're saying?" Asked Noire

"It is a possibility, but I don't think that what happened was entirely this external force's doing"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Whoever this individual was, he didn't disturb the process, he merely kept me from stopping it...For whatever reason, I'm not sure of, but it wasn't the initial cause"

"Then, what was it?" Asked Blanc this time

"Most likely, the malfunction of the warp was Kenji's doing..."

"Eh?"

After hearing his name being called in accusation, the young man raised his head and looked at her with a confused expression.

"Kenji's...doing?"

"Wa-wait a moment, what do you mean by "my doing"!?" He asked while getting up on his feet

"Of course, I don't mean you did it intentionally. If anything, I think it may have been by accident"

It was just a given Kenji would show some concern if he was suddenly accused of doing such a thing as dragging the other CPUs along with him, and even they felt bewildered by this, but the tome made sure to explain her reasoning as best as she could to clear out any possible misunderstandings.

"During the procedure, Kenji used his shares to activate the catalyst and power up the warp. I'm sure you remember this, right?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, giving the tome the chance to keep on.

"As you know, shares are usually quite haphazad due to their strong connection and dependency to an individual's emotions and psyche" She explained in even further detail "If my hipotesis is correct, there was a moment during the procedure where Kenji's emotions went into desarray or his focus was disturbed, causing him to lose control over the flow of shares and pour far too many into the catalyst, making the warp go out of control"

"When he got distracted..." Said Blanc as she recalled that moment, and then suddenly remembered Neptune "Didn't Neptune call out to him half-way through?"

"Now that you mention it, I do remember remember her saying something to him" Added Vert as the words of Lowee's CPU refreshened her memory

"I see...That could indeed make sense" Replied the tome "Since you were all warped to the same world and relatively close, Kenji's memories and emotions remained steady. So it means the most likely cause was Neptune breaking his focus"

"So this is all that idiot's fault, after all" Said Noire with irritation in her tone and expression while sweat dropping

"Yes...Unfortunately so..." Replied Histoire once more while sweat dropping with some level of dissapointment in her tone "But either way, that's not really the important matter right now"

"Certainly...What really matters right now is to find a way for us to go back to the hyperdimension" Said Vert

"Right now, I can't say I have any plans, unfortunately"

Due to the lack of a tome in Kenji's dimension, Histoire lacked someone to properly make a connection with in order to open a portal just in the same way she did back in the Ultradimension, and the fact interdimensional or teleportation technology was next to non-existent as well, the oracle was pushed with quite a troublesome puzzle to solve.

"But don't let it worry you...It may take me some time, but I will definitely find a way"

"How much, exactly?"

"I'm not certain yet, but if I had to roughly calculate, I'd say about three weeks"

"Three weeks...In other words, a week and half over here" Said Blanc after taking the different timeframes into account

"I don't mind the wait, but how are we supposed to stay here for that long without any money or a way to earn it?" Asked Noire this time

Although the time given by the tome wasn't that long, it would be rather difficult to withstand without any economical backup. And without the guild or quests, the CPUs had no means of gaining money to support themselves in this world. Getting a job wasn't an option either, as no one would take them as employees when they didn't even have any document to identify them.

"Certainly, without the guild nor any proper qualifications, I doubt someone would give us a job" Said Vert while sweat dropping with her eyes closed "And I can't say I like the idea of constantly relying on Kenji's mother to put money out of her own pocket for us"

"I see...that is something to be considered as well" Said Histoire while going into pensive thought before diverting her attention towards the young man "Kenji. If it's not too much trouble, could you explain to me how the economic system in your world works?"

The tome looked at the young man, but he seemed to be thinking about something.

"(She called out to me...)" He thought while placing one hand on his chin "(Just what did she want to say at that moment?)"

Back during the warp, Kenji remembered her calling out to him, but he wasn't sure exactly what was it that she tried to say. Nonetheless, he felt like it was something very important.

"Kenji? What's wrong?" Asked The tome while looking at him

The first time he didn't respond, but after she called out to him once more, the young man snapped out of his thoughts and looked at her.

"Ah! So-Sorry! I just spaced out for a moment" He said with a weak smile

"There's no need to apologize, I've grow accustomed to it already"

"I know the whole pensive thing ain't exactly my best trait, but could you please not say it like it's a bad thing either?" Asked the young man while sweat dropping

"Excuse my bad phrasing, I didn't mean for it to offend you" Replied the tome with a slightly apologetic tone "But putting that aside for now, I would like to know if you could teach me what you know about your world's economic system..."

"You mean, like how money works around here?"

"Yes..."

"Erm...Sure, I don't mind..." Replied Kenji while scratching the back of his head "To be honest, though, I can't really say I know a lot about it..."

"That's perfectly fine. Even the slightest piece of information will do"

According to Histoire's request, Kenji explained to her how economy worked in his world, or at least what little he knew, such as how, unlike the Hyperdimension or the Ultradimension, money wasn't given right away to an individual for completing a job, and instead was put in their bank account for them to collect it at any time they wished through either talking with a cashier or using an ATM, also known as an automatic teller machine.

It was through this explanation that Histoire came up with an idea how to solve their economical situation. For starters, this plan required a debit card, which the young man borrowed from his mother. Once she carefully analyzed everything she could from it, the young man went to a bank with it.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Asked the young man while walking towards the ATMs

"Do not worry, Kenji. I'm confident this will work"

"No, that's not exactly what I mean..."

Once he finally stood in front of the machine, Kenji discretely took out a plug from his device, which was hidden away in his pocket, and connected it to the card slot.

"Okay, we're connected. Now, please give me a moment..."

After three minutes of silent processing, which felt much longer to the young man, the ATM suddenly acted up, opening up with a welcome message before popping up the various options.

"Good, it seems like I managed to access the machine's system smoothly" Said the tome with a certain relief in her tone "Now then. It's your turn, Nepgear"

"Yes! Leave it to me!"

"Don't raise your voice!" Muttered the young man to the device in his pocket

After quickly looking over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching him, he gave a relieved sigh. If anyone, especially a security guard, were to see what he was doing, the consequences would be quite dire.

"So-sorry..." Replied the CPU candidate with an apologetic tone "Anyway, just leave it to me...I'll do what I can"

After taking control of the console, Nepgear went ahead and began thinkering with the ATM's software, causing a large amount of 1's and 0's to appear on the screen, which somehow made the young man feel worried someone may notice.

"What? I thought their system would be harder to crack than this...It's kind of a letdown" She said with slight dissapointment

Kenji couldn't help but sweat dropp when hearing that. Even if the bank branch he was on right now wasn't exactly a very big one, it still belonged to a large nation-wide company that ranked among one of the top-ten financial services in the country, if not half the planet. And these type of services usually employed some of the most powerful cybernetic security systems in the world, created by hundreds profesional engineers that dedicated many years of third-degree studies and effort to develop them. The fact Nepgear could crack it open like an egg as if it was children's play and even feel bored about it to the point of dissapointment once again proved just how terrifying her skills with technology truly were.

"(I guess that pink bastard motivated her more than I thought)" He thought with slight concern, realizing just how much Anonydeath's technology and hacking influenced the growth of her skills with software during their time in the Ultradimension, and also feeling inmensely relieved she was not an enemy.

Although Nepgear's ability with hardware was always her strong suit, the hacker's influence and skill as a sage made her realize just how lacking her ability with software really was. This, in turn, motivated her to develop her knowledge of software as much as she could, and although her skills still paled in comparison to those of Anonydeath's, she had improved beyong imagination, and this just now was the proof of it.

"There, I'm done..." She said, making him snap out of his trance

"Let's see..."

With the process now completed, Kenji checked to see just how much money they put into the account. Initially he imagined a simple number like five or ten thousand, perhaps even twenty thousand at most, but little did he imagine the number was far, far different from what he imagined.

"(O-ONE MILLION! ? ! ? ! ?)" He shouted within his mind as his eyes and mouth opened widely when looking at the massive number

"Now then...That slight amount should help all of you withstand the stay without any inconveniences..."

"(That's WAY more than just a little!)"

Although Histoire and Nepgear probably didn't think too much of it, one million dollars was actually quite a large amount of money in Kenji's world. In fact, it was a massive amount for anyone that was middle-class or below, even in the Hyperdimension.

"You should be able to access it from any bank from now on using the card from before. But please, try not to use it all up too fast"

"I don't think I could, even if I wanted to..." He replied to her while sweat dropping before diverting his gaze to look at her "More importantly, I'm pretty sure this is a crime..."

"Oh? Whatever you may be talking about now?" Said Histoire with an innocent smile "If my knowledge about legal procedures is accurate, then there are no laws covering actions taking place across different dimension...As far as anyone knows, all we did was just a small deposit"

"Again, I seriously don't think this is just "a small" deposit" He replied while sweat dropping again before thinking about what she said "(On hindsight, I think she's right)"

Kenji couldn't help but feel like what they did just now easily broke over a dozen laws that could put him behind bars for a couple of years, if not decades, and in a way he was right. Then again, they did need the money, and Histoire's claim about no existing laws being able to apply to a hacking coming from other dimensions was right. Still, it didn't completely erase the feeling that this was, in one way or the other, a dishonest act. Nonetheless, Instead of arguing about this, the young man simply decided to accept the tome's "charity" and disconnected the device from the ATM before walking out of the bank and into the street, where he met with the CPUs.

"Oh, so you're finally back..." Said Vert after seeing him coming out and smiling at him "So? How did it go?"

"There weren't any problems. Those two got us some money...Maybe a bit too much, though"

"I knew my little sister would be able to make this possible for us!" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a proud smile

"Wait, Vert! Nep. jr is MY little sister!" Snarled Neptune with an irritated expression and tone

"Oh, really now? Because it seems to me like she likes spending more time with me than with you..." Replied Vert with a smug expression while placing both forearms under her chest before making it bounce "...For obvious reasons..."

"Why, you...!" Snarled Planeptune's CPU with even more irritation than before

While the CPUs of Planeptune and Leanbox argued over who truly deserved to own the title of Nepgear's older sister, Kenji looked at them and sweat dropped for a moment before suddenly realizing that, among the CPUs, one was missing.

"By the way, where did Noire go?" He asked while looking at Blanc

"Noire went back to your home shortly after you went in there...She said something about people's stares making her uncomfortable"

"People's stares, huh?"

Just by looking around him, Kenji could see quite a few by standers and people passing by turning their stares towards the CPUs more often than not. Most specifically, at Blanc and Neptune, since those two were the ones dressed in their normal clothes instead of "normal" ones like Vert. Of course, most of these were merely short gazes rather than long stares, as their clothes weren't really that peculiar, and could easily pass by normal outwear with a few alterations.

For Noire, though, whose clothes were by far the most peculiar of the four, she would definitely get endless stares from the people that thought of her as weird. And for somone like her, who cherished that image of pure perfection with all of her life force and terribly feared to be seen as a weirdo or a geek, that was probably unbearable to the point of even making her go back to Kenji's home at full throttle.

"(We're definitely gonna need to do something about that...)" He thought while sweat dropping before diverting his stare towards the two CPUs "(Hm?)"

Surprisingly enough, the two CPUs stopped arguing rather fast and were instead now focused on a book. On closer inspection, it seemed to be a comic book or doujin of some sort, and the blush on both their faces proved it couldn't be a very "safe for work" type of genre.

"Hey, what are you two watch-" He asked while getting closer to them before seeing the pages "(Eh?)"

Just as he imagined, the book was not a very family-friendly type. In fact, it was the complete opposite. An ero doujin, or a porn magazine, to be more precise.

"Hey, you two!"

Without even the slightest hesitation, the young man quickly snatched the daring piece of adult art away from them. Needless to say, there weren't happy about this in the least.

"Hey, what'cha doing, Kenny!?" Said Neptune while looking at him

"That's right! Taking something away from someone in such an abrupt way when they're using it is a rather rude thing to do!" Added Vert as well

"That's my line!" Snarled the young man while looking at both of them "The hell do you two think you're doing looking at a porn mag in the middle of the street!?"

"What's the big deal!? It's just a little peek!"

"It didn't look like a little peek to me!"

"Come on now, Kenji. There's no need to be unreasonable. We were just trying to gain a little insight of your world's culture"

"Just what part of this is culture, exactly!?"

"Of course, adult culture!" Replied Vert with a confident smirk and look in her eyes

"Hey, now..."

Kenji couldn't help but look at her and sweat dropp. He understood she probably just got too absorbed by her perverted curiosity and that she doesn't feel the need to keep appearances that much since no one from Leanbox would know, but it still felt like this was going a bit overboard.

"Either way, just where on earth did you get this from?" He asked with a more calmed tone

"From your room" Replied Neptune bluntly

"What?"

"Yeah, I found it under your bed while everyone was talking with Histy about something..."

After hearing her explanation, the young man took a look at the doujin once more. Although he couldn't remember it with perfect precision, he could indeed recall his ownership over it.

"(So this is why she was nowhere to be seen earlier!?)" He thought with a shocked expression while looking at his belonging and recalling the earlier conversation before yet another thought came to mind "(More importantly, why did she find it under the bed!?)"

"And from what I could see, you seem to have quite a strong fancy for well-endowed chests and animal ears, especially those of the feline type" Said Vert while looking at him with a smirk and a little blush before it turned into a somewhat dissapointed expression "But to think you'd hide it in a clasic location such as under your bed...That's being a bit too careless, if you ask me"

"Well, this is Kenny we're talking about! Of course he'd go for the generic option!"

"Damn it, Neptune! Stop calling me that already!" Snarled the young man with an irritated expression before his gaze diverted towards Vert "And I don't hide my porn under the bed, I hide in behind my closet!"

When suddenly realizing what he just said, Kenji quickly placed one hand over his mouth as if to avoid saying anything more, but it was already too late.

Usually, he kept his stash safe within a hole behind his closet, of which his mother had no knowledge of. The fact they found that one under his bed was probably due to him forgetting to hide it away before leaving and Naomi finding it, then hiding it under his bed out of embarassment.

"Ohoh? So that's where they are?" Said Vert with a pleased expression "I've got to admit, that is a bit more orignal than under the bed, if nothing else"

"You two tricked me into it, didn't you!?"

"Oh my, whatever you may be talking about? All I did was give you my oppinion. You were the one to willingly tell us about it" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a smug smirk before leaning forward and whispering to him "And we are quite thankful to you for being such an honest man...So thank you very much, twinkie"

"Wh-why, you little-!" Muttered the young man with a strong blush as he twitched an eyebrow, the embarassment clearly showing in his face due to being called that rather playful and tasty name

"His blunt honesty and lack of self-control were his own undoing..." Added Blanc before closing "Truly, a textbook example of a fish dying for opening his mouth..."

"Oh, goddamn it!"

Truly, just as Lowee's CPU said it, this was no one's fault but Kenji's. Even if Vert took advantage of it, his lack of control over his own irritation and straightforward attitude caused him to just snarl it at them without any second thoughts. And now that his secret hideout was revealed, the treasures hidin within were no longer safe, especially from the hands of Leanbox and Planeptune's CPUs, who would definitely make sure to read every single one they found from start to finish.

"Oh!? I bet we're gonna find lots of stuff there!" Said Neptune with excitement at the thought seeing all the books Kenji was hiding away before looking at Vert "Come on, Vert! Let's go find that treasure stash!"

"Yes...I'm sure this should be a rather fruitful search!"

Without even giving Kenji a second, the two CPUs turned tail and headed back towards Kenji's house, eager to begin their treasure hunt and to discover what sort of things striked Kenji's fancy, while the young man chased after them at full speed. His face red as a pepper and a popping vein clear as day.

"Hey, hold it there you two! Get back here right now!"

As Kenji chased after Vert and Neptune at full speed, Blanc looked at them getting away, yelling as the people around turned to look at them with confusion or while sweat dropping, for a moment before walking towards them at a more calm pace, already able to imagine the ruckus that would take place for what remained of today.


	29. Cocoa

"Ohhh!?" Said Neptune with excitement as she looked with awe at the merchandise through the glass "Look, look, Kenny! They're selling assembly robots from that anime we saw yesterday on TV!"

Planeptune's CPU seemed to be very interested in this miniature version of a very famous, almost iconic robot figure, but this didn't last very long as her attention was quickly taken away by something else.

"Ah! Look over there! That store sells games and consoles!" She said with excitement before running off towards her new destination

"Hey, Neptune! Slow it down a bit, will ya'?" Said Kenji while walking a few feet behind her along with everyone else "You're gonna get lost in the crowd!"

"Neptune is always such a lively girl, isn't she?" Asked Naomi with a smile, following behind Kenji along with the other CPUs

"More like Hyperactive" He replied while sweat dropping

After their rather troublesome and eventful arrival in Kenji's world, things were a bit rowdy for everyone during the first day or two, but it all calmed down quickly enough. The CPUs managed to settle down a base at Kenji's home and even got to meet his mother Naomi, which fortunately accepted them without any second thoughts, or at least none she spoke of.

At first she did seem worried about their presence, but those concerns steadily died out after she got to know them better, seeing they were all good people at heart, even if a bit odd in some way. And what's more, she even began to befriend them as well, with Vert in particular being the one she got along with the most. This was, most likely, due to her being more "adult-like" than the others, making it more easy for Naomi to approach her and feel comfortable around her.

"Seriously, that idiot just can't take it easy" Added Noire with her arms crossed "Did she forget we're trying to avoid drawing attention towards us?"

"Now, now, you two...She is just trying to have fun" Said Vert while looking at them with a smile "This is the first time everyone went shopping together like this, after all...It's no wonder she's this excited"

Among the main problems the group faced in this world, one was their lack of money and lack of methods to get it. Fortunately, Histoire and Nepgear were quick to solve this situation without any hesitation. Certainly, the methods used may have been borderline criminal, but their newly-attained funds would help them have a more than pleasant stay for the time being. With that said, though, the amount of funds could definitely cover much more than just two week's worth of good meals. And with this in mind, the group thought about how to use the extra income before eventually choosing to follow Naomi's decision to go on a trip to the shopping district downtown and buy some things such as clothes or anything else that they could be interested in.

"But to think there was such a massive shopping district so close by..." Said Vert while looking at the shops around her with a mixture of amusement and excitement in her expression "This town truly is interesting"

From clothes to books to restaurants to breweries and even dance clubs stretching along the wide streets, the shopping district seemed to have everything that one could need for daily life and more. And many of the buildings were probably just two to three stories tall at most, with only a few exceptions here and there, giving a clear and uninterrupted view of the blue skies above.

"It used to be an industrial district before being reformed into a hot-spot for tourists" Explained Naomi while turning her head to look at Leanbox's CPU "It's also known widely for its large amount of art"

"Now that you mention it, a lot of shops seem to be subject to this street artwork"

Putting the streets and shops aside, one of the most notable features of this area were indeed the graffiti decorating the walls of many shops. Some were oddly simple while others had much more geometrical complexity in them.

"Yes...Art is a very vital part of this neighboorhood. There's even a whole district within the same neighborhood that's dedicated to famous street artists and just art in general" She replied, furthening her explanation "We can go check it out later if you wish"

"Of course, I'd love to"

"I'd like to go to any bookstores too, if possible..." Added Blanc while looking at them "I already finished reading all the books in the house"

"Eh!? Already!?" Asked Naomi with widened eyes while looking at her

"Ah, yes...Blanny here may not look like it, but she's quite the avid reader" Explained Vert

"I-I see..."

Kenji's mother was quite surprised by the reading skills of Lowee's CPU. While it was true she only had around five to six books at most, they were quite bulky and not exactly something any average reader could go through in just two days.

"Well, there are a few bookstores I know about...They're not very big, but they should have a good selection" She said while recalling the stores she saw before

"That's fine with me..."

"And what about the two of you? Is there anything you wish to buy?" Asked Vert while turning her head to look at Noire and Kenji

"Nah, I'm good" Replied the young man first

"Same here..." Added Lastation's CPU with her arms crossed and eyes closed

"Very well...Then, should we get going?"

"If you want to, go right ahead..."

"Eh? You're not coming with us?" Asked Naomi while looking at his son

"I gotta go and make sure that dumbass over there won't get lost" Said Kenji before pointing at Neptune, who was still gliding from one store to the other, with his thumb

"I see...In that case, We'll leave that task up to you" Replied Vert calmly

"Got it..." He said before turning around and walking towards Planeptune's CPU while waving his hand "See you later"

And with those parting words, Kenji began to walk away from the group and headed towards Neptune rather calmly, decided to keep an eye on her to make sure she wouldn't get lost.

"So the reason he came along was only to keep an eye on her?"

"I guess you could say that" Replied Vert while turning her head to look at Naomi before looking once again at Kenji "Even if he doesn't say it, he was probably worried about her wandering around a town she knows nothing about and get caught up in some sort of trouble..."

"Well, that is a very common thing with her" Said Lastation's CPU while sweat dropping

Kenji's mother and the CPUs looked at him for a moment, Noire specifically being the one with the strongest focus on him.

"By the way, what's over there?" Asked Blanc, breaking the silence among the group

"Over there?" Asked Back Naomi before scrapping for the memory for a moment "If I remember right, I think there were a few more gaming and technology shops before running into a few more fashion shops..."

"I see..."

Seemingly not interested in the conversation so far, Noire closed her eyes, trying to divert her thoughts towards something else.

"Oh, and there are also some very famous sewing and cosplay shops too!" Said Kenji's mother after jogging her memory even further

When hearing the words "sewing" and "cosplay", Lastation's CPU opened her eyes as wide as plates, along with her ears now listening clearly to her words.

"Cosplay shops?" Asked Vert

"Yeah, that's right...I think they are like an artisanal area..." Explained Naomi in more detail "There's not that many of them, but you can go and buy all sorts of outfits for festivities or conventions, and even get sewing materials to make your own outfits...Or at least that's what I remember one of the neighboors who had a teenage daughter that likes to sew told me"

"I see...This place certainly has a bit of everything, doesn't it?" Said Leanbox's CPU with a slightly surprised expression, feeling amazed by the endless variety of shops one could find "Either way, maybe we should be on our way for now"

"Erm! Sorry, I can't go with you, after all!"

After suddenly hearing Noire's words, everyone looked at her with slight confusion.

"Eh? What do you mean?" Asked Naomi

"I-I mean, maybe I should go with Neptune and Kenji!" She stuttered while sweat dropping with weak smile "Just so I can...well, you know...Make sure those two don't cause any trouble! Yeah! That's it!"

"Well, if that's what you want, then I don't see the problem..." Said Vert while looking at her

"You may want to hurry up, though..." Added Blanc while pointing behind her "You won't be able to catch up, otherwise"

"Eh?"

Lastation's CPU turned her head to look behind her, and did indeed notice both the young man and Planeptune's CPU were almost away from sight, blending in with the crowds.

"Uwah! Wa-wait, you two!" She yelled quickly while turning around and running towards them at full throttle

While looking at her get away, confusion fell over Kenji's mother while the two remaining CPUs quickly understood what happened.

"She wanted to visit the sewing shop, but didn't have the guts to say it outloud, did she?" Said Blanc with a monotone expression

"Yeah...most likely" Replied Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Ah! Before I forget, Noire!" Said Naomi as she suddenly realized there was something she forgot to say to Kenji, and could instead rely on Noire to pass the message "Tell Kenji we'll meet the three of you by the art murals in two hours! If we're not there yet, just wait for us!"

"Understood, I'll make sure to tell him!" Replied Lastation's CPU without turning her head to look at her

With Naomi's message, Noire left her and the two CPUs to their own devices while chasing after Kenji and Neptune. It took her some running, along with some maneuvering around the people, but she found them quickly enough, as Neptune's appearance and perky attitude made her stand out like a sore thumb.

"Kenji, Neptune!"

"Hm?"

Upon hearing his name and recognizing the voice calling it out, the young man turned around and saw Noire approaching him.

"Noire? What's wrong?" He asked while looking at her stopping right behind him

The CPU stopped to catch her breath for a moment before looking at him again and answering his question.

"I changed my mind! I'm going with you two, after all!"

"Oh, okay..."

"Bu-But it's not because I want to see the sewing shops or anything!" She added with both arms crossed and her eyes closed "I'm just here to make sure you two don't cause any trouble or draw to much attention, so don't go getting the wrong idea! Are we clear!?"

"Erm...Sure...?" He replied slowly while sweat dropping "(So she wants to buy something to sew with?)"

At first, Kenji couldn't help but feel confused about her motives for following him and Neptune, but her Tsundere lines were always helpful at clearing out those doubts. It was a bit odd sometimes, but then again, this was already a commonplace thing to happen with her.

Most likely, she wanted to buy something to sew with in order to kill some time until the warp was ready, or at least that was the conclusion he arrived to. And on hindsight, it made a lot of sense, considering the only thing that matched Noire's love for cosplaying was her love for making said cosplays with her own two hands and a sewing machine.

One way or the other, it wouldn't hurt to have her tag along.

"Hey, Kenny! Look at this! They're selling a console I never saw before!" Said Neptune with excitement while pointing at the black gaming console

"For the last time, Neptune! We're not going to buy a gaming console!"

"Oh, come on! Why not!?" She asked while looking at him "This is a console even a game connoisseur such as me knows nothing about! It's my duty as a gamer to use it!"

"Don't say something like that so proudly..." Said the young man while sweat dropping

Despite being so lazy and unmotivated regarding her work as a CPU, Neptune's dedication towards gaming was just as great as Vert's love for MMOs or Blanc's love for books, and the fact she was such a knowledgeable person in regards to things such as consoles and games in general proved it.

Even so, Kenji couldn't help but feel like it wasn't something she should say in such a prideful way either, especially considering her gaming habits are the main cause of her complete lack of dilligence as a CPU and what she used on daily basis to skirt her duties.

"Ohhhhh...So this is what this world's gaming consoles are like?" Said Noire, who got curious about the gaming console too and decided to take a closer look, after approaching Neptune and looking through the glass "It looks a bit like one of my nation's consoles..."

"Eh? Noire is here too?" Asked Planeptune's CPU while looking at her with a mixture of surprise and confusion

"Eh?"

"You noticed her presence JUST now?" He asked back while looking at her

"I mean, I was really focused on this baby here, you know?" She replied with a perky smile "Besides, Noire's loner aura makes her really hard to notice sometimes!"

"Who are you calling a loner!?"

"Of course, you! Lonely Heart!"

"I'm not lonely! Stop saying that!" Snarled Lastation's CPU, growing even more irritated by her teasing with every passing second

"Lonely loneeeer! Noire is a total lonely loneeeer!"

"He-Hey! Stop saying that so loud! It's not true at all!" Yelled Noire with an embarassed blush and an irritated expression due to this teasing "Neptune!"

Planeptune's CPU quickly ran off with a perky smile, yelling out loud that Noire was a loner and always lonely, while Lastation's CPU chased after her to try and stop her. All of this while Kenji looked at them and sweat dropped.

"(Not draw attention, she said. But right now, I can't tell who's the loudest one...)" He though while sweat dropping with an exhausted expression

Despite being the one that said she was there to keep them from drawing too much attention, right now Noire was the one causing the three of them to stand out even more so than before.

Even if he initially thought her presence would help keep an eye on Neptune better, now he realized that having the two of them together was even worse, as they were bound to constantly run into this circle of arguing and teasing due to Planeptune's CPU drawing out the worst out of her easily.

Just thinking about them being like this all day long made him consider the idea of turning around and heading back home, but someone had to keep an eye on them. Otherwise, they may end up doing something really dumb and get into a heck of a mess.

Although with a certain sense of exhaustion already lingering within him, the young man put it aside and followed the two CPUs through the streets, using their arguing to guide him whenever he lost sight of them before they finally decided to calm down after running through a couple of blocks. Noire still seemed irritated at first, but it quickly dissipated as she calmed down by walking next to the young man while Neptune returned to her routine of dashing from one store to the other, looking at everything she could in awe.

"I'm amazed she didn't break a sweat after all that running..." Said Lastation's CPU, seemingly exhausted from running frantically all over the place

"She may be a lazy ass when it comes to work, but Neptune gets very energetic when she's excited about something" Replied the young man while looking at her "She could probably go at it for another hour or so before getting tired"

"What a useless way to use energy..." She said while closing her eyes and sweat dropping

"Yeah, seriously..." He replied with his eyes closed as well and sweat dropping too

At that moment, both of them agreed on Neptune's lazyness just making things far harder for everyone. And it was this that suddenly led Lastation's CPU into wondering something that lingered within her mind since some time now.

"By the way, Kenji..." She asked while looking at him

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"I've been wondering this for a while now, but why did you offer to keep an eye on Neptune?"

The young man diverted his gaze towards her and remained quiet for a moment.

Even if it may not seem like a big deal at first, looking after Neptune was no easy task due to her hyperactive and irritating nature that got into anyone's nerves. Even Histoire and IF, who were used to babysitting her, had next to an impossible time pulling it off sometimes. Even so, Kenji offered himself to do it without a second thought or any hesitation, despite knowing the hardships that could involve.

"Why do you ask?"

"I mean, you just made it back home...Wouldn't you rather spend time with your mother than looking after this idiot?"

Besides from the difficulty of the task and clearly showing he didn't enjoy it in the least, Noire couldn't help but think about Naomi as well.

Why not just let her or the other CPUs handle Planeptune's CPU and spend some quality time with the person he missed so much? This question kept lingering in her mind over and over.

"Well, of course I'd like to spend time with her" Replied the young man while scratching the back of his head with his eyes closed "But you know, I'm not really sure what to say to my mom, or how to even explain everything that happened..."

"Why not just tell her the truth?"

"You want me to just go and tell her I've been in another dimension, fighting to the verge of death against all sorts of monsters, along with facing evil deities, shadow organizations and even twisted goddesses using the power to transform and toss giant blasts of blue fire like a swordsman from an anime?"

"Now that you mention it, that does sound a bit like something a person with eight-grader sympton or a mental disorder would say..." Said Noire while sweat dropping for a moment before returning to her serious expression "E-Even so! If you try to word it carefully, I'm sure she'll-!"

"Noire, do you remember the face she made when Vert told her I was a boxer?" Interrupted the young man

At that moment, Noire recalled Naomi's face. Although it wasn't as bad as when Neptune began all that talk about kids, she was notably shaken up, and her worry was so transparent one could even confuse it for a piece of glass.

"If that was enough to get her like that, imagine if she knew the truth..."

"Tha-That's..."

On hindsight, the young man made a lot of sense. If Naomi, who could get into such a state from hearing something as simple as his son developing a passion for boxing, telling her about his time spent as a swordsman, about all the twisted, blood-thirsty and dangerous individuals he fought, about all the times he scrapped death by inches and about the horrible injuries he suffered would probably perturb her beyond belief. One could only guess the result of such a revelation.

"I just want to try and make her happy, even if only for a little bit..."

"Kenji..."

Thinking back on it, Kenji spent more time with the CPUs than with Naomi ever since their reunion. This was due to him being unable to come up with ways to answer all of her constant questions. Deep down, he wanted to be honest with her, he didn't want to lie, but he knew full well just how badly the truth would hurt her.

"It's not like I'm gonna take the secret to the grave or something, though" Said Kenji while looking at her again "I will tell her all that happened someday. I just want to wait until I can find a good way to do it"

Noire looked at him for a moment before turning her head to face forward.

"I see...So that's why you chose to go with Neptune instead?"

"Not really"

"Eh?" She asked while quickly turning her head to look at him with a mixture of curiosity and surprise in her expression "Then why?"

"Hm...I guess it's because I wanted to?" He said while looking at Neptune and scratching the back of his head "Sure, keeping an eye on her can be a pain in the ass sometimes, and I know she can take care of herself too, but I can't ignore her either...Or it's more like, I just can't stop thinking about her if I leave her alone for too long"

Lastation's CPU didn't say anything this time, she simply looked at the young man for a moment or two while getting lost in thought.

Back when Neptune revealed her relationship with Kenji as lovers before, she initially thought the perky CPU was merely joking around or trying to tease Kenji for the sake of comedy, but now she couldn't help but feel like that may not have been a lie after all.

Ever since the fight against the deity of sin, ever since Neptune almost got herself killed to save his life, the young man became much closer to her. Not only did he refuse to live in another nation and decided to stay in Planeptune shortly afterwards, he even began to train himself to the bone in a much more rigorous way. Even in battle the changes were notable.

Except for perharps a few battles, the young man always glanced over his shoulder to look at Neptune, even if just for a second. He also became much more inclined to protect her, constantly taking out any monsters that tried to attack her from her blind spots and making himself the target of all the attacks, even if this caused him to end up getting fatally wounded. Of course, he did show a bit more concern for the other CPUs too, but not to this degree. At first she imagined it to be him trying to make up for what he believed to be his own failures, but slowly, the truth became clearer.

The fact he tagged along for today's shopping trip only to go along with the perky CPU out of concern for her getting lost, even if it meant having to spend less time with his mother and more dealing with her randomness, went to show just how dedicated he was to her.

It surprised Noire that the young man was actually such a caring type and, In a way, it made her feel slightly jealous. Jealous that, despite always being so irresponsible and lazy, Planeptune's CPU managed to get someone that was willing to love her in such a dedicated way, but these thoughts quickly subsided as she realized Neptune didn't simply get it. Instead, she earned it fair and square.

Out of all the CPUs, she was the one that always tried the hardest to become friends with the young man. Instead of trying to befriend him just because of his power and the possible advantage he could pose in the battle for shares, Neptune treated him nicely and tried to befriend him simply out of kindness. She didn't see an overwhelming advantage or someone who could justify her lazyness, she just saw a wretched and depressed individual with nothing left other than blurry memories and a dark past, along with a strong apathy towards the world he once belonged to. All she saw was just a person that was in need of a helping hand, in need of a friend to rely on, and she made up her mind to become both of those things, even if it meant putting her own life in peril. The love and care Neptune was receiving from the young man was the result of that kindness. Nothing more and nothing less.

It was this train of thought that made her suddenly pop a question within her mind.

"(I wonder...How would things have ended up if I had found you first?)"

Lastation's CPU couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if the roles were different. What would've happened if, instead of Planeptune, Kenji had ended up in Lastation, found by Noire instead? Would she have done the same as Neptune and offered him a helping hand? Would she have tried to befriend him in the same way she did? In the battle against the felons, would she have jumped between him and Magic, risking her life for his sake? And if so, would the young man have developed feelings for her instead?

These questions kept popping up inside her head over and over again as if trying to trap her in a vicious circle before finally snapping out of her trance due to the very center of those thoughts calling out to her.

"Hey, Noire...Are you okay?"

"Eh?"

By the time she became aware of her surroundings, Lastation's CPU noticed the young man looking at her with curiosity. Not only that, but his face was actually quite close to hers.

"Ehhhhhh! ? ! ?" She yelled with a strong blush covering her entire face before quickly taking a step back "Wha-Wha-What are you doing, getting so close all of a sudden!?"

"Ah, sorry about that. You just kind of seemed to space out all of a sudden for a moment there"

"Eh? I did?"

"Yeah!" Rerplied Neptune with a cheerful smile "You looked like you were using the thinking organ a bit too hard, so I thought being so lonely finally made you crazy or something!"

"For the last time, Neptune! I'm not lonely!" Snarled Noire while regaining some of her composure and crossing her arms while turning her head away with her eyes closed "A-Anyway, I'm okay! There's no need to worry!"

"Are you sure? Your face is all red" Asked Kenji while leaning closer and putting one hand over her forehead "You're not getting a heatstroke or anything, are you?"

"Wai-!"

Without the slightest warning, the young man went ahead and placed one hand over Noire's forehead to check her temperature, as he thought the red-ish tone of her face was the result of a fever caused by the high temperatures of his hometown, which was something none of the CPUs had grown accustomed to yet. Little did he know, this was actually her blushing with embarassment due to her current train of thought. And his touch, along with the proximity of his face to hers, only made it even worse.

"Whoa! Her face got even redder!" Said Neptune with surprise and widened eyes "She's even redder than the clothes of that famous plumber that can jump really high!"

"I-I-I...!"

Noire stuttered for a moment longer before she finally couldn't take it any longer and ran past Planeptune's CPU and the young man in a flash.

"Nepu!?"

"Whoa!" Said Kenji as he got moved out of the way by the speeding CPU, at which he looked at with a mixture of shock and confusion "Wa-Wait, Noire! Where are you going!?"

"I-I'm sorry! I'm gonna go ahead!" She replied without even looking at them

"Ahead!? Why!?" He asked before extending his hand towards her "Hey! Wait a moment! Don't just run off like that!"

The young man tried to stop her, but she was already gone before he could even do anything.

"Hey, Kenny...What happened just now?"

"I'm...Not sure..."

The two of them remained there, looking at the direction she ran off towards in silence with confused expressions for a moment.

Meanwhile, Noire kept running as fast as she could, passing by the people, some of which focused their gaze on her for a short span of time, before finally running out of breath and stopping to rest while hiding in an alleyway.

"O-Okay...I don't think they followed me here..." She said to herself with a certain sense of relief before closing her eyes and putting both hands on top of her head "Seriously, what was that all about just now!? Why did I even run away like that in the first place!?"

Lastation's CPU was more confused than anything else, but she also felt irritated by her own actions. Due to the embarassment that overwhelmed her, she acted by reflex and got away from the scene as fast as she could.

It helped her avoid the embarassment for a short moment, but now she would have to explain her sudden actions to them later. Although that wasn't exactly what bothered her the most.

"(Why...did I blush like that?)" She wondered while placing one hand on her chest, feeling her heartbeat still going faster than usual

At first she began to think about the awkward relationship the young man had with his mother, but hearing Kenji mention Neptune made him think about the relationship he had with her instead. This, in turn, led her to wonder about Neptune's claim about their status as lovers. She couldn't explain why, exactly, but something about that bothered her to no end.

"Hey, lady!"

"Hm?"

Lastation's CPU turned her head and saw a guy in blue pants and a black hoodie. A rather coarse voice and a short beard, besides from brown hair from what little she could see under the hoodie, but nothing too special or outstanding about him either.

"What do you want?"

"What? Can't a guy talk to a cute girl?"

"Sorry, but I'm not really in a mood to talk..."

"Come on, don't be a buzzkill, babe"

"(Babe?)" Thought Lastation's CPU while looking at him with slight discomfort "(Somehow, this guy gives me a really bad vibe...)"

Despite his seemingly friendly and calm approach, she couldn't help but feel an unease that kept telling her to be careful. At most he looked like just an everyday thug or crook you could find lingering around the roads, waiting to rob you of everything you had in the same fashion as bandits.

"(Anyway, I'd better get out of here now...)" She thought while turning around before a shadow suddenly appeared in front of her "(Wha-!?)"

"Whoa, there! What's the hurry for!?"

Before she could succesfully make her way back into the open, another individual jumped out from behind a dumpster into view and blocked her path.

"(There was another one!?)"

Noire turned around to look at the first one, then saw even more individuals poppint out into view. Probably around four or five, all of them appearing from within hiding behind either other dumpsters or backdoors or simply areas where light didn't shine properly, creating thick shadows to hide in.

"Come on, babe. No need to get all tense. We just want to have some fun"

"Fun, you say..." She said with an even greater discomfort in her expression

At the start she could tell there was something about him that made her uneasy, and now she understood what it was. These guys wanted to take more than just money, and they certainly didn't try to hide it.

"Don't move too much, and we'll be gentle...kinda!" Said the one behind her before suddenly lunging forward

The crook most likely exepcted to get a hold of her, but little did he imagine, that was the last thing he'd get. Instead, Noire quickly moved sideways and spun around before using the momentum to deliver a powerful kick to the back of his head.

"Guhogh!?"

"Wha-!?"

The other guys, needless to say, where rather shocked by this. They did expect her to put up a fight, but not something like that.

"Ow! That fucking hurt!" Said the guy while laying down on the ground, placing both hands on the back of his head

"Don't expect to have it easy just because I'm a woman!"

"Get her!"

In an instant, nine people lounged at her, and she quickly answered not by running away, but by fighting back. Either by kicking straight to the gut, the face or just kicking in general, Lastation's CPU overpowered the crook's numbers through speed and technique. One could even think she would win, but things didn't seem to play out that kindly to her.

"Why, you little-!"

"Too slow!" Interrupted Noire before jumping sideways and kicking him in the side of the face.

"Guoh!?"

Even though he got kicked rather hard, the low-life got back up on his feet surprisingly fast. As a matter of fact, it was the same for all the others as well.

"(What's going on here!? Even though I'm hitting them as hard as I can, they keep getting up like nothing!)" Thought Lastation's CPU with irritation "(Seriously, these guys are WAY too persistent!)"

Noire's specialty was her skill at fencing, that was no secret. She never dedicated too much training to harden her body besides her basic, daily routine, so her muscles were not the strongest among the CPUs, but she certainly packed a good kick, even without her sword. Nonetheless, all of her attacks hardly did anything beyond mild damage, despite her enemies being average humans. Certainly, a few of them were already knocked down and not able to move, but the majority were still raging to go.

It was thanks to her quick reflexes and speed that she avoided getting caught so far, but her stamina was already starting to give in. And that, as well, was happening unusually soon.

"(So It was true, after all...We really can't use shares here!)" She thought while taking deep breaths

This state of weakness and lack of strength was confusing at first, but Noire soon came to realize the cause after recalling the tome's words.

Due to being in a different dimension, the CPUs had no access to the sharicite within their nations, and without that power, not only were they unable to use HDD, but their bodies were far weaker, only capable to rely on the basic capabilities their human-like bodies had. In other words, they were nothing more than normal girls without the power of shares to back them up.

Even with her dilligent training, or rather, because of her training, she could hold her ground like this, but the fight had dragged on for too long, and now, without even a single share to give her strength, her body was close to reaching the limit. There was no way for her to win against this many, at least not with the current handicap.

"(It's kind of frustrating, but there's no choice! I have to get out of here!)"

"Where are you looking at!?"

While she was absorbed in thought, Noire got jumped on by one of the remaining crooks from behind, which took advantage of the ruckus to sneak behind her and do a surprise attack. She tried to dodge him, but didn't manage to move in time and got caught, her arms being pulled back into a grapple, making her unable to move.

"Da-Damn it!"

"Hah! Finally got you!"

She tried to break free, but it was to no avail. Her body didn't have enough strength left in it.

"Let go! Let go, you pervert!"

"Damn it! Stop struggling!"

"Hold her tight!"

As Noire kept struggling to break free, the first croock got closer to her with a grin that showed a mixture of irritation and arrogance.

"You sure kicked me good, didn't ya?" He said with an irritated tone before punching her straight in the gut as hard as he could "You bitch!"

"Urgh!"

The punch, although not very powerful, was more than enough to make Lastation's CPU suddenly feel the air leaving her body, making it hard for her to breathe for a second or two as her stomach began throb in pain.

"(I-It hurts! I can't breathe!)" She thought as her eyes and mouth widened "(My stomach...It feels like it's burning up!)"

But it didn't stop there. As soon as he drew back his fist, he grabbed her by the top of her head and pulled it up, making sure she'd look at him.

"Now, it's time for the real fun!"

As suddenly and as abruptly as he could, the low-life grabbed on to Noire's top and pulled down, rippint the front part of it and revealing most of her chest, with only the remaining torn rags to cover the most precious spots.

"Kyah!"

"Wait, why do YOU get to do the gropping again!?" Asked the one behind her "You were the one that did it last time too, and the time before that!"

"Oh, shut it, you dumbass! We're all getting a go at it anyway, so what's the deal with waiting for a bit!?"

"Easy for YOU to say!"

"I said shut up!"

"Let go of me! Don't you dare touch me, you perverts!" Yelled Noire while struggling even harder to break free

"You shut up too!" He said with an irritated expression before it became a grin again "Or better yet, do it a bit more. It's better when they scream"

"You sick bastards!"

Despite her insults and struggles, all she achieved was to excite her assaulters even more, which did nothing more than to approach her by the second, ready to have their way with her. The perversion in their grins clearly visible as their minds made up scenarios of what they'd do to her. Even Noire herself was beginning to imagine these things, and it sent a sense of dread down her spine.

"(No...stop...)" She thought while looking at the hands approaching her chest, a broke sweat running down her back "(Please...Stop!)"

For the first time in her life, she felt helpless, powerless in front of this situation. She couldn't fight back or even run away. All she could do was watch as they got closer and closer to her, ready to defile her and abuse her in ways she could only imagine before most likely beating her up and probably even killing her.

"(No...I don't wanna!)" She thought as she closed her teary eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen to her "(Please...Anyone!)"

Within her mind, she was already prepared for whatever would happen. But even so, fear was not something she could just shake off so easily either.

"What the-Guhogh!?"

When hearing the crook's voice break, Noire suddenly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was a fist flying right next to her head, impacting against the face of the guy that was just about to defile her, hitting it right in the center and almost bending it in a cartoon-ish way from the brute strength it used. This, in turn, caused him to be sent flying backwards almost a feet and fall on his back.

Everyone there, including her, looked with shock at what just happened before the one who had a hold quickly moved sideways to have a better look at who was behind him, giving her the ability to see as well.

Noire's eyes widened after knowing the identity of his savior.

"Kenji?"

The young man turned his head to look at Lastation's CPU for a moment with a poker face before slowly walking towards her, making the guy holding her break a cold sweat.

Surprisingly, though, Kenji didn't even pay any mind to him and instead focused on Noire, calmly placing both hands on the sides of her face and looking at the blushing girl for a moment before pinching both of her cheeks and stretching them hard.

"Wha-Uwah!?" She said as her face stretched widely, twisting even her words "Wha-Whait! Whash ash ya doing!?"

"Out of all the places you could go to, you had to run straight into a dark alleyway!?" Asked the young man with an irritated expression and a popping vein on his forehead while stretching her face "The hell did you think was gonna happen if you went straight into one of those, you idiot!?"

"Sh-Shotph! I-It shurts!" Replied Noire with teary eyes while trying to struggle away from his grip "I ghit it arredy! I'm shorry, I'm shorry!"

Kenji kept stretching her face for a moment or two while everyone looked at them, wearing confused expressions and sweat dropping, unable to understand just what on earth was going on right now. They honestly couldn't tell if he came to save her or to do the complete opposite.

"Even though you said you wouldn't let us make a ruckus, you're the one making the biggest mess!" He said while looking at her with a slightly irritated expression "finding you was a pain in the ass too, you know!?"

"L-Like I shaid, I'm shorry!"

"Hey! Stop ignoring us, you dipshit!"

The young man's attention was quickly diverted from Noire to the crook he just punched earlier, who was already back up on his feet, and didn't seem all too happy about him being there.

"And you guys too...Don't you think it's a bit messed up to gang up on a girl like this?" He asked while letting go of Noire's face and looking at them "I mean, she can act like a bit of a bitch sometimes, but still..."

"You're the worst...You're definitely the worst!" Snarled Lastation's CPU with an irritated tone and expression

"Like I give a shit!" Said the croock while running towards him and throwing a jab "Die!"

Kenji looked at the incoming jab and dodged it rather easily before giving the guy a jab of his own, sending him flying away once again.

"Guhagh!?"

"Man, you guys are textbook thugs, ain't ya? You're not even good at fighting either..." He said while looking at them with slight curiosity before noticing their wounds, along with the ones that were already knocked out on the ground "(I guess she gave them a good ass-kicking before I got here)"

The bruises on their faces, their slugish movements, and even those who were already out of the fight. All of these were clear signs Noire kicked ass right and left before he arrived. If it weren't for their larger numbers, she probably would've gotten rid of them before he even made it there.

"Damn it! Get him!"

In an instant, everyone jumped out at him to attack together. Little did it serve, as Kenji dodged the fists aimed at him and quickly answered by throwing punches of his own. Each one either falling to the ground or getting sent flying back. Sometimes straight to the face or to the gut, other times to more creative places such as the back or the sides.

Within less than a minute and after constant punches, everyone was already lying down on the ground, grunting or mumbling from their injuries while the young man looked at them for a moment before diverting his attention towards the one holding Noire once again.

"St-Stay away! Don't move or I break her arms!" He yelled while pressing tighter on her arms

"Ouch!"

Despite his treats, Kenji didn't even flinch and dashed forward with great speed. Before anyone was even able to tell what happened, the young man had grabbed on to the guy's face and smashed his head against the wall behind him hard enough to make the bricks crack and leave a dent on the solid construction.

Needless to say, that was an instant knock-out.

"Ah!" He said after realizing his own show of strength and sweat dropping "Oh, damn...I think I smashed him a bit too hard..."

As the last croock was knocked out, his grip on Noire loosened up, causing her to be freed and fall forward due to her lack of balance.

"Whoa!" Said Kenji while quickly grabbing Lastation's CPU by the shoulders, helping her regain balance "You okay there?"

"Ye-Yeah, I'm okay..."

Once she placed both hands on the young man's chest, Noire raised her head and looked at him, noticing his face was rather close to hers once more. This caused her to blush once more. This time, Kenji blushed as well while his eyes widened, but it wasn't precisely for the same reason.

"A-Anyway, we should go and find Neptune...She should be somewhere around here" He said after letting go of her and taking some distance while turning around and scratching his left cheek with his eyes closed "But before we do...I think we should do something about that look of yours..."

Noire looked at him with a confused expression, unable to understand what he meant for a moment or two before looking down at her own body and seeing her torn top, which revealed a rather large potion of her breasts.

"Eh?" She said as her blush suddenly became stronger and eventually gave room to panic "EHHHHHHH! ? ! ?"

Lastation's CPU quickly placed both hands over her chest in an attempt to cover what was visible while turning around.

"Wh-Wh-Why didn't you say something sooner, you pervert!?" She asked with a mixture of irritation and embarassment with her eyes closed

Kenji didn't reply this time, he merely looked at her over his right shoulder for a moment or two.

"(Uhhhhhh...This is so embarassing! Why is this happening to me!?)" She thought with teary eyes before suddenly feeling something that felt like a large rag falling over her, covering her back and head "(Eh?)"

Lastation's CPU almost panicked for a moment, but she quickly turned her head and took a hold of the object lying over her while looking at it. It was a black t-shirt. Kenji's t-shirt, to be more precise.

"Hey, Kenji! What's the meaning of-!?" She asked with slight irritation while focusing now on the young man, suddenly stopping after seeing his current state

Kenji, as one might expect since Noire had a hold of his t-shirt, was topples right now, his lean body there for anyone to see quite clearly while he held onto his vest with one hand. A body that, while not as ridiculously muscular or large as one would expect of a profesional bodybuilder or someone with as much raw strength as Kenji, seemed like it was made out of steel rather than flesh and bone. Those were, without a doubt, muscles tempered for the raging heat of battle rather than for simple sex appeal, not a single one meant for anything other than fighting with the greatest efficiency possible.

Just looking at it caused Lastation's CPU heart to beat even faster. Even though she wasn't precisely a stranger to muscular males due to her overseeing military trainings before, there was something about looking at his body in particular that made her heart speed up.

"Use it..." He replied bluntly before putting on his vest once more with his eyes closed "It's a bit too plain for your taste, but try to bear with it until we find a clothing store"

Noire didn't reply to his request, she simply looked at him for a moment or two before calmly taking the piece of clothing and putting it on without any arguing. Although a bit baggy due to the obvious difference of size between their bodies, the t-shirt was rather comfortable and covered her all the way down to her tights. It was slightly embarassing how it made it look she was only wearing that, but a part of her didn't really mind.

"(It's warm...)" She tought while looking at it and holding part of it close to her face, almost as if it were a scarf, while blushing again before looking at him once more "...Thank you..."

"Don't mention it..." He replied calmly before walking past the knocked out crooks and towards another alleyway "Come on, let's find Neptune. Last thing I need is for her to get caught up in something too"

"...Yeah..." Replied Lastation's CPU with a surprising meek tone

Noire didn't hesitate to follow after him quietly in search of Planeptune's CPU, her eyes having a hard time focusing on the search or even looking at him as she didn't want him to notice her blushed face.

*Scene*

Leanbox's CPU looked through the small stalls at a few trinkets, most of them pendants, bracelets, cheap jewerly knock-offs or objects hand-crafted out of wood, along with all sorts of random merchandise. Most of them were simple decorations probably meant to charm tourists or people who sought cheaper prices than those from the fancier stores.

"Do you see anything you like?" Asked Naomi, also checking the stalls as well

"Not really..." She replied with weak smile "Despite my looks, I'm not really much of a fan for things such as craftsmanships or jewerly"

"Oh, I see..." Replied Kenji's mother with slight surprise and a bit of an embarassed smile "To be honest, the way you talk so politely and the dress you had when we met always made me think you were part of a noble family from Europe or something like that"

"Well, I wouldn't really call myself "nobility", but I can't really say I'm an average person either" Explained Vert while sweat dropping before returning to a more calm expression and demeanor "With that said, though, I prefer to think of myself as a person with simpler interests"

"For example?"

"MMOs and sim dating games, for the most part"

"MMOs?"

"It's a shorter way to say "Massive Multiplayer Online" games. They're a type of games you play in a computer with other people online in the internet, most people would also call them RPGs, but that would be cutting it short, actually"

"Oh, I see...I've never been one for gaming before, so I don't know much about it" Said Naomi with a bit of a weak smile

"Everyone has their own hobbies and tastes, there's nothing wrong with that" Replied Vert with a smile before resuming her explanation "Also, I have a strong interest towards novels of the romantic genre"

"You mean, like romance novels or soap operas?"

"More like, illustrated books of...adult romance...especially those of the same gender" Explained Leanbox's CPU with a smirk and a bit of a blush while diverting her eyes sideways

"O-Oh...THAT sort of romance novels..." Said Naomi while diverting her eyes sideways, a blush appearing on her face as well as she realized just what sort of romance genre they were talking about here

"Does it bother you?"

"N-No! Not at all!" Quickly replied Kenji's mother while looking at her with slight concern "I mean, I was just slightly surprised at first, but It doesn't bother me in the least! After all, you yourself said it! Everyone has things they like and don't like!"

"I see...In that case, I'm glad" Said Vert while looking at her with a smile

Leanbox's CPU did imagine Naomi wouldn't have any issues with her tastes, as she had proven to be quite an open-minded person, despite being so close to middle-age.

"(Wait...age?)" She thought after suddenly realizing something that didn't cross her mind until just now "Erm, Naomi...I'm sorry if it may seem a bit rude of me to ask, but how old are you, exactly?"

"Eh?" Said Kenji's mother as she looked at Vert with slight confusion "I'm Thirthy six"

"Really? I thought you were older..." She replied with a surprised expression

Vert honestly didn't expect Naomi's age to be below fourthy, considering she had a son who was almost eighteen. Up until now, she didn't even bother thinking about it since it didn't seem like such an important detail, but the fact she never mentioned it up until now and that her appearance did hint at a rather young age as well did create some curisosity within the back of her mind. Unfortunately, Naomi seemed to have taken this rather honest oppinion the wrong way, as she suddenly lowered her head and made a rather depressed expression while a gloomy aura appeared around her.

"I see...I do look old, don't I?" She said with a monotone, yet empty tone and teary, hopeless eyes "I guess it makes sense...Since I am old, aren't I?"

"N-No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that! I wasn't talking about your appearance at all!" Quickly said Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile "You don't look old at all! In fact, I was just surprised by how young you are and look despite having a son who's already in his late teens!"

"Then...I'm not old?"

"Not at all! If anything, you look as young as a woman in her early twenties!" Replied Leanbox's CPU before turning her head to look at Blanc, who up until now was distracted by looking at one of the books she bought on the way while walking behind them "Right, Blanc!?"

Lowee's CPU diverted her gaze from the book to Vert, seeing the obvious need for backup before looking at Naomi quietly for a moment or two.

"Age is nothing more than a number. One is only as old as he feels..." Said the CPU with a monotone tone while looking at her "That's what a self-help book I once read said"

"I-I see...I guess you're right!" Said Kenji's mother, sounding a bit more cheerful than before

Although she still seemed slightly hurt emotionally, at least the crushing depression faded away. If nothing at least that was something to feel about.

"(I really need to be more careful with my words from now on...)" Thought Vert while sweat dropping with her eyes closed

"Erm...Vert?" Asked Naomi while looking at her, a more curious expression appearing on her face "What did you mean by me having Kenji at my age?"

"Oh, that..." She said before explaining in more detail "Well...Kenji is seventeen, right?"

"That's right"

"And if we go by numbers, then that means you gave birth to him when you were nineteen, right?" Said Vert with a more serious expression "I was just surprised you were willing to have a child at such a young age"

"Certainly, most people usually make up their mind to have children when they're on their mid twenties or early-thirties" Added Blanc

"Actually...I didn't have him when I was nineteen, I became his mother when I was twenty-two" Replied Naomi with a less lively tone than before

"But how can that be possible? Kenji would be fourteen if you really had given birth to him at such an age"

"That's because I didn't give birth to him..."

"Eh?"

Leanbox's CPUs turned her head and looked at Naomi with widened eyes that showed confusion.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just what I said..." Said Naomi while turning her head to look at the CPU with a somewhat weak smile "I'm not related to Kenji by blood...I'm actually his adoptive mother"

There was no reply this time, only silence. Leanbox's CPU had no idea what to even say to this piece of information.

Certainly, a woman adopting a child was a completely normal thing to do, but it was still a shocking surprise to hear.

"Naomi..." Said Blanc, catching the attention of both women "I can see a bookstore over there...Is it okay if we go take a look?"

"Of course...We still have some time left before meeting with the others" Replied Kenji's mother with a surprisingly calm smile

In accordance to Blanc's request, the three of them went into a bookstore in order to allow the CPU a chance to browse through the books to her heart's content. While she did, Naomi and Vert calmly waited for her to be done, all the while resuming their earlier talk.

"Naomi, it seems I owe you an apology" Said Vert in an apologetic tone

"Eh? Why?" Asked Naomi while turning her head to look at her with confusion

"Lately, I can't help but feel like we've been overstepping our bounds, especially me in particular" Explained Leanbox's CPU with a saddened expression, referring both to the CPUs and to herself "I skirted over this fact by convincing myself I was doing this in order to help Kenji, but all I did was make you recall many unpleasant memories instead..."

"Vert..."

"That's why...I'm terribly sorry..."

Vert faced Naomi and lowered her head as a sign of apology while the latter looked at her for a moment in silence before finally speaking.

"There's no reason to apologize, if you ask me..."

When hearing her answer, Leanbox's CPU raised her head and looked at Kenji's mother, who was smiling at her in a kind and understanding way.

"It's true that recalling things about my time with Joel makes me miss him, but it also helps me recall the happy times we spent together as a family...They're my precious memories, even if a little painful sometimes" She explained while placing one hand on the sapphire necklace resting over her chest "That's why, you don't need to feel bad or guilty about this...If anything, It makes me happy to have someone to share these memories with"

"Naomi..."

Vert Looked at Naomi in silence before a warm smile formed on her face. Despite her rather timid personality and ease to fall into anxiety, Kenji's mother was indeed a person worthy of recognition. Perhaps it was her gentle heart, or simply being well-raised, but it didn't change the fact she was an interesting person as well. Perhaps this was where the young man's inner kindness and tendency to think about others before himself was inherited from.

With those words said, the two women placed more emphasis on returning to the subject from before. Vert listening quietly to her words as Naomi went ahead and told her the story of how she met the child that would become her son.

"You see, ever since I was a child, I had the dream to become a photographer...So right after finishing high school, I began to work as a freelance photographer while studying in collegue to further my skills" Began explaining Naomi... "By the time I was twenty one, I was already under the care of a professional photographer and even got myself a good reputation in the freelance business, being only one year away from getting my degree...Things weren't easy, but you could say I was pretty much living my dreams, so I was happy nonetheless"

"(A freelance photographer...So that explains her tendency to dwelve into pensive thought)" Thought Vert quietly, recalling her eye for detail back when they first met

"Unfortunately, the good things didn't last for long..." Said Naomi as her smile suddenly became gloomier "While I was doing a job for a group that was protesting against unsafe working conditions on factories and it's relationship to the rumors regarding bribes to a certain politician that was on the rise, I got caught up on an industrial accident and got crushed under a collapsed wall. Fortunately the impact didn't kill me and the quick medical response saved me from blood-loss, but the rocks broke one of my legs, along with a large piece of glass from a window piercing my abdominal region hard enough to almost tear my womb in half"

Kenji's mother took a moment to place one hand over her belly, softly feeling her own body as she recalled that horrible moment that destroyed everything she had worked so hard for. Even now, she could still remember the piercing, unbearable feeling of the class making its way through her flesh, tearing it open.

"It took me almost half a year to heal, and even longer to regain normal mobility...Afterwards, I became terrified at the idea of having children" She said as her expression turned into one of concern "The doctors said I wouldn't have any problem giving birth despite the accident, and I always found the idea of getting pregnant and making a family nice, but the mere idea of a baby being within my womb at that time, getting torn appart in such a horrible way, terrified me to no end. I even had nightmares about it for weeks, constantly dreaming about me murdering my own child just for the sake of chasing after my own ambitions..."

Although her recovery was smooth and her fertility remained mostly intact, Naomi refused to conceive children of her own. The trauma she suffered affecting her mind too strongly for her to even consider the idea. And even Vert could see the traces it left within her, as she noticed the shiver of her hands.

"The professional that once supervised me told me that this phobia was probably produced by the traumatic accident, and suggested me to take some time-off, something like a vacation to try and give my mind some peace and quiet from the rowdy life I've been leading so far...Unfortunately, that didn't really help for much" She explained while moving her hand away from her own belly and raising her head to look forward "The calm was nice and relaxing at first, and my savings helped me afford this time-off, but the feeling of being stagnant, of being useless, of being broken so easily by a phobia began to eat away at me...By the time I noticed, my self-confidence as a photograper was already cracking down to pieces, along with my self-esteem as well"

So far, everything Vert heard was nothing but horrible things. A whole career, a whole life, a whole dream, all of it crushed in an instant by the greed and mistakes of others. In all honesty, it filled her with a mixture of sadness and irritation. Fortunately, things were about to take a brighter turn.

"And it was at the lowest point of that time that I met Joel and Kenji" She said while suddenly looking more cheerful, almost as if a bright, warm memory had made its way into her mind "While on a trip to the market for groceries, I felt like trying to cheer myself up a bit and decided to buy something sweet...As I was searching through, I bumped into my favorite brand of pudding...Although saying it literally bumped into my head would be more precise"

"Bumped into your head? You mean, like fall over it?"

"That's precisely it..." Replied Kenji's mother while nodding "While staring at the puddings, one fell right on the top of my head, so out of curiosity I raised my head to see just what on earth happened...Imagine my surprise when I saw a toddler sitting at the top of the shelf, looking down at me with a tilted head and a curious expression"

After seeing all those toddler pictures, it wasn't too hard for Vert to imagine the situation in her head. Rather, it was so easy it even put a smile on her face. It did make her wonder just how could a toddler reach such a place, but she tried to put that doubt aside for now and focus on the story.

"I was already surprised enough, and things just got more crazy when he suddenly leaned towards me and almost fell off the shelf before I quickly grabbed him" She said while sweat dropping with her eyes closed for a moment before opening them and looking at Leanbox's CPU "Just a few moments later, I met Joel, who was in a bit of a panic after losing sight of him...At that moment I was willingly going to hand over Kenji and just walk away without a second thought, but it was then that he did something I never could have expected"

"Something that you never could have expected?"

"Instead of leaning towards his father, he paid no mind to him and stared at my face for what felt like a whole awkward minute before turning around to look at the puddings I was checking out earlier and reached out for one, then looked at me again and pressed it against my cheek while smiling at me...At first I was confused, but I suddenly realized that, most likely, he was trying to cheer me up"

Vert didn't answer this time, she merely kept looking at Kenji's mother as she spoke about her meeting with the child that would become her son.

"Because of everything that happened so far, I was in a depressed state, and my expression certainly didn't fail to show it. The pudding I took made me remember eating it together with my supervisor back when I was still learning the ropes, so it probably made me smile for a brief moment" Explained Naomi while trying to recall the reasoning behind those events using hindsight "If I had to take a guess, I'd say Kenji saw it and thought giving me more pudding would make me happy...And to be honest, it moved me to the point of even making me cry right then and there...He made me, a complete stranger who felt like she was no longer useful or capable of anything, feel like I was still worth something to someone, even if that someone was just a toddler"

"Sometimes children can do wonderful things purely out of innocence" Said Vert with a pleased smile "It seems Kenji was no exception to this rule"

"Yeah, that's true..." She replied with her eyes closed "Afterwards, you can pretty much guess how the rest of the story goes...I met Joel, and got married with him after a year or two of dating"

A ruined dream and a broken hope, Naomi had lost everything once and her own failure shattered her confidence, yet she managed to find a new path, a new hope, something new to strive for. She had found the warmth of a family, a chance to fulfill something she yearned for, yet was uncapable of doing before due to her traumatic accident. And all of this was given to her by a simple gesture of kindness from a child that didn't even know how to talk or walk on his own yet.

It was truly like something out of a novel. Unfortunately, the heartwarming feeling this story gave to Leanbox's CPU was partly clouded by the fateful continuation that she had already heard about before-hand.

She could only imagine how devastating it must have been for her to lose her husband just a few years later, being left alone with a child to raise on her own. Nonetheless, it was perhaps the fact Kenji was still there that helped her withstand it and keep moving forward.

"Thank you very much! Come again soon!" Said the store clerk, making both women snap out of their thoughts

"All right, I'm done..."

Naomi and Vert lowered their heads to look at Blanc and noticed the many bags she was carrying with her, all of them filled with books

"Erm...are all those books yours?" Asked Kenji's mother while looking at the bags with widened eyes

"Yes..."

"Just how many books did you buy, exactly?" Asked Leanbox's CPU this time, her expression the same as Naomi's

"Around twenty, I think..."

"Twenty!?" Said both women at the same time with shock

"That's right..." Replied Lowee's CPU while nodding "At first I was gonna buy just a few, but I found a couple of authors that caught my eye, so I decided to buy every book they made that I could find here..."

"Don't you think you bought a bit too many?" Asked Vert while looking at her with an exhausted expression

"I'm not even sure they'll fit into the bookshelf..." Said Naomi while sweat dropping

During the deep conversation both had regarding events from the past, Blanc took her sweet time browsing through the books available, and found quite a few authors that caught her interest. Without anyone to make sure she wouldn't go overboard and more than enough money to spend, she didn't hesitate to buy every book that caught her interest, and for a passionate bookworm such as her, that list was quite long. Unfortunately, the damage was already done.

Teaming up to each carry one bag to make the trip easier, the trio headed towards the art walls, as the time agreed to meet up with everyone was already close. Fortunately they were rather close to the meeting place, so the trip was a short one, and the divided weight of the multiple bags made them much lighter than if they were all together into one giant bag.

"So these are the art walls..." Said Vert while looking at her surroundings with certain awe "...I think now I understand why they gave this place such a name"

Just as the name implied, almost every visible wall in this area was filled to the brim with works of art, some of them incredibly impressive, most likely of professional quality.

"This place is famous mainly due to this area, since most of the wall art here was made by famous street artists. Tourists and even locals come here everyday because of them, so there's always a lot of people"

Looking at the art, both CPUs had more or less an idea of why they'd be so popular. The art, made by street artists, was probably like a flame to moths when it came to tourists, who traveled around mostly to sightsee and admire the beauty of the world around them, and the locals probably enjoyed them for the same reason. Artists, in special, probably found them the most appealing, as they were a source of inspiration and motivation to keep chasing after their artistic passions just in the same way those who made them and who worked up their way to fame did. More than just a pretty sight, it was a symbol of what an ambitious artist could achieve.

"By the way, Vert...I didn't have the chance to ask this before, but why are you so interested in Kenji?" Asked Naomi while looking at her "Besides from Neptune, you seem to be the one most interested in learning everything you can about him"

"Oh...Now that you mention it, I didn't put too much thought into it" Said Leanbox's CPU as she turned her head and looked at Kenji's mother.

True to those words, she was among the two CPUs who showed the most persistence and interest in Kenji's past and life in general. For Neptune it was most likely because she just wanted to know more about the man she loved, but the reason behind Vert's curiosity was beyond her current reasoning.

"Well, I guess it's because of an old habit of mine..."

"An old habit?"

"You see...Among our little group, I'm the oldest one, or at least the one with the strongest sense of reasoning. Because of that, I was usually the one in charge of breaking up fights between the others, who were always prone to go into a craze or got carried away by their own emotions...This eventually caused me to become something like the elder sister of the group in charge of looking after everyone else" Explained Vert while looking at her with a smile "Kenji's reckless nature and willingness to help without a second thought made him earn our acknowledgement, but that hot-blooded and "punch first, ask later" type of attitude he had usually got him involved into all sorts of trouble. I guess this reminded me to the others back in the more chaotic days, and it eventually became difficult for me not to think about him"

Naomi didn't speak, she simply remained quietly and listened to Vert, who seemed to be recalling the time Kenji spent in Leanbox, along with a few other times when he rushed head-first into battle, only to win by the skin of his teeth while receiving terrible injuries.

Perhaps it was because of his violent and reckless personality that reminded her to the CPUs from back then, or maybe it was because of his tendency to do things for others without hesitation or expecting a reward, but there was something about the young man that made him hard not to think about. She knew they couldn't be feelings of love, as she never liked hot-blooded men and instead prefered calm, colected and well-spoken men, preferably dressed in fancy outfits such as butler suits too.

"I guess that, without realizing it, I began to see him as something akin to the younger sibling I never had, or something of the sort"

"Vert..."

Out of all the CPUs, Vert was the only one who never received the blessing of a younger sister. Even if she didn't show it to the other CPUs at first, this made her feel rather lonely. And in order to counter these feelings, she took the position of older sister among everyone, sometimes even acting as the older sister of the CPU candidates, which sparked many arguments among her and the other CPUs.

Perhaps, due to Kenji opening up to Vert about his worries, she slowly began to think of him, not as a hardened warrior with a reckless personality and an overwhelming amount of raw power, but rather as just a kid with his own worries and insecurities weighting down on him, just in the same way as it happened to the CPU candidates.

"Ah! There they are!" Said Neptune in the distance "Heeeeey! Vert! Blanc! Over here!"

The trio turned their heads and looked at their right side, seeing Planeptune's CPU waving their hand at them with a cheerful smile. Both Kenji and Noire walking behind them.

"Oh, so you three made it here okay, I see..." Said Vert while looking at them before her gaze focused on Noire "Also, it seems someone got themselves a new set of clothes"

Unlike Kenji and Neptune, Lastation's CPU was now wearing different clothes from her usual dress. They consisted of a black sleeved top and a red skirt along with brown boots and black thigh-high socks.

"They look really cute on you, Noire!" Said Naomi with a cheerful smile

"Eh? Oh..." Reacted Lastation's CPU while diverting her gaze downwards and smiling with a slight blush "Thank you..."

"With that said, why the sudden change of clothes, though?" Asked Blanc

"Well, the thing is..." Said Kenji while diverting his gaze towarsd the bag he was holding in his hand

The young man took it upon himself to explain the events that took place earlier to the CPUs and to his mother. About how Noire got ambushed by molesters, about how her clothes got torn appart, and about how they had to go and buy her a new set of clothes, and about how they had to spend almost twenty minutes searching for Neptune through the alleyways.

"To think such a thing could happen in the middle of the day..." Said Vert with a slightly worried expression

"I heard in the news that a group of molesters had began to attack repeatedly, but that was around the neighborhood north of here" Said Naomi with concern "I didn't think they'd come all the way here and even attack during dayime too"

"Maybe not getting caught made them bold" Suggested Blanc

"Yeah, but that was their biggest screw up..."

Due to their constant streak of luck avoiding the law, the group of low-lives got overconfident, so much that they decided to attack more popular areas such as the shopping districts. Most likely, they had their eye set on Noire ever since she arrived into the neighborhood and their bold confidence led them to attack without a second thought or a good plan, which led them to their failure.

After giving a call to the police, most of them got caught and put in a cell for the time being, but a couple managed to get away in the short window of time between Kenji and Noire's departure from the place and the police's arrival.

"On hindisght, we should have called them right away instead of leaving like we did" Said Noire with a notably irritated expression

"Don't worry too much about it...Even if a couple got away, they probably won't be a problem for some time" Said Kenji while turning his head to look at her "Guys like those are the kind of wimps that won't move unless they have the advantage of numbers"

"Kenji is right! You don't need to feel bad about what happened!" Added Naomi while looking at her with a mixture of seriousness and concern "Most people would freeze up on the same situation!"

"I guess you're right..." Said Lastation's CPU with her gaze lowered, seemingly dwelling into pensive thought

Although the way she responded to the situation didn't anger her, what truly irritated her was the idea that the two that escaped would eventually go back to assaulting innocent women. But more than anything, the way she ended up being unable to deal with them due to her lack of power irritated her to no end. In the end, she had to rely on Kenji's help to make it out in one piece. For some reason, though, that part didn't bother her as much as she imagined it would.

Even though he did say some less than pleasant things mid-way through, he did give her his t-shirt to cover herself, and didn't even flinch at all the stares he got from random people on the street, especially from females. Unlike her, who couldn't stand them, he didn't bother at all with those stares. All he cared about was finding a clothing store so she could get herself some clothes. In simpler words, Kenji didn't care about his appearance in the least. All he cared about was Noire.

As she kept thinking about it, Lastation's CPU began to look at the young man in silence for a moment or two without even realizing it herself. This, eventually, was something the young man noticed.

"What's wrong?" He asked while looking at her with confusion

"No-Nothing!" She quickly replied while turning her head with her arms crossed, making a rather irritated expression "Also, I could have handled those perverts by myself! I didn't need your help at all!"

"Erm...Okay?" Replied the young man slowly while sweat dropping

"But you know..." Said Noire while opening her eyes and looking at him over her shoulder using a tone that could be confused with a mutter "Even if I didn't need it, you did help me...So, erm...Thank you..."

"You're welcome..." Said Kenji while looking at her, still slightly confused "(Wait...So is she's angry or thankful?)"

While he tried to figure out whetever Lastation's CPU was thankful or angry with him, Vert looked at both of them and noticed the slight blush on Noire's face.

"(Oh my...)" She thought as a small smirk formed on her face "(Now, what happened between those two, I wonder...)"

"Excuse me, miss..."

As she looked at the new relationship forming in front of her, Vert's attention was suddenly taken by someone behind her. When turning around, she saw a girl, probably in her late teens. She had white skin and redd-ish, almost orange hair along with green eyes. She wore large, black-frame glasses and a white, long top with black horizontal stripes over a green utility jacket with the sleeves rolled up to half the forearms, along with tight dark blue pants and dark brown boots. She also had a black beanie and a set of bands on her right wrist.

"Yes? Is there something you need?"

"I just wanted to give you one of these" Said the girl while handing her over o piece of paper

"Oh?"

Upon a closer look, Vert saw the paper was in fact a pamplet with information about a large event. And as she analized it, the girl went ahead and handed over one each to everyone.

"Art Walk?"

"Oh, right! Tomorrow is the second saturday of the month!" Said Naomi after suddenly recalling the date

"Yes! It's taking place tomorrow, so please make sure to enjoy yourselves!"

Once everyone had a phamplet at hand, the girl turned around and left as fast as she came, searching for more people to give phamplets to.

"Now that I think about it, the clerk back at the book store gave me one of these too" Said Blanc while looking at the phamplet

"Hey, hey! What's this art sprint all about!? It sound fun!"

"It's Art WALK, not sprint" Said the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

"Art Walk is one of this towns biggest and most popular events. It's focused mostly around multiple shops, galleries and retail businesses opening up for the public during late night hours, along with many food stalls from famous many different chefs. There's also a few art and music performances too, with some of them being from the hand of famous artists and musicians from around the globe or simply everyday folk who want to earn some reputation" Explained Naomi to the CPUs "It takes place the second saturday of every month, so people of all ages can come by without having to worry about work or school"

"To put it bluntly, it's something like one big festival where everyone comes by to eat, dance and buy stuff as much as they want" Summarized Kenji while looking at them

"You know about this?" Asked Noire while looking at him

"Yeah, I used to go a lot when I was a kid"

"A kid?" Asked Naomi while looking at him "But Kenji, you used to go to Art Walk every month through all of highschool"

"Eh? I did?"

"Yeah, can't you remember?"

"Huh...I guess I can't..." He said while diverting his gaze upwads and putting one hand on his chin

The young man tried to recall ever going to the lively night festival during his time in highschool, but nothing came to mind. Most likely, it was among those hidden memories that were lost somewhere deep within his mind. This, in turn, caused Naomi to look at him with certain concern, but she wasn't the only one.

"Hey, hey, hey! Can we go!? I want to go!" Asked Neptune while looking at Kenji, seemingly excited about the idea of a festival

"Sure, I don't mind...Though it doesn't start until tomorrow at night" He replied while looking at her

"Then in that case, we should head back for today" Said Blanc before walking towards the young man and giving him the bag she was carrying "Here, carry this..."

"Huh? What's this?"

"Books..."

"Oh, if you're carrying bags, then here are ours as well..." Said Vert after snapping out of her train of thought with a smile before giving him her and Naomi's bags too "Please, make sure to be careful with them, okay?"

"Wha-Hey!"

"Yes, yes! Carry my bag too, Kenny!" Added Neptune while giving him her bag filled with puddings and a few games she got along the way

As everyone gave him their bags, Kenji went slightly from one side to the other before finally regaining some proper balance.

"Make sure to treat those bags well, they have my hard-earned books in them..."

"Hard-earned my ass! You didn't earn a penny!" Snarled the young man with an irritated expression "Why on earth did you buy so many books!? Or rather, why am I the one carrying all the bags now!?"

"Oh? Whatever is the problem?" Said Leanbox's CPU with a seemingly innocent smile "A man carrying a woman's bag is just basic chivalry. Don't you think so, Kenji?"

"Like hell it is! You girls just want to use me as your bag mule!"

"Stop complaining already. You're a man, aren't you?" Said Noire while looking at him with a monotone expression "Carrying a few bags can't be THAT hard for you"

"Why is that always your excuse for everything!?" Snarled the young man while diverting his gaze towards Lastation's CPU

"Now then, let us return to our homebase, everyone" Said Vert cheerfully

"Yeah!"

The other CPUs cheered with their fist pumped before quickly following after Leanbox's CPU.

"Hey! Come back here, you little-!" Yelled Kenji with a popped vein mark on his forehead "Damn it! I won't forget this!"

As the young man went after them while carrying the multiple bag, his mother kept looking at him, her silent eyes showing a strong concern she hadn't felt up until now, along with a newborn doubt lingering within her mind.

*Scene*

Lights illuminated the night along with the roads, food vans and small street shops lined the streets, signs held up high offering all sorts of dishes, both every-day and exotic dishes alike. The small street shops selling all sorts of trinkets and handcrafts, from wood sculptures to paintings and even clay vases of different shapes and sizes. Clothing stores selling all sorts of fashionable pieces of clothing and even dresses of renown brands. All of these at varying, sometimes even shocking prices. Sounds of music echoing on the distance from multiple directions, coming from the many musicians located on different streets, both small-time and moderate groups alike, sounding over the voices and footsteps of the people moving about, some eager to buy, others stuffing their mouths full and even others in search of good prices. There was something for everyone in this festival night.

"Whoa! Look at all the food!" Said Neptune while looking from one place to the other before looking at Kenji "Hey, Kenny! Do you think they're selling pudding too!?"

"Beats me...Maybe?"

Although he knew this event had a lot of different foods, he wasn't fully sure if there was someone that served puddings. Then again, one could find everything there, so it was indeed possible. The issue was finding where, but this little bump wouldn't stop Neptune, that was something no one would need to doubt about.

"Judging by how much people spoke about it, I imagined this would be a larger event" Said Vert while looking at her surroundings before making a smile "Still, it is quite an impressive event...And seeing so many cheerful faces certainly makes one's mood improve. Don't you think so too, Naomi?"

Leanbox's CPU turned her head to look at Kenji's mother, but received no response. Instead, she saw her walking calmly, her eyes lost as her mind seemed to be dwelling deep in thought.

"Naomi?"

"Eh?" She said after suddenly realizing Vert was calling out to her and snapped out of her trance "Ah! Tha-That's right! It's very cheerful!"

While looking at that weak smile, Leanbox's CPU couldn't help but feel like something was wrong, something was bothering her, yet she wasn't sure whetever asking or not right now would be a good idea.

As the group moved through the many shops, they ate different kinds of foods that ranged from sweet to spicy before going into the trinkets. There, they found a few interesting things.

"Hm...So these are all hand-made?" Said Noire while looking at the small wooden sculptures with certain curiosity while making a small smile "I guess there's a lot of talented people in this world too"

"See anything you like?" Asked Kenji while looking at her

"Not really..." She replied while straightening up and closing her eyes, making a somewhat more serious expression "I'm not really planning to buy anything, I just wanted to take a closer look at them"

"Oh, okay then..." Replied the young man, who suddenly thought about the sewing materials she stocked up inside her bag along with her usual clothes yesterday "I guess you did buy all of that sewing stuff yesterday...Still, you sure you don't want anything else?"

"Tha-Tha-That was only so I could fix my clothes! I didn't buy it because I wanted it for sewing in general or anything like that!" She said while looking at him with an irritated expression "Also, I only came here because that idiot insisted! It's not like I wanted to come here and have fun with everyone or anything like that, so don't go getting the wrong idea either!"

While looking at Lastation's CPU cross her arms and close her eyes with an irritated expression, Kenji couldn't help but sweatdropp.

"Seriously, just going and saying whatever you want..." She said while turning her back to him and opening her eyes "If you don't start being more careful with what you say, I'm definitely gonna get ang-"

As Noire opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was a rather large and creepy face right in front of her, standing with a still expression that got emphasized by the shadows around it.

"Eh?" She said while blinking twice with a confussed expression

A short moment of silence went by before she finally reacted accordingly.

"Nepu-Nepu! ! !"

"Kyahhhhh ! ! ! !"

Lastation's CPU jumped away from the creepy mask as fast and as far as she could, the sudden jumpscare clouding her judgement before suddenly seeing a hand grabbing a hold of the mask and pulling it up, revealing Neptune's face.

"Eh!? Neptune!?"

"Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha! ! ! ! You totally got jumpscared! ! !" Yelled Planeptune's CPU while pointing at her, almost crying from laughter "You should see your face right now! ! !"

"He-Hey! What's the big idea, appearing in front me like that with that creepy mask!?" Snarled Noire while looking at her with an irritated expression "Also, I wasn't scared at all!"

"Not only a lonely loner, but a scaredy cat too! ! !" Said Neptune between laughters

"Who are you calling lonely!? I'm not lonely!"

"So you don't deny you're scaredy cat?"

"I'm no that either!"

"Erm...Noire? I really don't want to cut off your girl talk with Neptune or anything..." Said the young man, catching the attention of both girls "...But can you let go off of me?"

Both Neptune and Noire looked at him, almost instantly seeing what he meant.

Right after her jump by reflex, Lastation's CPU took a hold of the thing that was closest to her, this thing being, of course, Kenji's body. Her arms clutched tightly around his torso.

"Ah..."

This time, she reacted far faster, her skin going from the fair shade of white to a deep blush as red as a tomato before almost inmediately taking almost four feet of distance of him just as fast as she jumped at him.

"Wha-What do you think you're doing, getting so close to me all of a sudden!?"

"No, it was you who jumped at me all of a sudden..." He replied while sweat dropping with an exhausted expression

"Whatever! It doesn't matter who did it!" She snarled while pointing at him, her blush still strong "Just keep your distance, you hear!?"

And with her order given, Lastation's CPU turned around and walked away along with Neptune and the rest of the group, all while the young man remained there for a moment, looking at her.

"(Somehow, I'm feeling tired all of a sudden...)"

"You have no delicacy, do you?" Said Blanc while looking at him

"Like you're one to talk..." He said while looking at her "And what is that even supposed to mean?"

After that small incident, the group kept moving with the same pace as before, although Lastation's CPU kept a considerable distance from Kenji, and Neptune kept the mask she bought from the store, just for the sake of showing it to Nepgear and the others back in Planeptune. Hopefully, she would probably grow bored of it or forget about it before trying to jumpscare Nepgear and give her a heart attack.

Once they were out of that area, they passed by the clothing stores. And although no one bought anything new, they made sure to take a good look at a bit of everything.

Noire, although she didn't admit to it, took a look at a cosplay shop to amuse herself and to get some reference for future projects while Blanc tried out a few clothes. At first Kenji imagined she'd put on a one piece dress or something similar, but instead she decided to try out a rainbow-colored slouchy beanie and a marshmallow jacket, both by Neptune's recommendation. Looking at her with those clothes made him sweat dropp, but he wasn't sure whetever it was because it looked ridiculous or because it looked so oddly fitting with Blanc's usual style, or because of both reasons.

Vert also browsed through clothing along with Naomi, although the latter wasn't all too into it. Instead, she seemed far too focused on something else to enjoy herself. Something that kept nagging at her on the back of her mind

"Naomi...Is something bothering you?"

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"I mean...Ever since we came back from the shopping district yesterday, you have been spacing out quite often...almost as if something was troubling you" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a concerned expresion "Somehow, I can't help but worry about it..."

Naomi's eyes widened with surprise. She didn't imagine Vert could be able to tell the unease within her mind so fast, and only by looking at her face. Then again, Kenji's mother had always been a woman with a very expressive face, and Leanbox's CPU was a very perceptive woman. This was pretty much the worst combination when it came to hiding secrets from each other.

"(I guess I'm still that easy to read)" She thought with a small smile and her gaze lowered before looking at Vert once "Actually, the thing is..."

For a moment, Kenji's mother was about to tell the CPU what was on her mind, but then took a good look at her.

The expression on her face was one of honest concern, of worry for her. It was a face that showed she wasn't merely asking out of curiosity, but because she genuinely cared. This made Naomi realize something. There would be no point in talking about it now.

"No, nevermind...we can talk about it later"

"Naomi"

"It's okay, there's no need to talk about it now...I just think it'd be better to enjoy the festival for now, don't you think?"

Vert looked at Naomi smiling at her for a moment before making a smile as well.

"Yeah, I suppose that is true..."

Despite her words, Leanbox's CPU couldn't get rid of her unease. Yet, she decided to put it aside for today and try to enjoy the night as Naomi requested of her.

"(Blood bonds or not, you two truly are mother and son)" she thought while looking at Naomi

Even if it felt confusing for a moment, Vert's mind eventually came to realize that the reason she didn't want to talk it was because she didn't want to ruin the night where everyone was supposed to be having fun, even if it meant bearing with that weight on her mind a little longer, holding onto whatever feeling was eating at her deep within. It was truly quite similar to Kenji in a way, or perhaps it was Kenji who was similar to her in that way. One way or the other, this was something the two of them shared in common.

"Vert! Nami!" Yelled Neptune from outside the store "Hurry it up! We wanna go to see the wall doodles!"

"Who the heck is Nami?" Asked the young man "Also, it's art walls, not doodles!"

"It's your momma's name! Naomi's kinda hard to remember, so I wanna call her Nami instead!"

"Don't go butchering people's names without asking them first..." Said Kenji while sweat dropping

"Hey, Kenny's mom! Can I call you Nami!?"

"I meant asking BEFORE you butcher the name! Before!"

While the two argued about nicknames, both women listeend to them for a short moment before Naomi turned her head to look at Vert with a smile

"Well then, should we get going?" She asked, seemingly a bit more cheerful than before

"Yeah, let us be on our way" Replied the CPU with a cheerful smile

After that short talk, and a rather loud conversation between Kenji and Neptune, the group headed to the art walls to take a tour and look at the art. Among the many colorful designs, both concrete and abstract, works of art, some were quite peculiar to say the least.

"Hey, Kenny! Look at that one!" Said Neptune while pointing at one of the walls "There's an alien-looking old man holding a sign over there!"

"Ah, yeah...I think he was from a movie franchise about war in space, or something like that"

"Wh-Why does that baby have such a muscular body? Or rather, why is it green?" Asked Noire while looking at another wall with a large, muscular green baby, along with two other figures "And what's with the other two?"

"It's art, Noire. Try not to think too hard about it" Said Vert while looking at her

"(No...I'm pretty sure making you think is exactly the point of them)" Thought Naomi while sweat dropping

"This one over here looks like an octopus...or an elephant with tentacles instead of a nose..." Said Blanc while looking at it before closing her eyes and going into her creative mode "A creature born for unknown purposes in a secret laboratory by mixing octopus and elephant genes. AKA, Octophant..."

"(Octophant?)" Thought Kenji while looking at her and sweat dropping

"I could definitely make a good story out of this...I think I'll call it "The story of the secret laboratory and the genetically enginered Octophant creature"..."

"I don't think the artist will mind if you make a story by getting inspiration from his art, but don't you think that tittle is a bit too long?" Asked Naomi while looking at her and sweat dropping

"Blanc's ideas usually aren't half bad, but her extremely long tittles make it hard for her novels to sell" Added Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile

As they moved through the area, the CPUs kept looking at each and every wall they could, sometimes making a comment about it or merely remaining silent, which hardly ever happened, as they always seemed to have something to say.

Within less than an hour, they were already well on their way to the exit. But it was then that Kenji caught notice of something peculiar.

Among the crowds moving by, exploring the place and having fun, he noticed a child. Unlike everyone else, he was turning his head from one side to the other, looking at his surroundings with a certain haste and anxiety, almost as if he was lacking a direction where to go to.

"(That kid...Is he lost?)"

At first kenji thought about simply letting it be, as someone would probably help him or take him to a nearby police station. Yet, there was something about that child that he just couldn't ignore. Perhaps it was his sense of moral telling him walking out on a kid would be a douche thing to do, or just something of the sort, but he felt like he couldn't ignore him.

"Kenny! Hurry it up! We need to keep the plot moving over here!" Said Neptune while waving at him.

"Oh..." He said while turning his head to look at Planeptune's CPU and the rest of the group "You girls go on ahead! I'll catch up with you later!"

"Eh? Why?"

"I just want to get a second look at a few walls!" He said after that first thing inmediately popped inside his mind

After giving that excuse, the young man turned around and walked away while Neptune and the group kept moving forward.

Part of why Kenji didn't tell them the real reason was because being greeted by a whole group would be a heck of a lot scarier for a kid, and because it would be faster to do it by himself.

"Hey, kid..."

"Eh?"

The kid turned around and saw Kenji standing next to him. At first he seemed slightly frightened, but quickly calmed down after the young man crouched down and spoke.

"Are you lost?"

"I don't know...I can't find my big sister..." He said, slightly unsure

"I see...Any idea where she might be?"

The kid looked at Kenji for a moment or two before moving her head from lef to right with a saddened expression

"Nothing, huh?" Said the young man while sweat dropping

"Uhhhhh...Big sister..."

Suddenly, the young man noticed the kid was getting teary eyed and sobbing, a rather alarming signal that he would most likely begin to cry unless he did something.

"Ah! Wa-wait a moment! Don't cry!" He said with a slight panic while putting both hands in front of him "We'll find your sister, I swear! Just don't cry!"

"Huh?" Said the kid while looking up at him "You will?"

"Yeah! I will, I will!" Replied Kenji while sweat dropping "Just please, don't cry"

It took a few sobs, but the kid calmed down. It was a good thing, as having him cry would have caused far more trouble than he may imagine.

"(That was close)" He tought while sighing with his eyes closed before opening them and looking at him again "Anyway...I guess that for now we can start by looking for her around the place..."

"Erm..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I'm not supposed to go with strangers"

"Oh...In that case, my name is Kenji. Kenji Nijimura" Replied the young man with a confident tone "What's your name"

"I'm Tommy..."

"Okay, Tommy. I guess we're not strangers anymore now?"

"Ah! You're right!"

Looking at the kid's smile made Kenji somewhat feel better.

There was something oddly concerning about a child's innocence and simple-minded way of thinking, yet it also gave him a slight feeling of calm and ease. Perhaps because it reminded him to Peashy, even if just a little.

"Well, in that case. How about we go find your sister?" Asked the young man while looking at him with a smile

"Yeah!"

The kid nodded in agreement with his idea, and the two of them began moving around the artwall's area. They began by covering the area around where Kenji found him, but they didn't seem to find her. Along the way, they made it all the way back to the first wall he had seen. Taking a second look at it, he could definitely recall that ederly alien from somewhere, but he wasn't sure where.

This time, he focused more on the red sign it was holding.

"Stop wars, huh?"

"Big sister really likes this one"

"Really?"

"Yeah" Replied the kid while nodding "She said something about not liking wars and when people fight, and this wall says that, so she likes it"

"I see..." Said Kenji while looking at the art wall "She sounds like a kind person"

A world where no one fights, where there's lasting peace and people don't need to kill each other. Thinking about a world like that could certainly humor someone, and it did sound nice, even if a bit like a childish and naive fantasy. As far as he was concerned, though, it was just an unreachable possibility, a hollow dream. An ambition only someone who didn't know the hardships of the battlefield nor the human selfishness could babble about freely. Even so, it was a nice dream to have.

"Tommy!"

Suddenly, a female voice calling out the kid's name came from behind. When turning their heads, both of them saw a young woman running towards them and wrapping her arms around Tommy in an embrace.

"Ah! Big sister!" Said the kid cheerfully with a smile

"Thank Goodness! I was so worried about you!" She replied while keeping her grip on him tight before placing both hands on his shoulders and looking at him with an irritated expression "I told you to stay close to me! Why didn't you listen!?"

In response to this scolding, Tommy lowered his head and made an apologetic expression

"I'm sorry..."

The young man looked at the two siblings for a moment and made a calm smile. He initially thought it'd be a lot harder to find her, but fortunately it didn't take very long.

"Either way, I'm just glad I found you" She replied after sighing with relief and looking at him "But are you sure you're okay? You didn't get hurt or anything, right?"

"No! I'm okay!" Replied the kid with a more cheerful smile before turning his head to look at Kenji "Mister Kenji helped me!"

"Mister Kenji?"

The young woman turned her head and looked at Kenji, who looked at her. Now that Kenji looked at her directly, he noticed she looked oddly familiar, almost as if he had seen her somewhere before, and the same thing seemed to cross her mind as well.

"(Eh?)" He thought while looking at her "(Where did I...?)"

The curiosity ran through both minds for a moment or two before the memory suddenly came up.

Kenji and this woman did meet each other before, and said meeting was rather hard to forget, considering she was buck naked, and that she damaged a rather important area of his body. Unlike before, though, she was now wearing a white top under a pink sweater and a crimson skirt, along with black shoes, socks and a flower oranment in her hair.

"(Ah!)" Thought both of them as they recalled their meeting and their expressions turned into ones of shock "Ah! You're...From back then!"

Out of reflex, the young man quickly took a step back to avoid a second surprise attack to his crotch area like before while she quickly got back up on her feet and stepped between him and Tommy, almost as if trying to protect him.

"You! What were you trying to do to my little brother!?" She said with a fierce tone and expression

"Huh!? I didn't do anything!"

"First you sneak into women's bathrooms, and now you try kidnapping a child!?" She added while making sure not to let him and the kid make eye contact "Just how far does your depravity go!?"

"That was an accident! I didn't mean to go in there!" Replied Kenji before making an irritated expression "More importantly, just what kind of messed up dude you think I am!?"

"A depraved piece of human trash! What else!?" She said before pulling out her phone "You better leave before I call the police!"

"The police!?"

The young man couldn't help but break a cold sweat.

Even if peeping wasn't as severe of a crime as theft or murder, it was still punished pretty hard. In the worst of cases, he could be sent for jail for some time, or forced to pay a rather hefty fine, along with a dark stain in his permanent record.

HDD wasn't a way out of this, as even if he could overpower the entire police force, it would only bring even greater trouble both for him and his mother.

The options seemed to run out one after the other right now. Fortunately, the kid jumped in to back Kenji up.

"Wait, big sister!" He said while getting in front of her while waving both arms up in the air "Don't be mean to mister Kenji!"

"You too, Tommy!" She said while lowering her head to look at him "Didn't mom and dad always tell you to stay away from strangers!? And specially from bad people like him!?"

"Mister kenji isn't a stranger or a bad person! He helped me look for you!" Snarled Tommy while looking at her "You're the one acting like a bad person, big sister!"

The young woman broke a cold sweat. Right now she was trying to find a way to explain to her younger sibling that Kenji was actually a bad person. Meanwhile, the young man looked at both of them arguing about it and sighed with his eyes closed.

It seemed as though the only way to solve this was to try and act more calmly.

"Look, I get it if you see me as a pervert because of that whole dressing room mess from the other day, and I'll apologize if that's what you want..." He said calmly while looking at her with a more stern expression "But I wasn't planning on doing anything bad to your brother, I swear it by my father's grave"

Both Tommy and her older sister looked at the young man in silence, the sister seemingly pondering about the veracity of his words, for a moment or two before speaking.

"I see..." She said with certain suspicion before closing her phone and putting it back in her pocket

Kenji closed his eyes and sighed with relief, glad he managed to dodge a legal bullet.

"I don't think you're worth trusting, and you're still a pervert from my perspective, but if Tommy says you helped him, then I'll believe him"

"Fair enough..."

He couldn't say he was all too happy about that strong lack of trust, but she did have a valid reason to feel dubious about him. If anything, at least she wasn't as fierce towards him as before.

"Anyway, what's your name?"

"Why do you want to know?" She asked while looking at him with suspicion

"It was just a question. You don't need to answer if you don't want to..." He replied while sweat dropping

Another moment of silence went by as she looked at him before closing her eyes and speaking.

"Well, I guess I can tell you..." She replied calmly "My name..."

At the same time as this conversation between the young man and the young woman was happening, the group kept making their way towards a venue to enjoy some more live music. On the way there, Naomi and Vert engaged in conversation once more. This time, regarding Kenji.

"Memory loss!?" Said Kenji's mother with widened eyes

"Yes..." Replied Vert while nodding "It seems that before we met him, something happened that damaged Kenji's memories...Lately he has been recalling a few memories lately, although they're still difficult to discern, according to him"

"I see...So that's why he couldn't remember attending Art walk" Said Naomi while lowering her head with slight concern "Even though it's always been such an important even for him..."

Now that she knew about her son's memory loss, a few things became clearer to her. Mostly his inability to recall the past Art walks he attended to, and Vert's persistence to find out more about his past.

"If you don't mind me asking, why is this such an important event to him?"

"Art walk is an event we came to a lot with Joel when he was still a kid..." She replied while looking at Leanbox's CPU "Also, it's where he met Cocoa..."

"Cocoa?"

At first the name didn't seem to ring a bell, but Vert was quickly surprised after recalling Kenji mentioning something about the girl from his memories having that same nickname.

"Erm...And who was this Cocoa?" She asked with a more stern expression, the curiosity becoming stronger by the minute "A friend?"

"No...She was his lover"

"Lover!?" Asked Vert with widened eyes and a shocked expression "Kenji had a lover!?"

"Yes...She was Kenji's first girlfriend" Said Naomi while nodding as the memory came back to her "If I remember right, her name was..."

At that moment, both Kenji's mother and the young woman, although on different locations and completely unaware of the conversations both of them were having at the moment, said the exact same thing at the exact moment, almost as if it was a byproduct of fate itself.

"Zoey...Zoey Madison"


	30. The circuit

**Note from the author: 12/11/17**

 **Hey guys, long time no see!**

 **Sorry for the lack of updates, but I've had to deal with my finals (Which I failed, unfortunately) and just generally take a rest from writing for a while. The latter is because, honestly, I've been feeling rather burned out lately and couldn't muster any creativity to make something, so I felt like I needed to take some time and just relax. Fortunately I was able to do just that, and now feel more refreshed thanks to it. I have a lot of catching up to do with the chapters and it may take me a bit to get back into the groove, but I feel like I can do it.**

 **So thank you everyone for all of your continued support, it means a lot to me. Sorry again for letting you in the dark for so long. And finally, I really hope you have a good read and keep enjoying the story so far. See you all in the next chapter!**

 **EDIT***

 **I just realized we reached 200 followers! Thank you so much, everyone!**

 **To celebrate this amazing achievement, I decided to do a drawing. But I'll leave the decision of what to make up to you. I already put a Tweet where you can leave a comment saying what you'd like to see. It could be a coupling or one of the oracles (And yes, it can be a fanservice choice too. Just nothing too extreme). Or if you don't like Twitter, you can also go to the forums and do the poll there instead (You can also comment your own choice there too, if you'd like).**

 **I'll leave the link to the poll in my profile. All the details to how the poll will work are in the forums as well, but you're free to ask for any doubts you may have.**

 **Have a great day, everyone!**

* * *

Walking down the streets filled with people, the young man's mind began to wander. Most of it focused on making sure his body would walk with a steady step as his consciousness slowly dwelved into the words echoing within his mind, calling out to him using the rather odd yet cutesy nickname he received from the woman within his memories.

"Hey,Twinkie..." Said the soft female voice, echoing around him "You know, I..."

"Hey...Hey" Said a second voice, this one sounding a bit rougher around the edges "Hey!"

"Eh?"

After suddenly snapping out of his trance, the young man focused forward and saw both Zoey and Tommy standing in front of him, both siblings looking at him with certain curiosity.

"What's with you?" Asked Zoey with a raised eyebrow

"Are you okay?" Added Tommy, sounding more concerned than his sister

"Ye-Yeah, sorry... I just spaced out for a moment there" He replied with a weak smile while scratching the back of his head

The young woman looked at him for a moment with certain doubt in her eyes before closing them and speaking once more, breaking the silence between the three of them.

"I see..." She said with slight distrust in her tone before turning around "Well, if it's nothing, then I guess it's okay"

As she and her younger brother resumed their walking, so did Kenji keep walking as well towards the music stage, which was where he agreed to meet up with the CPUs, and where the siblings were going to as well.

"(Why did I even begin to think about that?)" He thought while his eyes diverted up and to the left

From the moment he heard Zoey's name, something began to kick on the back of his mind, almost as if trying to tell him something. Yet, there was nothing that came to mind besides the girl's voice, which came back every now and then.

But it was at that moment that he suddenly looked at Zoey and thought about how it all began due to the mere mention of her name, which led him to wonder if there was some connection between her and the woman in his thoughts.

"(Well...She does have the same hair color, though it's a bit shorter)" He thought, seeing her hair only reached down to her chest, while the woman in his mind had hair that reached slightly below her hips "(Well, I still can't remember her face all to well, so it can't really be helped...Besides, they do look a bit similar, I guess)"

During this moment of pensive analysis, the young woman took notice of Kenji looking at her rather intently, which she didn't seem all too pleased about, to say the least.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing..."

"Then do you mind stop eyeing me?" She said with slight annnoyance in her tone, along with a mixture of irritation and grossed out in her expression "I hate leering stares"

A moment of silence went by as she looked at him, then looked forward again.

"(...I take that back...She and that woman are NOTHING alike!)" Thought the young man with a popped vein mark on his forehead "(She's way worse than Neptune!)"

Unlike the kind, loving and gentle woman of his memories, this one was as biased as they came, constantly rude and didn't have an ounce of kindness in her. Even dealing with the perky, loud and irritating CPU of Planeptune was far better than this, and by a wide marging. In a way, it kind of made him wonder if the younger brother was really talking about the same woman when they talked earlier.

Of course, It could be justified up to some extent by the rather unfortunate way they met, but it was still irritating to be treated like a pervert when he wasn't one, especially in such a rude way. Unfortunately, there was no easy or fast way to fix that.

"More importantly, why are you still following us?"

"I'm not following you, I'm just heading towards the same place"

"And you need to do it through the same street as us?"

"Last time I checked, people were free to move through any street they wanted" He replied with certain irritation in his tone

"That doesn't mean you needed to use the same one as us, does it?"

"Hey, seriously now. What's your problem with me?" He asked while looking at her after sighing "I already said I was sorry about the other day, didn't I?"

"Just because you say you're sorry doesn't mean you are" She replied without even looking at him "Also, I never said I accepted your apology to begin with, I only accepted that you didn't have any ill intent towards my younger brother"

"So you're still pissed off about it?"

"Of course I am! What woman wouldn't be angry about a random man, especially one such as you, to look at them when they're naked!?"

"It's not like there was THAT much to look at, you know?" He said in a slightly lower tone than usual, almost as if he didn't intend for her to hear it

"What was that?" Quickly asked Zoey while turning her head to look at him over her shoulder with an irritated expression and a popped vein. Her tone lower than before, but emanating a powerful animosity and anger.

"Nothing..." Replied the young man while looking away for a moment before looking at her once more and asking a question that suddenly popped inside his mind "Also, what do you mean by "one such as me"?"

"Do I even need to explain it out loud to you?" She said while looking at him "Vandalism, constant brawls both in and outside school grounds, utter lack of respect towards school rules and authority, violence against students and teachers alike...No matter what is it, the only things one can hear when talking about you are bad ones..."

Kenji didn't reply this time, he simply looked at her in silence.

Although those were things he wasn't proud of, they weren't lies, nor something he could justify either. Most of the time he did them either out of boredom, impulse or because someone really pissed him off.

"You even got expelled for brutalizing a teacher that did nothing but lecture you!"

"It wasn't like that..."

"Huh?"

Zoey, curious about the meaning behind the young man's sudden reply, turned her head to look at him and saw his expression had changed. Instead of the somewhat less concerned or slightly irritated expression, Kenji's face now showed a mixture of anger, despise and oddly enough, a pint of regret as well. It seemed as though he was thinking about a memory related to the events that Zoey spoke about just now, and said memory didn't seem all too pleasant either.

"That bastard didn't lecture me...He just went and spoke out of turn..." Said Kenji with a slightly rougher tone than before and his gaze diverted towards the side, almost as if trying to avoid eye contact with her

The young woman wasn't all too sure how to react to that expression, nor to that answer. At first she thought about answering just in the same way as she did so far, but something about the young man's reply just now made her unable to do so. Perhaps a part of her felt curious about the sudden change in his expression and tone. After all, there was a lingering rumor that the professor he beat up said something in the middle of his lecture that provoked Kenji, but it didn't have a lot of credibility, as very few people were capable of confirming it. Hearing him answer that very same thing just now probably aroused her curiosity as to whetever the rumor was true or not after all, but she felt like digging any deeper may end up just making the walk even more umpleasant.

"Well...If you say so..." She replied calmly "It's not like asking you will help, anyway"

As the trio resumed their trip, the young man recalled that unpleasant memory. The rather pesky math teacher who only cared about drilling endless equations into the heads of his students, forcing them into learning to attain better grades, as it would make his paycheck fatter at the end of the month and get him a higher chance for a raise. Unfortunately, his reputation suffered quite badly from this, and also from the fact he was downright infuriating due to his utter lack of patience or consideration with his unlucky students. Not even the teachers liked him.

It was this man, who always seemed to loathe Kenji in particular, that went and insulted him for his lack of motivation or even effort countless times, referring to him with names similar to those Zoey used now, and even some that were worse. But the one insult that defined it all, the drop that spilled the cup, was one that wasn't aimed at him.

"(Considering that woman was foolish enough to keep the child of such a muscle-headed brute, I'm not surprised)" Echoed the words within his head, recalling the dry and hoarse voice of his teacher before

After those words were said, the young man completely lost it and went on a rage, beating the disrespectful snob to a pulp before finally being stopped by the gym teachers, who were the only ones with enough muscle to hold him back completely.

When the incident ended, the teacher ended up stuck in a coma for almost a month and Kenji was expelled for attacking a teacher. Although some students saw it as justified due to the rather awful insult to his family, no one vouched for him to the principal, mainly because the principal was the teacher's cousin, and he certainly didn't take the young man sending HIS family to the hospital any kindly.

In all truth, Kenji didn't expect the other students to help him, as none of them were friends with him, and he didn't regret what he did either. On hindsight, though, the only thing he truly regretted now was the trouble he caused to his mother because of his own actions.

"Big sister, Kenji! Look!"

Tommy calling out to both his elder sister and Kenji with excitement snapped the young man out of his thoughts. When looking

"Hm? What?"

"Look at that!"

When looking at what the kid was pointing at, he saw a small tent. Rather shady looking, in a way, but the deep purple color of it gave off a mystic aura. In front of it, there was a small sign saying "hand and tarot reading".

"Fortune telling?"

"Hey, Tommy. I told you not to point at things..."

"I'm sorry, big sister" Replied the young brother with a slightly aprehensive expression "But it looks really fun!"

"(Fun, he says...)" Thought Kenji while looking at the tent before looking at Tommy and speaking "Then how about we go and check it out?"

"What? Are you into this type of stuff?" Asked Zoey this time while looking at him with a raised eyebrow

"Not really, but there's no harm in giving it a try, right?" He asked back with a smile "Besides, what's the point of coming to an ArtWalk if you're gonna miss out on all the fun?"

Zoey looked at him for a moment or two in silence before diverting her stare at Tommy and finally giving a resignated sigh.

"Fine, I get it...Just stop looking at me like that..." She said with her eyes closed while sweat dropping before opening them and looking at Tommy "It's only gonna be for a minute, though...Also, don't take anything that person says as a fact. They usually lure you in by saying what you want to hear, then take advantage of you"

"I understand!"

"Well, in that case, let's go in already"

"Okay!"

With the majority voting on checking out the promises of fortune telling, the trio went into the tent. Within it, they saw what you'd expect. A table with red cloth on the center and three chairs, along with a couple of night tables with candles on them, along with some paintings on the "walls".

"Ah, it's customers!" Said a cheerful female voice "Welcome! Please come in!"

The instant they walked in, they were received by a young girl in Gypsy clothes. She had chest-lenght pitch black hair and tanned skin, along with brown eyes. Judging by her slightly hispanic accent, one could imagine she was of mexican or Latin-American origin, or born in the country and raised by a family of that origin. But her natural accent and fluid speech in english showed it was most likely the latter one.

"Hey...So you're the fortune teller?"

"No, no. I can't read fortunes very well yet" She replied while moving her head slowly in denial "The one in charge of that is my abuela..."

"Abuela?" Asked the young man while looking at her with a raised eyebrow

"It means "grandmother" in spanish" Explained Zoey

"Oh..."

"Abuela! Tenemos clientes!"

Shortly after the girl called out for her grandmother, an elderly woman with clear brown skin similar to her grandaughter's and short, ash-colored hair that looked slightly dry. She had a wrinkle face and walked slowly, along with having a slightly hunched posture. She had that odd face that could be described as a mixture of apathy and absent-mindedness which one could see in most people once they reached old age, but unlike most elderly people, some sharpness remained in her eyes.

"Abuela, estas personas desean que les predigas su futuro"

The gandmother looked at her grandaughter before eyeing the trio for a moment and nodding with her eyes closed.

"Deacuerdo..."

"She say's it's okay..."

"Don't count me in...I'm not interested in fake predictions" Said Zoey with her eyes closed and arms crossed

"(Man, she's even more of a buzzkill than Noire...)" Thought the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

"Also, just how much does this cost?"

"It's only five dollars per person"

"Five dollars for a pep talk from a stranger?"

"Please, big sister..."

Zoey then looked at her younger brother. Judging by her expression, she probably didn't have a lot of money on her right now, but she didn't like the idea of letting Tommy down, especially when he was so excited about it.

Looking at this, Kenji simply closed his eyes and let a silent sigh out through his nose before opening his eyes again and pulling out a ten dollar bill, which he gave to the gympsy girl.

"Here you go..."

"Eh?"

"Thank you!" She replied with a smile on her face "So it'll be two readings, then?"

"Yup...One for the kid and another one for me"

"Entonces...Quien va primero?"

"What did she say?"

"She's asking which one goes first"

"Oh, me! I'll go first!"

Everyone's attention then diverted to Tommy as he walked forward and sat down on the chair and followed the girl's instructions, putting his hand over the elderly woman's with the palm facing up as she analyzed the lines. On the meanwhile, Zoey turned her head and looked at Kenji before whispering to him in an attempt to avoid interrupting the elderly woman.

"You...Why did you do that?"

"Do I need a reason to be nice to a kid?" He replied calmly "Besides, I had a few bucks to spare, so why not?"

"I see..." She said, taking a moment of silence before speaking once more "But to think you were into this sort of stuff too..."

"Not really...I mean, I'm more of swords guy than magic"

"Then why did you pay for two readings?"

"To be honest, it was the smallest bill I had on me at the moment" He replied with a somewhat forced smile and a bit of a sweat drop

"You do realize you could've just asked her for change instead of having to get an extra pep talk, right?"

"Oh..."

A short moment of silence went by as she looked at him with a monotone expression before he finally broke the silence.

"I...Didn't think about that, to be honest..." He said while sweat dropping once more with his head slightly lowered

This time, even Zoey sweat dropped as well. She had a hard time believing Kenji didn't even consider something that for her was just common and basic sense.

"Well...Even if you are a bit brainless, you still did something really nice for Tommy" Said Zoey while looking at him, a small smile foming in her face "So for all that it's worth...Thank you"

"Don't mention it..." He replied with a relaxed smile and his eyes closed, ignoring the small insult she sneaked into her sentence, before opening them and looking at the younger brother "By the way, why is Tommy so hyped up about this? Is he into fortune telling or something?"

"Actually, saying he's more interested in magic in general would be more precise..." Replied Zoey without even looking at him "Ever since I can remember, Tommy had a strong love for everything related to the mystic and magic...He even says that he wants to be a magician when he grows up"

"Is that so...?"

Both of them then looked at Tommy, who listened carefully to the words of the elderly woman. He seemed excited, although he probably couldn't understand a single thing without the granddaughter's translation. Once finished, he quickly got off the chair and headed back to the two of them in a rush.

"Big sister, did you hear that!? The old lady said I will become a great magician someday!"

"Of course she would say that" Replied Zoey while sweat dropping with her eyes closed

"Don't pop his bubble...At least let him enjoy it for a bit longer" Added the young man while looking at her with his arms crossed

"Now then...It's your turn, mister"

"Okay" He replied while walking towards the table, then looking at the girl one more time "Also, don't call me mister...I'm not that old"

Kenji calmly sat down on the chair as the elderly woman looked at him before doing the same process as Tommy by placing his hand forward with the palm facing upwards. The grandmother looked at it for a moment with a pensive expression, almost as if something about his hand made her perplexed, before finally holding it and starting.

The moment their hands touched, the woman's expression suddenly paled like that of a person who saw a ghost, or like that of a ghost itself.

"Oh...Santa madre..." She said in her idiom, which only confused those around her "Semejante cosa...como puede ser posible?"

"Abuela?" Asked the grandaughter with certain worry

"Erm...Miss? Is everything okay?"

The elderly woman kept looking at his hand before looking at Kenji himself and to the girl. The perplexed expression on her face lasting for a short moment before returning to a more calm one.

"No...No es nada..."

"What did she say?"

"She said "No, it's nothing"..."

"(That's not the type of face someone does for nothing, you know?)" He thought while looking at the elderly woman as she analyzed the lines of his hand while sweat dropping "(Well...No point in making a ruckus about it, I guess...)"

"Tu...Tu has perdido algo muy valioso, algo invaluable..."

"You have lost something very important, something priceless..." Added the grandaughter, who worked as the translator for her words

"(Important...)" Thought Kenji before his eyes widened "(Wait, does she mean my memories!?)"

"Ese algo es borroso y elusivo, pero esta mas cerca de lo que crees...Tan cerca que casi puedes tocarlo...Y lo obtendras pronto"

"That something is blurry and elusive, but it's closer than you think...so close that you can almost touch it...And you will get a hold of it soon enough..."

"(So there is a way to get them back!?)" He tought with widened eyes, a sight sense of hopefulness reflecting in his eyes

"Pero te advierto...Felicidad sera lo ultimo que sentiras al encontrarlo..."

"But I warn you...Happiness is the last thing you'll feel when finding it..."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Ese algo que buscas...Te dara las respuestas que tanto deseas, pero no te traeran felicidad"

"That something you're looking for...It'll give you the answers you yearn for, but they won't bring you happyness"

"Por lo contrario...No haran mas que traer a la superficie un obscuro fragmento de tu pasado...Uno que traera sufrimiento y miseria tanto a ti como a los que te rodean..."

"On the opposite...It'll do nothing more than bring forth an obscure fragment of your past...One that will bring pain and misery both to you and to those around you..."

"Wait a moment! Just what kind of reading is this!?" Interrupted Zoey with an irritated expression and tone "Even if it's a joke, this is just getting too out of hand already!"

"I-I'm really sorry! My abuela never made such a gloomy reading before!" Quickly said the grandaughter while apologizing

"Alicia...Todavia no terminamos..." Said the elderly woman,

"Eh?" Replied Alicia before snapping out of it "Ah! Ye-Yes!"

"Joven...lo que te dije es un futuro, pero uno que puede ser elegido" Explained the woman while looking at him straight in the eye "Si lo deseas, puedes simplemente dejar de lado tu busqueda y aceptar el vivir en la duda...O puedes seguir buscando las respuestas y desvelar los pecados de tu pasado..."

"Young man...What I just told you is a future, but one that can be chosen" Added the granddaughter, who did her best to keep translating "If you wish so, you can simply leave your search aside and accept living in doubt...Or you can choose to keep searching for answers and reveal the sins of your past..."

"The sins of my past..."

At that moment, Kenji recalled the words of his other self. The words referring to his past, and to a grave sin. Could it be the sin the elderly woman was talking about was the same one?

"That's enough! We're leaving!"

"Eh!? Big sister!?"

Without any warning, Zoey took Tommy's hand and walked out of the tent. Shortly after, the young man chased after the two of them.

"Ah! Wait, you two!"

"Joven...antes de que te vayas...Una ultima pregunta..."

"Eh?"

"She's...She's saying she wants to ask you a question before you go" Translated the granddaughter, who was growing hesitant as to whetever it was okay to keep it going

"What is it?"

"Solo por curiosidad...Eres veterano o sobreviviente de alguna guerra reciente?"

"Abuela?"

"What did she say?"

"Erm...Actually, I'm not sure if I should..."

"Alicia..."

The granddaughter looked at her grandmother before looking at the young man once more, remaining silent for a moment before finally giving in and translating

"She's asking you if you're a veteran or survivor of any recent wars..."

Kenji couldn't help but feel surprised by that question. Nonetheless, he answered honestly.

"No...Not really...I'm just a highschool student..."

Of course, he did take part in the war against ASIC back in Planeptune, but that wasn't something he could tell them about. And in a way, it wasn't a lie, as it technically counted as a large-scale battle, rather than a full-blown war.

"Ya veo..." Said the elderly woman while looking at him in silence for a moment "No importa...Te deseo un buen dia, Joven"

"She says it doesn't matter...and wishes you a good day..."

"O-Okay..." He said, slightly confused, before turning around and leaving

Once the trio left as quickly as they entered, the grandaugher sighed with exhaustion before turning and facing her grandmother with an indignated tone.

"Abuela! What was that about just now!?" She asked with a slight irritation "I know you can read bad things more often than not, but couldn't you at least try to say something positive as well!?"

"Alicia...Te acuerdas lo que te dije sobre los demonios que acechan a la gente?"

"The demons that haunt people?" Asked the girl with slight confusion before answering what she was taught about the subject "Yeah, I do...You told me they're evil spirits formed by the darkness in people's hearts that haunt them"

As someone who was taught about the spiritual plane, Alicia knew from her grandmother's teachings that, despite not being similar to the demons described in most religions, there was a type of vile spirits that could be considered as demons. These dark beings, born out of the darkness of the human heart, mostly by sins or negative thoughts such as hatred and regret, were known for clinging to the bodies of their host and haunt their minds. To the people with some spiritual aptitude, both these beings and the traces of their existence could be seen, though it was only as a dark spot or stain.

"That boy's hands...They were very warm and very kind, but also pitch black..." Said the elderly woman, this time in english to the young girl's surprise, after nodding in agreement "The darkest I've ever seen..."

"Abuela? What do you mean by that?"

The grandmother didn't reply right away. Instead, she thought about Kenji's hands. Hands that were as warm and as kind as they could get. Yet, they were pitch black in color. Covered in a thick layer of darkness one could only get by slaughtering hundreds, if not thousands of innocents, their blood thick enough to go from red to black. And not only that, but the vile spirit she saw clinging to him was unlike any she had ever seen before. Unlike the small stain-like creatures clinging to a part of the body, the spirit clinging to Kenji's back was just as big as him, if not slightly larger, and had a clear form that reflected his, along with a deep and overwhelming darkness. A twisted and vile grin that could instill fear into the soul of even the bravest of men stood in his face, patiently waiting for the chance to emerge from within the depths of his heart.

"If those spirits are demons, then that boy has the devil himself clawing at his back"

"The devil?"

Alicia looked at her grandmother, her long and wrinkled hands shivering from the creature she had to face just now, before looking at the tent's exit once more. Her mind thinking about the young man, who was catching up to the two siblings as they spoke.

*Scene*

After the unexpected fortune reading, Kenji and the two siblings made it to the music stage shortly afterwards and went their own sepparate ways. Zoey and Tommy left to probably reunite with their parents or whoever they came with while the young man searched for the group, which he managed to find rather fast, considering the large amounts of people. It probably helped that not many people had pink hair such as that of Neptune, or that Blanc was still wearing that odd hat she got for her while they were shopping.

The rest of the trip was rather uneventful. Everyone hanged around and enjoyed the music for the remained of the event before finally heading back home. The CPUs looked like they enjoyed the music, as not only the songs, but many of the styles they listened to were unheard of in Gamindustry. Kenji, on the other hand, didn't really pay much attention to the music. His mind was too focused on the words of the elderly woman, but he also did his best to not let the others notice since it would only ruin the whole night. Even after everyone went to sleep for the night, he kept thinking about it. His gaze focused on the nightsky as he rested on his room's window.

He wasn't the type to believe in things like fortune tellers and tarot, but his way of seeing the world changed quite a lot ever since he went to the Hyperdimension, so it was slightly harder to define whetever something was worth believing in or not. Fortune readers were known for having a knack for nailing what to say by analyzing a person carefully, but that elderly woman's words were far too acurate, at least for a fake reading. The words she said felt like she was talking his search for his memories and about his unknown sin, and there was no way for her, or for anyone in the world to know about it with such detail.

It didn't scare him or anything of the sort, but it did make him more curious. Just recalling the perplexed, almost terrified, epxression on that woman's face made him wonder just what on Earth was that sin he couldn't remember. Was it really such a horrible thing?

Without realizing it, his eyes eventually diverted towards the moon. And before he knew it, he was already stuck staring at it, getting lost in its white glow as the worries within his mind were washed away by it. Somehow, just as it always did so before, looking at the moon made him feel calm.

"(Well...No use thinking about it, I guess...)" He tought to himself while closing his eyes and moving away from the window, then looking back at his PC.

The machine was turned on and being used rather heavily, but not by him. Rather, by Vert, who made up her mind to find an MMO in Kenji's world to entertain herself with. And unfortunately for him, she did find quite a few that, although not as high-quality as her usual games, were more than enough to keep her busy.

"You...Just how long are you planning to stay here?"

"Please don't mind me, Kenji. I'm just searching for some proper MMOs to enjoy"

"Right now? At 1:00 AM?"

"Of course!" Replied Vert with a confident smirk "It is at this hour that only the most dedicated players are around!"

"Don't you mean the most addicted?"

"Oh, this one looks promising!" Said Leanbox's CPU, paying no heed to the young man's retort "Space colonies are not really my type, but It'll do for the time being...Perhaps I'll start by leveling up and learning about the game, then build myself a proper guild"

While Vert got more and more inmersed in the MMO she just found, Kenji just looked at her. He wasn't sure whetever he should be amazed or concerned about her incredible addiction to MMOs and boundless amounts of energy. In a way, she was even more energetic than Neptune, if such a thing was possible.

"Do whatever you want..." He said with a somewhat defeated tone before covering himself with his blankets "Just don't make too much noise...I want to get some sleep"

"Of course...I'll do my best to be as quiet as I can"

"(Somehow, I get the feeling this won't be a quiet night)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping before closing his eyes and trying to sleep.

Unfortunately for him, his prediction came true without any inconveniences. All night long, Vert played like there was no tomorrow. And while she did keep her voice and the game's volume low enough to keep it from being heard by the neighbors and by the others, but Kenji, who was in the same room as her, wasn't as lucky.

The following day, the young man went out to take a walk while doing a few errands for his mother. But the exhaustion in his face was as clear as daylight. Even Noire, who came along with him, could notice it by his yawning.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a mixture of concern and confusion "You don't look very well"

"Yeah...I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night" He replied with an irritated tone

Vert played all night long to her heart's desire. By the time morning arrived, she was still going at it and didn't show any signs of stopping. Just for the sake of getting some peace and quiet, he even accepted to do errands for his mother.

"I see..."

"That woman...Her sleep patterns are the complete opposite of Plutia's" Said Kenji with his head lowered and a weary sigh "But in a way, they're also much worse..."

Noire simply looked at him in silence and sweat dropped.

From what she could remember hearing from Neptune, Plutia was a girl with a serious problem regarding the seemingly endless hours she spent sleeping. And for him to say something like that, it was very likely that he was referring to Vert.

"I guess you've got your own problems too, huh?" She said, attempting to somewhat make him feel a bit better

Knowing about her strong gaming habits, she would probably still be playing after they returned, and probably the rest of their stay as well. In a way, her gaming habits were even worse than Neptune's, and that was already a scary thought in itself.

The rest of the way was surprisingly quiet and uneventful, if nothing else. And when they finally arrived to buy what Naomi asked him to get, it didn't take long to find either.

"Do we have everything?"

"Let's see..." Said Noire while looking inside the bag "Sugar, Cocoa, cornstarch, milk and salt...Yeah, I think that's everything in the list"

"Good. Let's pay for it and get back"

Lastation's CPU agreed with the young man and walked with him to the counter to pay for the groceries. There, they happened upon someone rather unexpected.

"Well, isn't this a surprise..."

"Hm?" Mumbled the young man while turning his head and looking at the source of the voice, which just so happened to be Zoey "Oh, it's you..."

The young woman looked at him with her arms crossed. Unike yesterday, she was wearing a highschool uniform, and she seemed somewhat unpleased with his lack of emotion when referring to her as well. It was not like anyone could blame him, though, considering how badly their first encounter went, and how the second almost one finished with him going to jail.

"You don't sound very happy to see me..."

"My luck ain't exactly sparkling when you're around, you know?"

"Don't blame your bad fortune on me"

"Erm...Kenji?"

"Ah, right..."

Due to being absorbed by his short meeting with Zoey, Kenji almost forgot about Noire, who was looking at both of them hold a conversation.

"Noire, this girl is Zoey. She's a student from my school"

"Ex-school..." Interrupted the young woman, which made him look at her for a moment before doing the rest of the introduction while trying not to react to her words

"Zoey, this is Noire...She's a friend of mine"

"Ni-Nice to meet you..." Said Noire with a smile

"Yeah, likewise" Replied the young woman, sounding more kind to her than she ever did to Kenji so far

Lastation's CPU was partly happy from hearing the young man refer to her as a friend, but she also couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling of Zoey's piercing stare, which made her feel like she was drilling a hole through her chest. The rather heavy mood going on between both of them didn't help her very much either.

"(Somehow, I get the feeling she's not very happy to see us either...)" She thought with a weak smile while sweat droping.

"Anyway, what are you doing here?" Asked Kenji in an attempt to break the ice, hoping to make the mood a bit lighter "Shouldn't you be in school or something?"

"Shouldn't YOU be looking for a school to attend to?"

The young man didn't reply this time. He didn't have a good comeback for that answer. In a way, it was really irritating how she nitpicked about that without hesitation, but on the other hand, he couldn't argue back either. Mostly because it was true that he was still a highschool drop-out.

Seeing his difficulty to argue back, Zoey closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and looking at him to answer his first question.

"If you need to know, I'm here to buy myself something to eat for the afternoon classes" She replied while dangling the plastic bag.

Within the bag, there was an apple and an orange juice. A rather simple, yet cheap and nutritious choice.

"Why come all the way here, though? Didn't the school have a cafeteria or something like that?"

"To be honest, the cafeteria's food tastes awful and the hygiene is lacking as of late" Replied Zoey, recalling the bad hygiene of both the kitchen and of the old, fat woman working behind the counter, serving blobs of mashed things that looked like trash pulps and puke "Besides, this place is rather close and they always have a fresh batch of apples...Not to mention their prices are good too"

"Urgh...Now that you mention it, I do recall avoiding that place for a similar reason" Said Kenji, a nauseous expression showing on his face as he recalled the rather unhealty working conditions "I mean, it is free food from a school with a shitty budget, but still..."

"I don't even want to know what you two are imagining right now..." Added Noire, looking at both of them and sweat dropping

Lastation's CPU had never attended to a school's cafeteria before, but she did get a gist of what it was like from watching anime from time to time. Judging by Kenji and Zoey's description's though, it sounded like the one they attended to was the complete opposite of what she imagined. And truth to be told, she didn't want to find out either.

After walking out of the shop, the trio began to walk down the streets. Along the way, conversation between Kenji and Zoey spurned from time to time.

"You know, I still don't get why you walked all the way out here just to buy an orange juice and an apple"

"Like I said before, I don't like the cafeteria's food and that store has some very convenient prices..." Replied Zoey while not even looking at him "Besides, I like to make the walk here and back every now and then...It helps me relax"

"So that's why you take the effort to do this so often instead of just buying it early in the morning...You know, like any other student with some common sense would do?"

Their talks, although constant and seemingly cordial, were mostly just an exchange of sarcastic comments and things that sounded very close to insults. But for some reason, having them talk and walk together felt oddly right. Even if they were very close to insulting each other with every exchange of words, Noire couldn't help but feel like there was some synergy or even affinity between the two of them. It was almost similar to the conversations she had with Neptune, except that these ones were more linear and made more sense. She couldn't pinpoint the exact reason, but a part of help couldn't help but have this feeling about it.

In a way, Noire felt like she should do an effort to enter in the conversation and see if the third wheel could make the conversation take a more light-hearted or cheerful direcction. Of course, she also wished to become more relevant in the conversation becuase the young woman would usually take the short spams of silence to stare quietly at her, almost as if trying to analyze her out of curiosity. And needless to say, this made Lastation's CPU very uncomfortable. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind when trying to think what to say.

"Hey, hey...Did you hear about the shipwreck from the other day?" Whispered one middle-agged woman to another she was walking with

"Yes, I did. It was such a horrible thing to hear about...I can't even imagine how those poor families must feel like..." Said the other, seemingly saddened about it

As her mind struggled to find an answer, Noire happened to hear a pair of middle-agged women, most likely house wives, talking about some sort of shipwreck. And not only them, but many of the people on the streets seemed to be talking about the same subject, which was something that caught her curiosity.

"Hey, Kenji. I'm hearing a lot of people talk about a shipwreck" She said while looking at the young man "Do you have any idea what happened?"

She didn't really wanted such a thing to be what would help her enter the conversation, but it was the only thing that came to mind, and the urge to ask was more out of curiosity than anything else.

"A shipwreck?" Asked back Kenji while looking at her, then at the people around the streets "Now that you mention it, I've heard a lot of people talking about it too...Not too sure what's it about, though"

"It's probably about last week's shipwreck accident" Interrupted Zoey to clear their doubts "Even the people at school have been talking about it lately"

"Do you know anything about it?"

"Not much..." She replied while looking at Noire this time "All I know is that a cruise ship got lost while traveling the Atlantic ocean and hasn't appeared yet, so it was declared a shipwreck"

"What's up with that?" Asked the young man while looking at her with a confused expression "I mean, shipwrecks are bad and all, but people don't usually make that big of a deal about it, do they?"

Truly, ship and plane accidents were things people talked about up to some degree due to their rarity and terrifying number of victims, but shipwrecks weren't something people made too much of a fuss about around the neighborhood, or at least not up to this degree.

"I think the reason everyone's talking so much about it is because many of the passengers in that ship were students from that well-known academy located next town over"

"Academy? You mean that big one with the four schools divided by different colors?"

"Yeah, that one..."

"An academy with four different schools?" Said Noire with surprise "How does that even work?"

"The way it works is that, depending on what type of career you wish to follow, you get put into one of the four sepparate schools owned by the academy" Explained Zoey to her while looking at the CPU over her shoulder "The four schools are divided by a "color system" in which each school has their own color theme...The green is the west, the blue is the east, the purple is the sout and the white is the north"

"Somehow, that sounds oddly familiar for some reason" Replied Lastation's CPU while sweat dropping, feeling like she had heard of a similar thing back in Gamindustry, but felt like she couldn't remember where.

"That place is also regarded as a "prestigious" school since lots of politicians and famous celebrities studied there"

"So, did either of you ever study there?"

"I'd like to do so, but traveling from one city to the other everyday wouldn't be a very effective routine, and my family doesn't have the funding to afford renting an apartment or a room in the dorms"

"My mother wanted me to go there once, but I didn't like the idea of traveling so much either..." Added the young man while turning his head to look at her "Besides, you need to take an aptitude test to enter and I heard it's hard as hell"

"You're probably just too lazy to properly study for it" Said Zoey while turning her head to look at him

"Not everyone likes to stay holed up all day long studying, you know?"

"There's nothing wrong about a student dedicating most of their time solely to studying"

As she looked at the two of them slowly drift out of the shipwreck subject and went back into arguing, Noire looked at them again. This time, though, she didn't mind it all that much, since now she was a more active part of the conversation. It was only a for a few short moments, but it sure was better than just walking behind them in silence like a stranger.

This somewhat oddly but cheerful arguing lasted for a bit longer before Zoey, Kenji and Noire went their sepparate ways, with her going back to school with just about enough time to eat her lunch and the two of them went back home to give Naomi the ingredients she requested. Surprisingly, Vert was downstairs with her instead of staying holed up in Kenji's room. Apparently, she had managed to reach the level cap and built her own guild, but the other guild leaders she was making deals with needed a few hours to discuss some things among themselves before forming an alliance with her. The mere fact she could reach the level cap in a game she began playing less than a day ago was baffling, but the young man paid more attention to the fact that, if she was here, then he could probably get himself a few hours of peaceful sleep. With this in mind, he went straight to his room while Noire reunited with Neptune and Blanc, who were relaxing in the living room. Or more like, Blanc was reading one of her books while Neptune was browsing through the television channels, hoping to find something fun to watch.

An hour or so later, Naomi walked into the room carrying a platter with five glass cups. Each of them filled with chocolate pudding and a spoon placed on it. Needless to say, the moment Neptune's nose caught the smell of her favorite food, she was the first one to react after turning her eyes and seeing it.

"Pudding!"

"Yes, this is my special home-made chocolate pudding" Said the young man's mother with a smile while placing the platter on the table "Kenji told me Neptune really likes pudding, so I thought I could try making some for everyone today"

"I think "like" is a bit of an understatement" Said Noire while sweat dropping as she thought the love Planeptune's CPU had towards the pastry dish was as intense as Kenji's love for pork bowls, before suddenly realizing something "Wait, so that's what those ingredients were for?"

"Yes" She replied while nodding and looking at her "Truth to be told, I wanted to go buy them myself, but I needed to find the recipe"

One after the other, Naomi made sure to give each CPU a cup of pudding

"Here, this one's yours" She said while giving Neptune her share

"Sweet! Thank you, Nami!"

"You're welcome"

Without even hesitating, Neptune took a hold of her cup and began to chop down on the chocolate pudding. Judging by her expression, she seemed to find it quite delicious.

"This tastes amaaaaazing! Not only you're nice and caring, but you also make legendary tier pudding!" Said Planeptune's CPU with a somewhat comical smile while giving Kenji's mother a thumbs up "Alright! With my right as the protag of protagonists, I declare you the best fanfiction mom character ever!"

"I'm not really sure what do you mean by that, but thank you" Replied Naomi with a weak smile while sweat dropping

"Wait, everyone. What about Kenji?"

Among the CPUs who were eating the pudding, Noire was the first one to notice the lone cup of pudding still on the platter, seemingly belonging to no one as Naomi didn't give it to any of the CPUs, nor took it for herself. It was after a moment of looking at it that she suddenly thought about Kenji.

"We-Well, I made this one for him, but he said earlier that he would go to sleep, right?" Replied Naomi, seemingly a bit hesitant at first "I wouldn't want to bother him while he's sleeping"

"Hm...Well, that is odd" Said Vert with slight surprise "It's quite unusual for Kenji to lack sleep...I wonder if something happened"

"(Yeah, you happened...)" Thought Noire while looking at her and sweat dropping before regaining a more neutral expression

"While that Is true, I do think at least one of us should go tell him about it..." Said Blanc while looking at Naomi

"And who knows, maybe he's still awake and just being pensive about something like always" Added Vert with a smile

"Yeah, yeah...Kenny does that whole "Pensive, serious character" thing a lot..."

"I...I guess you're right..." Replied Naomi, a less cheerful tone and expression coming from her now

"In that case, I'll go upstairs and tell him" Said Noire while getting up from her chair and walking towards the stairs

"Please, if you could"

"Well, I'm thankful for the troubles, but I doubt he'll wake up if he's already asleep. Kenji has always been a heavy sleeper, after all" Said the young man's mother with a somewhat weak smile before her expression suddenly changed into one Vert had grown most familiar with, and not for good reasons "Besides...I doubt he'd eat it even if you asked..."

Whie Leanbox's CPU looked at Naomi in an attempt to understand the meaning behind the last words she just whispered to herself, Noire walked up the wooden stairs and went into the second floor. She calmly walked down the hallway and knocked on the door to Kenji's room a couple of times.

"Hey, Kenji. Are you still awake?" She asked, waiting through a moment or two of silence before speaking again "Kenji. I'm going to enter..."

Lastation's CPU didn't expect him to be doing anything weird, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. After opening the door, she quietly walked inside and saw the young man laying down on the bed, not making a sound.

"(So he's asleep, huh?)" Thought Noire while looking at him "(Well, he did seem pretty tired earlier...)"

Out of mere curiosity, the CPU walked closer to the young man and looked at him in silence while crouching to get a closer and clearer view. Her stare being focused mostly on his face.

"(He looks so...Peaceful...)"

Back when he stayed in Lastation she failed to notice it, but when he's awake, Kenji's face usually shows silent worry or pensive thought about said worry, almost as if he couldn't allow himself to remain calm. Yet, it was the complete opposite when he was asleep. Right now, his expression looked calm, relaxed and peaceful. It was almost as if the worries that weighted on his mind were now all gone. Not only that, but he also looked so harmless that no one would be able to tell he's probably more than powerful enough to stand up against the four CPUs combined and win just from looking at him right now.

"(Somehow, it's kind of cute)" She thought while looking at him, a smile forming on her face as an odd feeling of relief coursed through her.

Truth to be told, this harmless appearance of his collided completely with his usual personality. The hardened warrior who they had acknowledged as a powerful individual, a fighter to the bitter end, right now looked just like a harmless child just sleeping peacefully. This odd gap between his personality and appearance both when awake and asleep was somewhat adorable in it's own way, and for some reason made Noire feel calm as well. She couldn't exactly explain it, but looking at the young man made something swell up within her chest, but it wasn't an uncomfortable of painful feeling. On the other hand, it was a soothing and pleasant warmth, so much that she felt like she could probably end up falling asleep if she were to close her eyes for too long.

"Hey, Noire..."

"Eh!?"

Lastation's CPU quickly got up on her feet and turned around in a panic, seeing Blanc.

"Bla-Blanc!? What's wrong!?"

"Naomi asked me to tell you Neptune already ate the remaining cup of pudding, so there's no need to wake Kenji up..."

"Oh...So that was it, huh?" Said Noire with a relieved sight and her eyes closed before making an irritated expression "That idiot...Even though I came up here, she couldn't hold back for at least a minute?"

"By the way...What were you doing just now?"

"Eh?"

Lastation's CPU opened her eyes and looked at Blanc with slight confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"When I came here to find you, you were staring at his face very closely"

"Ah! Tha-That's-You see...!"

Noire quickly went into a panic, attempting to find a good excuse to give for a moment or two before finally being interrupted by Lowee's CPU.

"Well, It doesn't really matter either way..." She said calmly with her eyes closed "Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go back to my reading. I had to stop at a rather good point in the story"

And without any further words, Lowee's CPU turned around and left, quickly followed by Noire, who tried using the chance she had to slip away before anyone else came by, even if she was slightly confused by Blanc's reaction. Both of them left Kenji by himself, allowing for him to sleep peacefully for the rest of the day, or at least until Vert came by later at night to resume her gaming session.

*Scene*

"Here I go!" Said Lastation's CPU while dashing forward towards the young man "Take this!"

Noire attacked Kenji with a combination of slash and thrust attacks, throwing a relentless barrage. Nonetheless, he easily managed to dodge or block every attack.

"I'm not done yet!"

Despite her initial barrage not having the effect she hoped for, the CPU didn't give up and instead kept going while steadily increasing the speed and strength of her attacks. And while it did increase the intensity of the battle and force the young man to increase his speed as well, it still wasn't enough to defeat him.

In the middle of her barrage, Noire suddenly changed her combos and used a powerful thrust attack, hoping it would take him by surprise and break his defenses, allowing her to take a follow-up attack and win. As soon as she moved in for the piercing move, though, the young man quickly moved sideways and did an uppercut-like slash with his weapon, causing Noire's sword to be sent up into the sky as he moved in to do a slash attack aimed at her head, but stopped at the last moment. The wooden weapon's edge pressed against the CPU's neck, who could hardly believe what just happened within the blink of an eye.

"And I guess we could count that as a win for Kenji" Said Vert with a smile from the sidelines

"More like a third victory..." Added Blanc, who was keeping count so far

"Da-Damn it! Again!?" Complained Noire from frustration

Today was a rather clear and sunny day, so much that even Vert felt like it would be a waste to stay holed up inside, besides from the fact her MMO had some server maintainance to take care of. Everyone decided it'd be nice to go out together again, and ended up agreeing on having a picnic at the larger park just a few blocks away.

Seeing the chance for a small training session, Noire brought along two wooden swords and challenge Kenji to spar with her, to which he agreed to surprisingly fast.

Ever since what happened back at that alleway a few days ago, she felt like her strength was lacking, and wished to increase the intensity of her training, with a sparring session against Kenji being the perfect way to start it. Unfortunately, Kenji proved just how wide the gap in level between both of them was.

"Hmmmm!" Said Neptune with a blush and a wide smile of satisfaction "So good! These chocolate cupcakes are so good!"

"I'm glad you like them" Replied Naomi with a smile "I never tried making cupcakes before, so I was worried for a moment there"

While Kenji and Noire were having their sparring session, the other CPUs and Naomi seemed to be enjoying the picnic to its fullest, with only Vert and Blanc seemingly paying it some attention while Neptune stuffed her face full of anything Naomi offered to her.

"(Somehow, I get the feeling this happened before...)" He thought while looking at them and sweat dropping, recalling the times when he trained with Falcom, all while the Planeptune sisters, IF and Compa watched from the sidelines.

In a way, it wasn't exactly a very fond memory, but it also felt nostalgic, although he couldn't pinpoint why exactly. Perhaps because it made him recall a time where things felt a lot simpler.

"Kenji, Noire!" Said Naomi to happily call the two of them over "If you're already done playing, why not join us and eat?"

Both the young man and Lastation's CPU looked at her and sweat dropped.

"(Playing, she says...)" They thought at the same time, feeling like all the remaining seriousness of their sparring just went down the drain

Having their training be tought of as a mere game was vaguely insulting depending on how it may be seen, but neither of them could get irritated about it, considering swordplay in this world was seeing as an obsolete thing, only relevant in entertainment such as movies or animations, or a sport in certain countries.

With a slim sense of resignation, the two approached the group and sat with them next to each other. While Naomi served them juice to satisfy their thirst, Noire couldn't help but look at him.

"(Even though I was giving it my all, he beat me so easily...)" She thought while taking a sip of her cup

Despite her best efforts, Lastation's CPU was bested quite easily by the young man, who hardly seemed to break a sweat while she was already feeling her body getting heavier. It made her wonder just how could the difference in skill between the two of them be so wide.

Back during the arena fights, she was stronger than him, forcing him to go into HDD mode to win and even then it was by a hair's width. When he went to visit Lastation, they were about evenly matched. But now, he had surpassed her both in raw strength and skill with the sword, and by a rather shocking amount. A part of her thought perhaps it was just the fact he could still use shares and she couldn't, but the CPU knew this was just an excuse to make herself better. The truth was sitting there right next to her.

Unlike her, who only dedicated probably a couple of hours to some cardio and swordsmanship training to keep herself and her skills in shape and then relied on her shares to fill the gap in power, the young man didn't follow the same path. Instead, he went through some arduous, even hell-ish training everyday, pushing himself to his limits and giving it his all to go beyond them in hopes to stand a chance against stronger and stronger foes. And it wasn't a one day-thing either. From what she heard from Nepgear, the young man trained himself to the bone everyday during the almost twenty years they spent on the Cyberdimension, creating the massive gap in skill she saw now. And not only that, but the proof of these efforts was clearly visible in his body.

His manly arms and wide back, his well-defined abdomen and pectoral muscles, which right now were hidden under his t-shirt, and his thick and rock-solid legs. All of them combined into one powerful body, strong enough to face even the most powerful enemies.

As she kept staring at his body, the memory of him shirtless suddenly popped into her mind, which in turn made her cheecks blush. This, of course, was not something the young man failed to notice.

"Hey, Noire. Is eveything okay?"

"Eh?" She said while looking at him with widened eyes, then suddenly reacting "Ah! N-No, it's nothing!"

Lastation's CPU quickly turned her head to look away from him with a strong blush while the young man looked at him, confused for a moment or two.

"(So obvious...)" Thought both Naomi and Vert while looking at Noire

The two women, who were the ones paying the most attention to the little scene taking place right now, could tell right away what was happening between them. Neptune and Blanc probably could've noticed as well, but Lowee's CPU was too busy reading the book she brought along to care, and Planeptune's CPU had most of her focus placed on stuffing her mouth full.

"But I'm really surprised, you two" Said Kenji's mother, trying to spark up some conversation into the mix "I didn't think Noire was so good at using a sword"

"We-Well...I guess you could say I have a lot of practice" She said while looking sideways with a smile and a cold sweat

Naomi felt curious about her words for a moment or two, but instead decided to focus now on Kenji.

"And you too, Kenji. You were moving so fast I couldn't even keep up for a moment there"

"Yeah...I had a lot of practice too..."

"I'm sure you could put up a fight even against that swordsman you used to like so much back then!"

At that moment, the young man broke a cold sweat as the CPU's attention got caught by his word.

"Swordsman?" Asked Vert while looking at her

"Tha-That's!"

"Ah, yes..." Replied the young man's mother cheerfully "Back when he was a kid, Kenji used to watch this anime about a ginger swordsman dressed in a long black coat fighting against masked monsters almost everyday with a gigantic sword"

"Ye-Yeah, I used to like it" Said Kenji with a somewhat nervous smile and a cold sweat while looking away from everyone "I mean, everyone's into animes when they're little, right?"

"He was so enthusiastic about swords that he even fashioned himself a coat using his blankets and used to run all around the house waving a toy sword, saying he'd become "the strongest swordsman ever"!"

"Pfft!"

Both Vert and Noire turned away their heads, trying to hide away the smirks, along with attempting to contain the urge to laugh, even the usually monotone Blanc was resisting the urge to laugh. And Neptune, on the other hand, didn't even hesitate to laugh loud and clear for everyone to hear.

"Bwahahahahahahahahaha!" She laughed out loud while falling down on her back with both hands on her stomach "I-I can't! My sides! They hurt! Bwahahahaha!"

What truly made it so funny for them wasn't exactly the memory itself, but rather the ease with which they managed to recreate the image within their heads, and about how fitting it was for Kenji to have that sort of childhood moments.

"It's not THAT funny, Neptune!" Snarled the young man while looking at her

"Whoa, Neptune has some impressive lungs if can laugh that much" Said Naomi while looking at Planeptune's CPU, surprised by the intensity and duration of her laughter.

"And you! Stop talking about those embarassing memories already!" Said Kenji while looking at her

"But, I thought they were cute memories"

"Maybe for you!"

"Excuse me, Naomi. I have a question" Interrupted Vert

"Yes?"

"You're saying Kenji used to watch anime about a swordsman everyday. Did he also watch something that had visors in it?"

"Visors?" Asked Back the young man's mother while trying to recall the shows Kenji watched, all of it while he broke yet another cold sweat "Ah, now that I remember! There was also this show about superpowered and really buffed fighters that used these weird ear accsesories with a piece of blue glass covering the eye and had armors with very wide shoulders!"

"(Ear accsesories with visors, long black coats, wide shoulder armor...)" Thought Noire, Vert and Blanc in the exact order for each word as every object came into mind, eventually making the image of Kenji's HDD mode pop up into their minds and pointing out each and every one of these traits.

Needless to say, the trio was once again struggling to contain their desire to laugh, well, except for Neptune, who only laughing even harder after realizing what the others were thinking as well.

Considering HDD mode was not only formed by the power of the shares, but also given shape by the heart of the user, it usually meant the form would take the appearance of that which the user wished for deep within his heart, becoming a reflection of that person's mind and soul. In the case of the CPUs, their HDD forms were slightly preset to fit the standards of their nations, but those who became a CPU through CPU memories had an HDD form based completely on their own heart's contents.

In other words. Kenji, who wished to become a powerful warrior capable of defeating even the mightiest of foes, developed an awakened HDD form that reflected what he perceived as a powerful warrior through slight, yet notable traits such as his visor, ear accsesory, coat and even shoulder processor. All of them adapted to suit his power.

It wasn't necessarily that big of a deal or something to ridicule him for, but the idea that the powerful and stern warrior that he transformed into every time he jumped into battle was actually inspired by his childhood heroes was a surprisingly unexpected and amusing revelation. So amusing that they couldn't help but feel the urge to laugh.

"Give me a break already, will you?" Said the young man while sweat dropping, both his tone and expression showing a hint of exhaustion

Out of all the things his mother revealed so far, Kenji felt like this wasn't even the worst one so far. One way or the other, he could tell Neptune at the very least wouldn't let him live this one down for as long as she remembered it.

Fortunately for him, the conversation was interrupted by a rather familiar beeping sound coming from his pocket. After searching within it, he pulled out his portable device and answered. Just as he had imagined, Histoire was the one to appear on the screen.

"Kenji, I'm glad you could answer"

"What's wrong, Histoire?" Asked the young man with a confused expression "Something happened over there?"

"Not at all, I merely wished to check up on everyone and see how they were doing"

"Oh, okay then"

"Ah! It's Histy!" Said Neptune cheerfully after getting closer to the young man to look at the device's screen

"Neptune, I see you're doing fine as always" Replied the oracle woth a smile

"Hey, Histoire. How are things going over there? Are our nations okay?" Asked Noire while looking at the tome as well

"Of course. Your sisters and the oracles alike are taking good care of the nations for you, so there's no need to worry"

"I see, those are indeed comforting news" Said Vert with a smile before it became a somewhat weak one "With that said, though. I'm a bit worried about Chika...I hope she isn't feeling all too lonely without me"

"Well, she does keep asking about you often, but I think she's holding herself together quite well"

"Please tell them we are doing okay" Said Blanc, being the last one to approach the device "Also...Tell my little sisters not to touch my manuscripts, or to doodle on it either..."

"A-About that..." Replied Histoire with a weak smile while breaking a cold sweat, unsure of how to tell Lowee's CPU about the unfortunate end her manuscripts met as a doodle canvas in the hands of Rom and Ram.

"Hey...Girls?" Said the young man while sweat dropping, his movility greatly reduced by the four CPUs that squeezed together against him to get a good look at the tome "You're a bit too close for comfort..."

Unfortunately for him, they were far too focused on talking with the oracle to listen to him. Meanwhile, Naomi looked at them from her spot.

"(Wha-What should I do now?)" She thought with a weak smile while sweat dropping

She could notice the person everyone was speaking with was someone all of them knew, and felt like she should try and introduce herself as well, but she wasn't all too sure how to jump into the conversation. This was something Neptune didn't fail to notice, and she quickly came up with a good idea to help her meet Histoire, or at least what she considered a good idea.

In just a split second, she snatched the portable device out of the young man's hands and quickly sat down on Naomi's lap while making sure both of them would appear clearly on the tome's field of vision.

"Look, look, Histy! You didn't meet Kenny's mom yet, right!?" She said with excitement "Here she is! She's called Naomi, but I call her Nami cause it's easier to remember and it sounds less OC-like!"

"Eh!? Ah!"

Naomi couldn't help but get a bit panicky for a moment there, and even Histoire herself was taken by surprise. Neither of them expected such a sudden introduction. Nonetheless, the tome did her best to maintain a composed and polite behavior.

"Oh? So this person is Kenji's mother?" She said calmly before greeting her with a smile "Nice to meet you, miss Naomi, my name is Histoire"

"No, the pleasure's all mine!" Said the young man's mother, regaining some of her composture thanks to the tome's greeting "Erm...Are you Neptune's mother?"

The first thing that caught her attention was Histoire's youthful, almost child-like appearance. For a moment she wasn't sure whetever she was a family member of one of the CPUs or another friend of theirs.

"Not really, but I guess you could think of me as something akin to Neptune's guardian, or even a caretaker" Explained the tome calmly, getting into some thought about the relationship she has formed with Neptune over the years "And since we're already touching the subject, I'd like to properly thank you for looking after Neptune and the others"

"No, no. It's the least I could do" She replied with a smile "If anything, I should be the one thanking you for looking after Kenji. Even though he's not a bad person, his short-temper and belligerent attitude can be really troublesome sometimes"

"You do realize I'm right here? In front of you?" Asked the young man with an expression that showed he was not amused at all while pointing at himself

"Not at all. On the opposite, Kenji has proven to be an extremely helpful person during his stay" Replied the tome with a smile "It honestly makes me wish Neptune could try to and be a bit more like him...I really hope she hasn't caused any trouble to you so far"

"Hey, Histy! Why are you making it sound like I'm a total brat that only makes trouble!?"

"Because you kind of are..." Replied the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping

"More like, that's literally what she is..." Added Noire with her eyes closed

"Rude!"

"Don't worry, trouble is the last thing she's caused" Replied Naomi with a cheerful expression "In fact, her lively attitude is actually quite revitalizing"

"See!? Nami gets it!"

"Do you even know what the word "revitalizing" means?"

"Of course I do!" Retorted Planeptune's CPU "Come on, you people! My INT stat ain't THAT low!"

"That is debatable..."

Neptune made a rather irritated expression for a moment or two before quickly turning to face Naomi and made a saddened expression.

"Naaaaamiiiii! Kenny and Nowa are bullying this poor little me!" She said while wrapping her arms around her neck in a hug "They're saying I'm a brat and that I'm dumb and lots of mean stuff!"

The young man's mother was surprised by the sudden hug, but her motherly instincts kicked in almost right away, making her wrap her free arm around the CPU and use her hand to caress the top of her head.

"There, there. You know that's not true at all" She said gently while smiling at her

When feeling the kind touch of Naomi's embrace, Neptune was taken aback by the warmth it made her feel. As someone who was born without a mother, she lacked any knowledge about motherly love, so she was unable to understand the feeling at first. It wasn't the same one as when she was with Kenji', but still felt rather nice. So much that she felt like she could fall asleep if she wasn't careful.

"Seriously, you two. Bullying others is really mean, you know?" Said Naomi while looking at both of them with a somewhat stern expression, or at least her attempt at a stern expression

"That's right, that's right!" Added Planeptune's CPU while turning her head to look at them with an irritated expression, hiding her earlier mixture of emotions behind her usually silly smile

"N-No, we were just..." Replied Noire while sweat dropping, not too sure how to answer to that scolding just now

"Especially you, Kenji" She said while focusing this time on the young man "Insulting a girl is already bad enough, but making her cry is beyond unacceptable for a man"

"I do not want to hear a lecture about insults from someone that literally called me hot-tempered and belligerent right in my face less than three minutes ago"

"Well, she wasn't very far off the mark with that assumption, to be bluntly honest with you" Said Vert while looking at him with a smirk

"You know, lately I've been thinking about putting a password on my computer. That way no one but me could use it" Replied the young man while looking at Leanbox's CPU, obviously hinting at her that being careless with her words right now could have some very bad downsides later on for her

"No-Now, now. There's no need to take such extreme measures!" She said with a weak smile while breaking a cold sweat, clearly aware of the young man's hidden intentions behind his words and notably concerned about it as well, juding by her tone "I was just joking! Just an innocent attempt to improve the mood!"

"Miss Naomi, please try not to spoil her too much" Said Histoire on the portable device's screen while sweat dropping with her eyes closed "You'll only exacerbate the worst parts of her personality"

"So-Sorry...I guess It's hard to let go of my motherly habits" Replied the young man's mother while sweat dropping with a weak smile

As Naomi focused once again on the tome and engaged into conversation with one another, the two seemed to be getting along quite fast, perhaps because of the same reason she got along with Vert in the first place. And at the same time, conversation began to spark up among the young man and the CPUs as well.

Among these short-lived arguments and casual chat, everyone kept eating. The shadow of the tree they were under covering them from the rays of the sun, with only smaller beams of light making their way through the holes between the branches and the leaves. It was by far one of the most calming moments Kenji had experienced in years, and a part of him wished it could have lasted forever. Unfortunately, the entire afternoon went by, and by the time anyone became aware of it, the skies were already painted with an orange hue, signaling the final hours before the arrival of nightime.

On the way back, the group engaged into smaller chat among each other. Neptune was mostly focused on Kenji and Vert on Blanc, although the latter seemed more like just another argument between the two. It was something about the lacking quality of Blanc's fanfictions and about how they were more a method of torture rather than an enjoyable read.

Meanwhile, Noire and Naomi were the only ones that didn't divulge into talk with anyone within the group. The middle-aged woman carrying the basket calmly while Lastation's CPU had her eyes focused quite intensely on the young man. It was honestly surprising she didn't burn a hole through him yet or that he didn't notice it. Naomi, on the other hand, didn't fail to notice this.

"Noire? What's wrong?" She asked while taking a few steps forward and leaning her upper body slightly forward to look at her face

"Eh?" Replied the CPU while turning her head to look at her with slight confusion before quickly reacting "Ah! No, nothing's wrong!"

"Are you sure? You seemed like you were thinking really hard about something"

"I'm telling you, It's nothing!" Said Noire with her eyes closed and a slight blush "I-It's not like I wanted to talk with Kenji like Neptune is doing right now or anything like that! Don't get the wrong idea!"

"(So dishonest...)" Thought the young man's mother while sweat dropping with a weak smile and her eyes closed "(Or rather, should I call it honest?)"

Since Planeptune's CPU managed to one up Noire and got to start a conversation with Kenji faster, she managed to get his full attention, and that made her feel slightly jealous, although there was no way she'd ever say it out loud, at least not intentionally. She wanted him to give her his attention too, but wasn't all too sure how to make her way into their conversation, nor how to start one of her own either. This caused her to get lost in pensive thought.

Naomi wasn't all too sure whetever that tendency she had to speak out how she felt and instantly deny it was her way to try and be honest with other people, or just something even she herself failed to notice. One way or the other, it seemed to be rather inconvenient for her, especially considering how she wanted to hide those blooming feelings from the young man. One thing she could say with confidence, though, is that it was a surprisingly cute trait.

"I see, then I guess it's okay" She said while sweat dropping with a weak smile before returning to her casual smile, thinking of what to say to change the subject into one more comfortable for the CPU "But today was a really fun day, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it was really fun" Replied Noire with a smile as well

Arguments and uncomfortable situations between her and the young man aside, Lastation's CPU could honestly say she enjoyed today's outing as well.

"I'm glad to hear that" Said the young man's mother, feeling glad her idea was a total success, before suddenly recalling what was waiting for her back at home and sighing "When we get back, I'll have to clean the leftover dishes and get ready for getting up early tomorrow as well...There's still so many pictures left to process from last week's weeding too"

"Last week's weeding?" Asked Vert

Looking behind them, both Noire and Naomi saw Leanbox and Lowee's CPUs looking at them, seemingly done with their conversation and now focused on theirs instead.

"Ah, that's right. I didn't tell you girls, did I?" Said Naomi, suddenly recalling she didn't tell any of the CPUs about it yet "I work at a photography studio"

"So you're a photographer?" Asked Blanc

"No, I don't take the photos" She replied with a weak smile "I take care of location work, like billing clients, processing images, framing photos and keeping track of appointments"

"That...Kind of sounds like secretary work" Said Noire while looking at her

"Well, I guess you could call it that..." Replied Naomi, her eyes closed and a somewhat discouraged smile apearing on her face while sweat dropping "It's not half as thrilling as when I used to be a freelance photographer, but my body couldn't handle things the way it did back in the day, and I couldn't imagine working at anything that wasn't related to photograpy either...Besides, it didn't feel right to just sit down at home all day long, even if Joel's pension is more than enough to help us reach the end of every month without any issues"

"Huh...So you used to be a photographer?" Asked Lastation's CPU with a tone that showed curiosity

"Yes, though I was forced to take a temporary leave due to an accident that took place during a job" She explained with a smile "But that was partly the reason why I met Joel and Kenji, so I don't really regret my decision back then"

"Wait...Met Kenji?"

"So you didn't give birth to him" Added Blanc with a surprised expression

"No, I'm afraid I'm more of a mother-in-law, unfortunately" Replied Naomi before going explaining to them "You see, the thing is..."

The young man's mother then explained to the two CPUs about her meeting with Joel and Kenji, and about how he passed away a few years later, leaving them with a pension to sustain themselves. Both of them weren't sure how to react, as they had imagined his father was either on a work trip or had abandoned the house when Kenji was still young, but this was far worse than both options. It wasn't exactly a very unusual thing to happen in society, but that didn't really make it any better.

There was one thing that caught the attention of Lowee's CPU regarding Naomi's words.

"Hey, what did Kenji's father work as?" She asked while looking at her, suddenly swaying the theme of conversation towards something different.

"Joel's work?"

"Yes...It may not seem important, but I never heard about a job with such a long-lasting pension"

"Now that you mention, I was curious about that too" Added Noire while placing one hand on her chin

Usually among the things a CPU did besides from gathering shares and managing their nation, they also had to study various subjects to become better leaders. Noire, who was particularily adept at that field, still held many of the things she studied fresh inside her mind. And although she couldn't remember the exact details, she knew that pensions usually required a few specific requirements to be granted, and usually needed to be followed strictly to last longer than a year.

According to Naomi, Joel died around ten years ago. Yet, she was still getting his pension every month without fail. For a pension to last that long and remain that steady, it meant that either this state was a very, very kind one, or that Joel had a very good job. One that supported such a special type of legal action.

The young man's mother took a moment to dig inside her memories to try and recall what her husband's job was.

"I'm not all too sure, really. I never got him to give me a detailed answer" She replied with her eyes closed "What I do remember, though, is that he called himself a "private contractor", so he was probably something like a freelancer too?"

"So he was also a photographer?" Asked Blanc once more

"No, I don't think so. Photography doesn't pay that well unless you work for a really famous newspaper" She replied while sweat dropping before making a more stern expression "Besides, freelance is far more diverse than photography alone"

"I see..."

"Is that really all he ever told you?" Asked Vert, sounding slightly surprised by Naomi's lack of knowledge about her husband's vocation

"Unfortunately, Joel wasn't the type that liked to chat about his job, and whenever I asked he would just use vague words or skirt the subject"

"And that never bothered you? Not even one bit?"

"Well, it would be a lie to say it didn't, but I was too busy taking care of Kenji to think too deeply about it or to investigate it. And he came back everyday, so I didn't think too hard about it"

"Se-Seriously?" Asked Noire while sweat dropping

"Her loyalty as a wife and mother is unquestionable, but being so trusting is still a bit..." Added Vert while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Ah! I just remembered!" Interrupted Naomi, who up until now was deep in thought "There was something else he told me about his job!"

"What?"

"He said he was a private contractor working in something called "the circuit""

"Th-The circuit!?" Asked Lastation's CPU, her louder tone and expression signaling a notable shock, along with a cold sweat running down her cheek

"What's wrong, Noire?" Asked Vert while looking at her, surprised by her sudden change of tone and attitude

"Hey, Naomi. Are you sure about that?" She asked while getting closer to the young man's mother "Are you absolutely sure that's what he said?"

"Eh? Ye-Yes...I'm sure" Replied Naomi, a slight mixture of confusion and surprise in her tone "Why? Is that a bad thing?"

Noire looked at her for a moment before suddenly realizing her own actions and quickly calming down, making the best smile she could

"N-No, it's nothing" She replied with a weak smile "I'm sure it's probably nothing to worry about"

The trio looked at her with slight concern for a moment or two before going back to the subject at hand.

"A-Anyway, I'm not really sure what "the circuit" really means" Said Naomi while regaining her calmer tone

"Maybe it was the name of an electronics company, or even an engineering enterprise?"

"I guess so..."

As the young man's mother, Leanbox and Lowee's CPUs kept trying to figure out the meaning behind Joel's cryptic words, Noire kept walking silently, her mind shrouded into pensive thought and remaining in such a state all the way back home.

Once everyone was back, Naomi went to unpack the basket with Blanc and Neptune's help while Kenji returned to his room to take a nap. It was during this moment that Vert took a moment to speak with Noire in private.

"Hey, Noire. What happened earlier?" Asked Leanbox's CPU, curious as to why she would do such a thing so suddenly.

"About that..." Replied Lastation's CPU with certain hesitation, her eyes diverted downwards for a moment or two before speaking again "I think I may have an idea of what Kenji's father worked as"

"You do?"

"Yeah..." She said while nodding her head, then looking at Vert with a stern expression "You see, the term "Private contractor" usually applies to anyone that works under contracts, so Naomi isn't wrong about the freelancer part, but the other part is what worries me"

"The circuit?"

"That's right...While some people think of electronics or computers when hearing the word circuit, it also has a different meaning" Explained Lastation's CPU "The circuit is a common term used by private military companies and those working within them to refer to their own trade"

"Private military companies? So Kenji's father was a soldier?"

"Not just a soldier"

"What do you mean?"

"Private military companies usually work under contract to provice armed combat and security services, and while some may see them as private security, others think of them as soldiers of fortune"

"Soldiers of fortune..." Muttered Leanbox's CPU, thinking for a moment about it before suddenly recalling hearing about the term in a war-themed videogame she played before "You can't possibly mean...!"

Noire didn't reply right away. Instead, she simply nodded before breaking her silence.

"I believe Kenji's father was a mercenary"

"A mercenary" Said Vert with her eyes closed while breaking a cold sweat.

Due to the many warmonger and unlawful mercenary groups located within her nation, Lastation's CPU was far more familiar with the terms used by them than any other CPU. "The circuit" was one such term usually used whitin those groups to communicate secretly.

Vert seemed a little surprised, or perhaps concerned, at first, but quickly regained her calm demeanor.

"Certainly, his muscular structure looked far too warrior-like for a normal citizen" She replied while wrapping her arms "Besides, I guess that would explain the...unsetling feeling...I've got about him"

Among the things Leanbox's CPU noticed about Joel, one was his body. Far too well-built and powerful to belong to someone who went to the gym. Just like Kenji, his was a battle-tested body, forged throughout years spent in conflicts and built for the sake of survival rather than mere looks. The other thing that bothered her were his eyes.

According to Naomi, Joel was a man of few words, friendly and caring, but always calm and composed as well. This was something she could indeed notice just with one look, but she could also notice there was sometihng odd about it too.

At first she didn't give it too much thought, but as the days went by and that stare kept popping up within her mind over and over again, this feeling became even stronger. It wasn't something like the eyes of a warrior. Quite the opposite, really.

There was just something completely different about it. She couldn't exactly pinpoint the reason or the meaning behind it, but there was something unsetling, uncanny even, about his gaze. She felt like something deep within her was trying to tell her something, but she couldn't tell what it was.

"Hey, what should we do?"

"I'm not too sure, to be honest with you" Replied Very calmly before looking at her "But for now, let's try not to talk about it with anyone...Talking about this to Naomi would do nothing more than put a heavy weight on her mind, and I severely doubt Kenji would like hearing about this all too much either"

"I guess that would be for the best" Said Noire while closing her eyes "It's not like I've got any way to prove it anyway"

"It kind of makes you wonder, really..."

A short moment of silence went by as the two became pensive before Leanbox's CPU finally broke the silence.

"Hey, Noire..." She said, pausing for a short moment before finally finishing her sentence "Was Kenji really born a human?"

"What do you mean?"

"A level of compatibility with sharicite that could only be found in one in every billion, an amount of raw power large enough to match all of us with ease and even to surpass us, feats of inhuman physical ability without even the use of HDD..." Said Vert, mentioning each fact one after the other "No matter how you look at it, there's something strange about this...Not only about him, but this whole family seems to be shrouded in mistery"

When thinking about Vert's words, Noire suddenly recalled the way he suddenly dashed within the blink of an eye and smacked a guy's head so hard against a wall that he literally broke concrete with ease. And not only that, but the way he took her down easily during their practice match was also a proof of his undeniable skill.

No matter when or where, she could think of at least one or two moments where the young man showed a feat of physical ability that could easily be seen as superhuman, even when in his base form. And the fact he went from nearly getting his ass kicked by White Heart during his first battle with her to becoming strong enough to not only surpass all of them and defeat three of the four felons by himself, but also face off against the deity of sin by himself and win within only a couple of months of training didn't really help make this any less suspicious.

"Well...One way or the other, thinking so hard about this won't bring us any good" Said Leanbox's CPU with a smile "For the time being, I'll resume my duties within the virtual world...Please try not to let what we've talked about bother you"

And with those parting words, most likely meant to help Lastation's CPU avoid placing too much concern on their theories, she walked away and up the stairs, heading into Kenji's room to spend the rest of the day and probably the entire night as well inversed in her MMO.

"(That's easier said than done, you know?)" Thought Noire while sweat dropping before going upstairs

With not much else to do, Lastation's CPU spent the rest of the day on the room she shared with Blanc and Neptune, partly sewing her dress back together, and partly trying to piece together everything within her mind at the moment.


	31. Experiment

From the rooftop of a small building, early in the morning, Luna quietly stood watch over Kenji's house. She stared intently at it, waiting patiently for any movement or action from him or the CPUs.

"Hm..." She mumbled to herself before pulling out a pen and notepad to write down her findings "Monday, 6:24 AM...No activity of moderate importance..."

As she looked once again at the house, a sudden sound came out of her pocket. She rummaged through it for a moment or two before pulling out a circular crystal-like device, which projected a holographic screen showing Chronos's face after she pressed the glowing button in it.

"Ah, good. It patched through" Said the elderly man cheerfully

"Chronos" She replied with a monotone tone "What is the problem? Does master Ibiem require something from me?"

"Not yet. I only wanted to check up on you and see if you already had anything noteworthy to report"

"I see...If that's the case, then I have acquired plenty of information already"

"Oh, really?" Said Chronos, a slight mixture of surprise and satisfaction in his tone and expression "Then would you mind telling it to me so I can give it to him?"

"Very well" Said Luna while looking at the first page of her notepad and redacting everything that she wrote down "Day 1, hour 14:04 PM, no activity of moderate importance. Day 1, hour 14:05 PM, no activity of moderate importance. Day 1, hour 14: 06, no activity of moderate importance..."

"Erm, Luna?"

"Day 1, hour 14:07, no activity of moderate importance. Day 1, hour 14:08, no activity of moderate importance. Day 1, hour 14:09, no activity of moderate importance"

"Luna!"

"Hm? What is it?" Asked the oracle while looking at the elderly man, confused as to why he would stop her midway through her report.

"Did you...Write down something every single minute of everyday for the last week?"

"Of course!" Replied Luna with confidence and determination "Master Ibiem bestowed me with the task of gathering information about the target's movements, and as such, I must make sure to give it my utmost effort and obtain every bit of information that I can to guarantee a perfect report!"

Chronos looked at her determined expression for a moment or two before sweat dropping and sighing with his eyes closed.

Every minute exactly and without fail, the oracle made sure to write down what she discovered, or rather, what she didn't discover. At this point, the one face of the paper was filled to the brim with messages saying the same thing over and over again, with the only difference being the hour.

"On hindsight, I really think we should have sent Chirper instead"

"That would be unnecessary. I made sure that my report would be as complete and as detailed as possible while keeping the lowest amount of notoriety at all times" Replied Luna calmly "Now then, I think it would be for the best if I finished giving my report as soon as possible"

"Yes, I think that would be for the better too" Replied the elderly man "But before you do, let me give you some advice"

"Advice?"

"Yes...First of all, try skipping all the "no activity of moderate importance" parts, okay?"

"Why?"

"Because that information, as detailed as it may be, it's of no use to master Ibiem. Not to mention it's also counterproductive..." Explained the oracle "Gathering information isn't only about getting as much information as you can, but also trimmering reports down to only the most crucial or important pieces of information. That way it'll be far more effective and less time-consuming"

"I see..." Said Luna while looking at him, thinking carefully about his explanation "That does indeed sound like an efficient method"

Chronos let out a sight of relief, feeling glad he managed to trimmer down the report by over half and retain only the truly relevant information.

"Excellent, I think this should do it for the time being" He said happily after writing down everything that was reported to him "Now, if you'll excuse me..."

"Wait, Chronos" Interrupted Luna, catching his attention before he could cut off the communication

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"Before you go, there is one matter I'd like to enquire with you about"

"Oh? And what would that be?"

"Lately, I tried looking for ways to get closer and attain more detailed information such as spying from alleyways, but this tactic has backfired on me"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm afraid I have been discovered by one of this world's inhabitants" She replied with an expressiona and tone that showed a hint of regret "But fortunately, I managed to capture the witness before it could spread information"

"Who is it?"

In repsonse to that question, Luna used her hand and grabbed a black cat that was snuggled at her feet, showing it to Chronos.

"Luna...That's a cat..." Said the elderly man after a good ten seconds of silence.

"Yes. This individual here caught sight of my activities in an alleyway a few hours earlier. I initially considered disposing of him to avoid further detection, But it suddenly occured to me that It might have valuable information about the target, so I decided to keep him as a hostage" She explained with a tone that proved she was dead serious about it while the kitten meowed midway through "Unfortunately, It seems I cannot communicate with it, nor understand it's language"

"That's because It's a cat, Luna. And cats can't speak"

"But Devi is a cat, and she can speak..."

"Well, yes but she's a different type of cat, you see..."

"Also, I have found history books within this world that show drawn tales of cats taking human-like shapes similar to Devi's in various pannels"

"I am most confident that those were probably some sort of comic book"

"Comic book?"

Chronos took a moment to lower his head and sigh. He could somewhat understand her misunderstanding regarding cats due to Devi's feline nature, but the fact she confused a comic book for an historical record was not exactly something that could be taken with a straight face.

Despite her strong determination, overwhelming battle ability and unmatched loyalty to Ibiem, Luna's utter lack of knowledge about society and general lack of common sense due to being raised in the Nexus were a rather large wall that needed to be toppled for her to become a better oracle. Unfortunately, that wall would be a rather difficult one to topple.

"Look, just...Don't be so wary of it, okay?" He said, trying to come up with a way to explain it to her "Yes, Devi is indeed a cat and there are books like the one you read, but the cats in that world cannot take forms like hers, nor communicate with humans"

"So what should I do with the witness?"

"You can let it go if you want. I know for a fact master Ibiem won't mind"

The blue-haired woman listened to the elderly man's words, then looked at the cat for a moment or two before looking at him again.

"Hm...If master Ibiem won't mind, then I'll do as you say"

"Excellent!" Replied Chronos, glad his explanation sufficed to make her understand "Now then. If that's all, then I'll be taking my leave now"

"Very well...I'll return to my mission once I ensure the witness's cooperation"

"Oh, and just to be on the safe side...Humans are the only species you need to be wary of"

"How should I deal with such a situation?"

"I'll leave that to your discretion"

And with those parting words, Chronos cut off the comunication, making the screen fade away just as fast as it appeared and leaving Luna to deal with her hostage, who she picked with both hands and made him face her after storing the device back in her pocket.

"Listen well, feline creature...As master Ibiem's proxy, Chronos has given his approval for your inmediate release. Therefore, there won't be any further need of subjecting you to interrogation" Explained Luna with a stern and clear tone to the cat, which calmly scratched his ear with his left paw "With that said, though. I cannot release you without first making sure that you will give your word to keep my existence and the events you just witnessed secret...As long as you do, there will be no need to bring harm to you nor to your relatives...Have I made myself clear to you?"

The cat looked at her and meowed cheerfully, which Luna took as his way of saying "yes". Or at least what she imagined to be a "yes".

"Good...Now make sure to keep your word"

With the cat's cooperation assured, the blue-haired oracle descended down into the alleyway and released the cat, letting it run away and resume his daily routine. At the same time, she turned her head and saw Kenji walking out of his house with Noire. Both of them heading towards the park they were at yesterday while Luna followed them from a safe distance.

Once there, the young man and Lastation's CPU proceeded to begin a training session. First they began by stretching to warm up their muscles before doing sit-ups and arm pushups.

Noire, who expected some sort of crazy and superhuman type of training regime, couldn't help but feel surprised by how average these excercises were so far. At first she imagined the young man was simply taking it easy on her and going for something simple, but it didn't seem to be the case, as he was going at it seriously, but steadily as well. One thing that did catch her attention was that he had a much easier time doing both excercises so far, and he was even beginning to do one arm pushups after around fifty normal pushups or so. Meanwhile, she was still struggling after only twenty normal arm pushups.

"Noire"

"Hm? What's wrong?"

"You're doing it wrong"

"Huh?"

The young man stopped doing arm pushups and got up to approach Noire, who was still in the middle of hers, and placed his hands on her forearms.

"Your arms shouldn't be spread out like this. They should be making an arrow shape" He explained while placing both of her arms at a 45 degrees angle, making her body take a shape like an arrow "Okay, try doing it now"

Following Kenji's words, Noire resumed her excercise. This time, though. It felt different from before.

"It feels...easier all of a sudden" She said, sounding surprised and confused by this sudden change.

"People usually think arm pushups are about spreading your arms wide, but you're supposed to put them towards your body in an arrow shape. That way your shoulders will be more stable, and you'll be able to distribute the strain among yor muscles more evenly"

"I see...so that's how it works?" She said while looking at her arms, then diverting her attention towards Kenji "Where did you learn all of this?"

"I've had a lot of practice..." He replied with crossed arms while looking at her "Besides, my dad taught me when I was five"

"Your dad did?"

"Yup" Said Kenji calmly "He taught me how to train by myself as a kid while saying that "To call yourself a man, you need to be able to carry your own weight". I wasn't very good at it back then, though"

"That...doesn't sound like something you'd usually say to a five years old" She replied while sweat dropping

"Really?" Asked back the young man with his arms still crossed while diverting his eyes up and to the left "Well, I guess it wasn't exactly your everyday pep talk...Still, all I cared about back then was becoming more manly like him, so I didn't really think too much about it"

"I-I see..."

Lastation's CPU couldn't help but be unsure of how to feel about this. She had always seen Kenji as a more down to earth type of man since he played the role of the straight man almost everytime he was with Neptune, but it seemed as though he had his moments too. Then again, it was during childhood, so it wasn't all too surprising.

"Either way, let's get done with this training so we can go to the next part"

"Okay"

Not wanting to waste too much time, the two resumed their training. Within a short amount of time, the two were already done with the excercises and moved on to sparring. Using the wooden swords from yesterday, the two fought against each other a few times, clashing weapons, blocking and parrying constantly for longer than they could account for. By the time they became aware of it, almost an hour and half went by before they finally decided they had enough and sat down to rest for a while before they could go back home.

Once they were back home, they took turns showering to wash off the fatigue, with Noire going first and Kenji taking one of his own almost twenty minutes later.

Feeling refreshened and a lot cleaner, Lastation's CPU made her way to the kitchen to grab a glass of milk before going out into the dinning room right next to it. There, she found Vert, who was sitting down on a chair and drinking a cup of coffee. Most likely, she was doing so to keep exhaustion at bay.

"Oh my, if it isn't Noire" Said Leanbox's CPU with slight surprise "I was wondering where you went earlier this morning"

"I'm surprised you even noticed I was gone" Replied Noire while sweat dropping, making reference to the fact Vert had spent all night and most likely all morning locked up in Kenji's room playing her MMO without saying it directly

"I may not look like it, but I am quite adept at noticing even the smallest details, you know?" She said with a smile and an air of self-confidence before taking a closer look "That includes relationships, too..."

"Wha-What do you mean by that?" Asked Lastation's CPU, a clear mixture of confusion and doubt in her tone

"I couldn't help but notice...You've been spending quite a large amount of time with Kenji as of late, even more so than Neptune" Said Vert while getting even closer, causing Noire to move her upper body slightly backwards "It kind of makes me wonder, to be honest"

"Seriously, just what are you talking about now?"

Leanbox's CPU looked at the tsundere CPU for a moment of silence, trying to tell if she was playing innocent or simply not getting what she was saying yet, before finally saying it outloud and clear for her to understand.

"Hey, Noire...Do you have a crush for Kenji?"

"Eh?"

Lastation's CPU made a blank expression for a moment or two before finally reacting.

"Wha-What!?" She asked, almost yelling it, as her cheeks turned brightly red and her voice broke from nervousness "No, no, no, NO, no! Wh-Why would you even think that in the first place!?"

"Well, for starters, you've been acting far more friendly with him as of late..." Said Vert, seemingly enjoying Noire's panicky reaction "Also, you got quite flustered from me saying that just now, so..."

"Th-That's wrong! ! ! That's not it at all! ! !" Quickly replied Lastation's CPU, the glass in her hand shaking like a blender as she struggled to come up with something to justify her time with Kenji, her voice going much faster due to her growing panic "That was just...Training! That's it! We were just training together because I wanted to become an even stronger CPU, and not because I wanted to be with him or because I have a crush for him or anything like that, so don't go getting any weird ideas! ! !"

"Yes, yes, I get it...You don't need to get in such a panic" Said Vert with a smirk and her eyes closed before opening them to look at her "With that said, though...If you were to actually have a crush for him-"

"Which totally isn't the case here, just so you know!" Interrupted Noire, still slightly flustered

"It would be completely understandable" Continued Leanbox's CPU without the slightest concern "He might be absent-minded, impulsive and reckless most of the time, but Kenji is also a caring and diligent man who's always willing to put himself in harm's way for the sake of others...Men like those are not exactly easy to come by nowadays, you know?"

The tsundere CPU didn't reply this time, she simply lowered her gaze to think about Vert's words quietly.

"Hey, you two. What's with all the screaming?" Said Kenji, who had finished taking a shower a while ago and was now wearing a white t-shirt and grey sweatpants, along with white socks, while leaning from the hallway to look into the dininng room at the two women.

"Ke-Kenji!?"

When suddenly hearing the young man's voice, Noire's panic spiked once more. This time, it made her jerk the glass she was holding up slightly, causing her grasp on it to slip off. She quickly tried to grab it once more in mid-air, but failed to do so.

The glass of milk fell to the floor and shattered into a million pieces, its contents spilling all over the floor.

"Oh my!" Said a surprised Vert, looking down at the mess left on the floor and taking a step back with widened eyes

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I'll clean that right away!" She said while looking at the mess she made with a worried expression before crouching down and attempting to gather the broken glass, but accidentally cutting her finger with one of them "Ouch!"

"Noire!?"

"Hey, are you okay!?"

Kenji quickly walked towards Lastation's CPU and crouched next to her before grabbing her wrist, pulling her hand away and taking a look at it. There was a small cut wound in the tip of her index finger from which blood slowly poured out, making it's way down her finger like a river or a waterfall, and a small piece of glass stuck on her finger.

"It's okay! It's nothing!"

"No it isn't, you dumbass!" Snarled the young man, seemingly angry at Noire's carelessnes

The tsundere CPU was surprised by his answer. She imagined he'd be angry about the glass she broke or the mess left all over the floor, but instead he didn't even seem to think about it and focused solely on Noire's wound.

"Kenji, how about you take Noire upstairs and help her with that finger?" Asked Vert while looking at him "I'll deal with this mess"

"Okay"

Without further ado, the young man got both him and Noire on his feet and went back upstairs, pulling on the CPUs arm and making her come along with him. He went into his mother's room, as he knew there was a second bathroom there where she kept a small first-aid kit that should have some band-aids, along with a few cosmetics in her night table's drawers, which included a pair of tweezers he could use to pull out the shard of glass.

"Sit on the bed for a moment" He said while pointing at the king-sized bed and letting go of her wrist.

Lastation's CPU sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at him going into the bathroom and searching through the first-aid kit behind the mirror before her gaze eventually diverted to her own wrist while rubbing it with her other hand. Not to the bleeding finger, but to her wrist. Her mind thinking about Kenji's grasp.

His hands felt very warm to the touch and his grip was firm, yet surprisingly gentle. The idea that, even though he could give White Heart a run for her money and even win in terms of raw strength and personality wise, he was able of such a soft touch was a contradicting trait of his that always made the CPUs wonder.

"Okay, here they are" Said the young man while taking out a box of band aids and a pair of tweezers along with some cotton and a bottle of medicinal alcohol.

The young man approached Noire and placed the items over the night table so he could search withing the first drawer for a pair of tweezers, which he found without too much difficulty.

"Now hold still, this might sting a bit" He said while sitting down next to her and carefully using the tweezers to get a hold of the shard of glass, along with taking a hold of her hand to keep it from moving out of reflex "Are you ready?"

"Ye-Yeah..." Replied the CPU while nodding, seemingly worried about him saying it might sting

"Okay, at the count of three..." Said Kenji while looking at her, his eyes focused on her "...One..."

In a split second, he quickly pulled the tweezers upwards, removing the shard almost instantly and painlessly. Although it did sting a bit like he said.

"Ouch!"

"There, we're done"

"He-Hey! You said at the count of three!" Retorted Noire with teary eyes, partly upset about him doing it so suddenly and partly about the stinging feeling

"The more you imagine how much something is gonna hurt, the more it'll hurt when it happens. So the less time you have to expect it, the less it'll hurt" Explained the young man while putting the tweezers and the shard down on the table, then picking up the alcohol and cotton to disinfect the wound "Isn't that right?"

"I...I guess so..."

Noire wasn't all too sure about that fact, but she had to admit the stinging feeling was far more short-lived that she had anticipated. Perhaps because like Kenji said, she had no time to anticipate it. The alcohol applied to the wound did make it last a bit longer, but she felt like it wasn't worth arguing about at this point.

With the wound disinfected, Kenji proceeded to pick up the band aid and a pair of scissors, which he used to cut both sides of the band aid in half. He then pressed it again Noire's finger and wrapped the cut sides around her fingertip in an x pattern, resulting in what looked like a miniature bandage covering her finger. In a way, Lastation's CPU thought it was kind of cute.

"Where did you learn to do that?" She asked, a mixture of curiosity and surprise in her expression

"Compa taught me how to do it" Replied Kenji calmly while looking at the band aid "She taught me how to patch myself up, and I learned a few tricks while helping the Compa from the other dimension study to become a nurse"

"I-I see..."

While the young man made sure the band aid was well placed and wouldn't come off, Noire looked at him. She couldn't help but notice the way he held her hand, gently turning it around while looking at the band aid.

Before she could realize it, there it was again. That heat swelling up within her chest, beating like a second heart, and only growing stronger the more she looked at Kenji. It was then that Vert's words echoed within her head once more, making him wonder if they were truly just a mere teasing, or perhaps something more.

"(No, there's no way I could fall in love with him...)" She thought while looking at him, then suddenly blushing "(...Right?)"

Thinking back on it, something similar to this happened quite some time ago in regards to her and the young man.

As a diligent and hard-working person, Noire always did her very best to ensure Lastation's success as both a nation and a home for her citizens while trying to show herself as a role model to follow. But deep down under that image of a perfect CPU, Noire was always afraid to show her true self. Due to the peerless and dignified image she made for herlself, the tsundere CPU was worried to no end that if someone ever were to find out about her love for cosplay and voice acting, she'd end up turning into a public laughing stock. She was afraid of rejection, either by the other CPUs or by her own citizens. And this fear manifested once more when Kenji found out about her cosplaying hobbies.

At first she became terrified of the secret being revealed or of him mocking her to no end, yet neither one happened. Instead, Kenji accepted her just the way she was and told her it was okay to be herself. He even fought his way through an entire army of robots just to do so. She didn't realize due to the tense situation taking place at that moment, but those words meant a lot for her. It was, without a doubt, what made Noire's perspective of Kenji change completely, and perhaps why she slowly began to feel like he wasn't just another man or an enemy, but rather a trustworthy individual. Someone she could rely on just like with the other CPUs, just like Kei, just like Uni. She felt like he was a friend.

After all the time spent together, after all that happened, and after everything he did for her over the past week, this feeling slowly began to change. Instead of seeing him as a friend, something within her began to see him as something more.

"Noire...Noire!"

"Eh?"

When hearing the young man's voice and suddenly snapping out of her train of thought, Lastation's CPU saw him looking at her intently.

"Are you okay? You looked like you were spacing out a bit too hard for a moment there"

"Ah! Ye-Yes!" She said quickly, trying to dispell his attention away from it with an excuse "I'm fine! I was just...erm...thinking how to tell Naomi about the broken glass! Yeah, that's it!"

Kenji looked at her for a moment with a raised eyebrow. He couldn't help but feel like she wasn't being all too honest there. But then again, that was completely normal for her.

"What? That's all?" He replied calmly while closing his eyes "Don't sweat it, it was just a glass. Besides, I bet mom would say the same"

"I-I see..." Said Noire more calmly now, feeling relieved she managed to dodge any further questioning

"Anyway, I'm done...Take a look"

The Tsundere CPU focused her gaze on her hand and looked at the little bandage band aid on her finger, turning her hand to look at it for a moment or two.

"It's probably a bit tight, but I didn't want it to loosen up too easily" Explained Kenji while putting the tweezers back in the drawer and closing the bottle of medical alcohol.

"No, it's not uncomfortable at all" Interrupted Noire, who was still looking at her finger

"I see...Then I guess that should do for now"

While the young man prepared to get up from the bed and put everything he took from the first aid kit back in place, Noire noticed it and called out to him.

"Kenji?"

"Hm? What is it?" He asked while turning his head to look at her

She wasn't all too sure why she did that, but something within her didn't want him to leave just yet, and it made her react before her sense of logic could stop it. Unfortunately, trying to shake it off like before wouldn't work, so she needed something to say something this time.

"Erm...um...I was just curious..." She said, attempting to come up with something good to say before something suddenly came up to her mind "Why are you doing things like these for me?"

"Huh?"

Kenji couldn't help but feel confused, as the question didn't make the slightest sense to him.

"Even though you never get anything in return, you're always helping us out...I want to know why"

If there was one thing that always puzzled Noire about Kenji, it was how altruistic he was in regards to Noire's requests and general well-being, or rather, of all the CPUs in general.

True to Vert's words, he was a very caring man who was always willing to do things for others even though he never got anything special or unique in return. It wasn't an inmpossible thing, but it just felt weird for him to be so altruistic, especially with the people who tried to beat him up in front of millions of people when they first met.

If he showed this behavior towards Neptune, which he did quite often, it would be completely understandable. The two did seem to be starting to develop a somewhat stable romantic relationship. But why would he do all of this for Noire, who didn't only act in a rather negative way towards him during his stay on Lastation, but who also couldn't bring him any benefit in the dimension they were at right now?

"What's so weird about friends being nice to each other?"

"Fri-Friends!?" Said Noire with widened eyes and a surprised, along with slightly loud, tone "We're friends!?"

"We're not?"

"N-No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that!" She quickly said while putting both hands in front of her and shaking her head for a moment before looking down "I just...didn't think you tought of me as a friend..."

Looking at Lastation's CPU, Kenij couldn't help but feel like he may have put her in a difficult position. She seemed partly shy, and partly unsure how to react to his words. And unless he said something, the uncomfortable mood lingering at the moment would probably last much longer.

"Also...I guess it's because of the way you are" He added

"The way I am?"

The young man looked at Lastation's CPU, who was now looking at him with confusion, for a moment before facing forward and speaking without any restraints.

"Usually when I helped someone or did something for any of you, I did it either out of boredom or out of a whim. Or maybe because I just can't shake off this feeling that, if I don't, something terrible is gonna happen..." Explaiend Kenji to her with a stern and somewhat pensive expression, especially at the latter part, which only made Noire wonder what he meant by it "You, on the other hand, are always working yourself to the bone for your nation. Even though you could just laze around like Neptune and the others and only move when all hell breaks loose, you try to do your best everyday for a bunch of people that may never thank you for it, even if it ends up backfiring on you...When I think about that, I just can't stop looking at you"

"(Looking at me?)" Thought Noire while her face became red as a tomato "(He's always been looking at me?)"

At that moment, a sudden warmth began to swell up within the Tsundere CPU's chest once more. But this time, it became more bearable, or perhaps something a part of her was beginning to accept.

Not only did he accept her and even acknowledge all of her hard work, he even thought of her all the time.

In the end, Noire was right, and this made her happy deep down. But what was it that made her happy? Knowing she was rigt? Knowing that her efforts were acknowledged? Or the fact that it was Kenji who said all of those things to her?

She wasn't sure, but the CPU felt like it didn't really matter all that much at this point.

"Hey, Kenji..."

"Hm? What is it?"

"No, I just wanted to thank you..." She said, still blushing, but now with a small and bashful smile "So...Thank you, Kenji!"

When looking at Noire smiling at him, the young man's eyes widened in surprise. For some reason, the tsundere CPU looked a lot cuter, although he wasn't sure why. Perhaps because she was similng more brightly and gently than usual, or simply because of the heartfelt way she thanked him.

"It's...It's no problem, really..." He replied with slight hesitation as his eyes diverted away from her while scratching his cheek with one index finger

"Also, Kenji..."

"Yes?"

"I...um..."

Lastation's CPU wished to say she was happy that Kenji thought of her as a friend, and that she as well thought of him as a dear friend, but saying such things was way beyond her usual capabilities. Even if the mood was just right, her hastened heartbeat and the fuzzy warmth on her chest made it feel too embarrassing for the shy CPU to simply say it out loud in front of him like that. Nonetheless, Kenji was already there, he was already hearing to her, and this may very well be an unique chance for her to do so.

Taking a deep breath and mustering all the courage she could, Noire closed her eyes and said the words within her mind out loud, dismissing all fears that stopped her from doing so.

"You Know, Kenji! I-!"

"Kenny! Let's play some games!"

Before the Tsundere CPU could finish speaking, the door swung open, revealing Neptune, who yelled out the young man's name. She was wearing her wide and carefree smile, clearly unaware of the moment she just completely interrupted.

Out of reflex, or perhaps panic, Lastation's CPU reacted almost inmediately by looking at Planeptune's CPU while quickly moving her upper body away from Kenji and using one hand to push his face away from hers.

"Neptune! ? ! ?" She said with a strong blush and a panicky smile, along with widened eyes and a constantly stuttering voice "Wh-wh-wh-wha-what are you doing here! ? ! ?"

"Eh? Noire?" Replied the perky CPU with slight surprise, as she didn't expect to see Noire "I was looking for Kenny. And Vert said he was here, so...Huh?"

"Eh?"

Noticing the way Neptune's eyes diveted away from her and to the left, the Tsundere CPU looked at the same direcction, she realized what it was.

In the middle of her panic, she used one hand to quickly and impetuously move Kenji's face away from her, smacking his head against the wall with surprising force. His fingers still twitching.

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to...!" Said Noire while putting her hand away from the young man's head and attempting to apologize "...Kenji?"

Kenji didn't reply, he simply stood frozen in the place and position she left him in. His face still stuck against the wall for a moment or two before his forearms dropped down like ragdolls, along with the rest of his body, and flopped down on the bed. Upon a closer inspection, they saw his eyes were completely white and his mouth was wide open in what looked like a rather comical, if not slightly concerning, expression that showed he was unconscious.

Due to Noire's unexpected cuteness, followed by her even more unexpected bashing, Kenji's defenses were completely lowered, making him unable to react in time and causing him to take the full brunt of the impact, getting knocked out right on the spot.

"He-Hey, Kenji!?" Said Lastation's CPU while grabbing him by his t-shirt and shaking him up in an attempt to wake him up "Are you okay!? Hey, Kenji! Kenji!"

Later that evening, Naomi returned from her work only to receive not one, but two people covered with a few bandages.

*Scenes*

People walked down the streets, calmly minding their own busines and going on with their daily lives. None of them noticing the two individuals hiding away in the dark, damp and dirty alleways. Both wanted criminals hiding from the lingering patrols and officers searching for them.

"Are they still looking for us?"

"Of course they are, you fucking idiot!" Snarled the second one

"Stop yelling at me!" Retorted the first one, this time sounding more angry as well

"Then stop asking the same damn question every damn time!" He snarled once more "Besides, whose fault do you think this whole mess is!?"

"Not mine, that's for sure!" Said the first one "You're the one that wanted to move out of the neighborhood and start hitting someplace else!"

"And you're the one that kept bitching about wanting to bang that pig-tails girl, not me!"

"Agh, for the love of-JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY! ! !"

The two criminals, once part of a notorious group of abusers, were now on the run and forced to hide away from the authorities after their whole group was put behind bars, with only the two of them left. Unfortunately, the stress and fear caused them to constantly argue against each other, which honestly didn't help with their situation at all.

"Forget it, we're screwed" Said the first one once more while leaning against a wall and falling down on his rear, both hands placed over his head "The moment they find us, we're getting stuck on jail forever"

The second one wanted to retort, but he knew it was true.

With no place to hide in, to sleep or eat in and no way to make enough money, they would soon tire out and get caught by the police, and tossed into jail to rot with the rest of their group. Just thinking about how irritating and unfair this situation felt for him made his anger fly up to new levels.

"God fucking damn it! ! ! !" He yelled in anger while kicking a green dumpster, making it shiver and make a loud metalic sound before slamming both fists against the top

His foot ached like hell, but he didn't care right now. He didn't care about anything any longer, only his anger towards the one that caused him to end up like this.

Their gang didn't only do good, they were starting to gain notoriety, a thing most needed in the criminal world. Sure, everyone in the group seemed okay with being simply small-time small fries, but he didn't think like that. He wished to become something bigger, something of a professional criminal, even, someday. But that all came crashing down after meeting Kenji.

"That blonde bastard...If it weren't for him..."

If Kenji hadn't shown up, they would have gotten away with raping Noire and never be found out, If he hadn't beat up their gang, they would still be going around scoring big time. If it weren't for him, they wouldn't be feeling as lost and as miserable as they were right now.

Just thinking about all of this made a deep hatred churn up within the inermost depts of his stomach, consuming everything else and replacing his greed for fortune with a greed for revenge, a greed for payback.

"That is quite the appealing negative emotion you have there, boy..."

Upon hearing the voice behind them, both abusers suddenly turned their heads and looked back. The rest of the alleyway had gotten coated in a thick, seemingly endless darkness. So thick and deep it was, that one could almost think they were looking at the passage to a bottomless pit or a portal to the very abyss itself. One could blame the nightime for that, but this didn't seem to be the case.

But probably the most terrifying aspect of it was that the darkness cast over it seemed far thicker than simple shadows. Almost as if all light, even that of the moon and stars, had become unable to touch that place.

"Wh-Who's there!?" Said the first one while turning around to face the dark alleyway as the other one got up on his feet. The second one quickly pulling out his pocket knife

At first, there was no answer, only footsteps echoing from within the shadows with each echo growing stronger than the last one. Both men could feel their hearts beating faster and their sweat becoming profuse, almost as if their instincts were trying to warn them that, whatever was approaching them, was dangerous at the very least. But neither of them could run away either. Their bodies wouldn't listen to them, and they failed to understand why.

Finally, something emerged out of the foggy darkness and into view. It was a tall man wearing a long coat and a big hat. He was so skinny that one could think he was emaciated and had an oddly slow stepping speed. But perhaps the most eerie detail of it all was the bird-like mask he wore. It somehow resembled the masks used by plague doctors and looked to be made of some sort of alloy. On the top, it had a beak extending slightly forward along with wide glass eyes similar to those seen in gas masks, and on the bottom it had what looked like a rebreather, with many tubes coming out from the sides and beneath to connect to something hidden beneath his clothing, which the two man managed to notice, had some sort of mechanic noise coming from whitin them.

"What the..." Said the first one, almost baffled and completely bewildered, before the second one finished the phrase for him "...Fuck?"

"Greetings" Said the figure with a polite and dignified bow, his tone slightly distorted and machine-like due to his mask

"Who are you?"

"My name is unnecesary, all you need to know is that I just happened listen your conversation while passing by, and wish to lend you my services"

"Se-Services?"

"That is correct..." Replied the skinny man once more

"Aw, hell no..." Answered the first guy, who had managed to regain some control of himself rather fast. A slight mixture of disgust and creep in his expression "Don't know what kind of weird kinky shit you're into, dude, but I ain't dealing with that"

"Do you wish for retribution?"

With regained control of himself, he turned around and was about to leave, but the words of the unknown man caught his attention.

"What?"

"That blonde young man...the one that ruined your lives" He said while getting a few steps closer "Don't you wish to make him pay for what he did to you? To make him suffer?"

With those few words, the second Guy's attention was caught and reeled in. The other one, on the other hand, wanted nothing other than to leave now. Yet, his body was still not listening to him.

"How?"

"Oh...So you ARE intested, after all?"

"Yeah, I am! so tell how!?" He replied, sounding more irritated and impatient than before "How do I do it!?"

If his face wasn't hidden away, both men could have seen the wide and eerie grin being made by this individual, who snuck his hand within his coat for a few seconds before taking out a glowing object. Dark golden miasma was constantly emanating out of it like fog, and the unpleasant feeling that object's energy gave out didn't help at all.

At first they thought it was some sort of lamp or fire, but as their eyes got used to the opaque glow, they realized it was two crystals of some sort. They were probably around the size of a peeble, if not slightly bigger.

"It's simple, really..." Said the man in the eerie mask while extending the crystals to both of them "All you need to do is take these, and consume them...Or in simpler words, eat them"

"Eat them!?"

"It may seem odd, but I can guarantee, they will give you EVERYTHING you need to achieve your goals..." He explained further, putting an emphasis on the word everything, to the two perplexed individuals

"He-Hey, Jerry...I think this is really a bad idea" said the first guy, his gut telling him endlessly to refuse "Let's just get out of here already"

"Shut up, Tom"

"You can't seriously be thinking of doing this, are you!?"

"I said shut up!" Snarled Jerry before looking at both crystals and snagging them away from the masked man's hand "If you don't want it, then It's more for me!"

"Oh?" Said the masked man, sounding more interested than surprised "Very well, if that's what you wish..."

Jerry looked at both tiny glowing rocks, taking a gulp of his own spit for a moment before quickly opening his mouth and putting both crystals inside, eating them without allowing doubt to take over any longer.

Unlike Tom, whose instincts kept telling him this was everything but a good idea, Jerry didn't care in the least about it. He didn't care about the effects, he didn't care about the mysterious man's identity, or about what would happen to him. All he wanted was to get back at Kenji and Noire, to make them pay for what they did, no matter how high the cost.

"Good, Good..." He said with his stare focused on him "I'm sure "they" will be more than pleased to reward you for your strong ambitions"

Little did Jerry realize, the cost would be far higher than he could ever imagine.

Shortly after ingesting them, the man's body began to violently convulse as his muscles suffered a contraction. An almost unbearable heat beating within his chest.

"Urgh...! !" He snarled while placing both hands around his torso and kneeling down "Wha...What the fuck! ?"

At first they were simple convulsions, but it didn't take long for things to become even worse for him.

As his muscles became tighter and harder to the point of almost breaking the bones within, the veins around his body, especially his face, became more and more prominent until they were practically completely popped on his skin. Cracking and rippling sounds echoed one after the other as Jerry's muscles stopped tightening and instead began to swell up and deform in a rather grotesque way instead, steadily growing in size and ripping his clothes appart. His skin stretching before tearing open as it could no longer contain the growing musculature. The once normal and average human body was now a deformed mass of visible red-ish muscle and flesh, constantly swelling up and bloating in different ways as Tom's gut wrenching screams echoed all over the alleyway. All of this while the terrified Jerry simply looked in horror at this scene while falling on his rear and against the trash bin.

Meanwhile, the masked man looked in silence at this process and waiting for it to finish. The pained and tormented screams of his "exeperiment" hardly bothering him. If anything, they were just making the view even more enjoyable for him.

Finally, after what seemed like an endless show of grotesque deformation, Tom's body stopped bloating and instead began to stabilize, taking a more stable and human-like shape. Human was the last thing anyone could call him now, though.

Unlike his earlier appearance, Jerry looked like something emerged straight out of a nightmare.

Now he was towering between eight and ten feet tall, his musculature had reached monstrous proportions and began to release a redish opaque glow. His bone structure changed as well, still retaining a mostly human shape except for the knuckles, fingers, elbows and knees taking on a darkened, pestilent color and protuding outside the flesh, turning into something akin to an armored carapace. His posture slightly hunched forward due to the oversized neck muscles making his head lean to the front. His skin had taken a pink, almost red coloration, and was torn on many parts all over his body, exposing his monstrous muscle tendons. His ears were gone and left only holes. Large patches of hair were lost due to a few pieces of black bone protuding around his skull and forehead and a few cracks in the skin along with some stretching around the cheeks, making his face look somewhat skinnier or emanciated.

"Ah, so it is finished..." Said the masked man, seemingly pleased with the result "So tell me...how do you feel?"

Jerry lowered his head to look at his hands for a moment or two. At first he seemed confused and frightened by his new appearance, but the surge of power flowing within him soon changed those emotions into an overwhelming feeling of thrill.

"This...This feels..." Replied Jerry, a grin forming on his face as the power rushing through his body sprouted an overwhelming feeling of exaltation. His tone now much deeper and hoarser than before "This feels amazing! !"

He felt incredibly strong. Much stronger than the police, much stronger than anyone out there, and especially much stronger than Kenji. He felt invincible, unstopable. His physical appearance was a steback, but it was something he could hardly care about right now.

"Glad to know"

Out of a sheer desire to test out how strong he was, Jerry placed one hand over the concrete wall and clenched it. Just as he had expected, his fingers dug deep and broke through the wall as if it was made of butter, turning both concrete and brick into nothing but dust and peebles instantly.

This only served to fuel his desire to test his newfound strength on Kenji.

"With this, I can rip that asshole limb by fucking limb!" He said while looking at his own hands again, then suddenly clenching them and lifting them up "No, screw that! I can rip ANYONE to shreds with this much muscle! !"

"I see..." Said the masked man while looking at him "But before anything else, how about testing your power on a living being first?"

"Testing?"

"Yes...One should always test their new powers before using them on a field battle" He explained before diverting his gaze towards Tom, who was still shocked in fear "Fortunately for us, there is a perfect test dummy right behind you"

Jerry slowly turned his head and looked at his former crime partner. In just a moment or two, an eerie grin formed on his face as he walked closer to him.

"Je-Jerry!? What are you-!?"

"Hey, Tom. No hard feelings, right?"

"N-Noooooo! ! ! I don't wanna die! ! !"

Looking at the terrifying figure in front of him, Tom quickly got up and tried to escape as fast as he could. But it was all in vain, as the monstrous behemonth merely needed to take a step further and reach out his gigantic hand.

Jerry smashed him into the ground, breaking both of his legs in the process before taking a hold of his former friend and thoroughly ripping him appart as his screams echoed through the dark and empty alleyways.

It took hardly a few seconds for the alleyway to turn into the scene of a carnage as everything was stained with a deep red hue.

On the background, the masked figure watched with delight at the willingness of his new subject.

"(The simple-minded ones are always so easy to control it's honestly boring at this point)" He thought with a smug expression before looking upwards at the moon "(Now then...Let's start this experiment, shall we?)"

*Scene*

Zoey walked down the shopping district's streets along with her younger brother. Both of them on their way to buy food for their pet.

"Hey, big sister. I told you I could do this myself"

"And I told you I would tag along anyway" Replied the elder sister while looking at him "Why does it bother you so much, anyway?"

"Because I wanted to do it by myself..." Said Tommy with a pouty face "Big sister, you're always doing this"

Although the younger brother usually enjoyed her sister's company, today he wished to try and do an errand by himself to prove he was capable of doing things by himself like a grown-up. Unfortunately for him, Zoey didn't allow this.

She didn't refuse to acknowledge his effort to try and act more mature and felt proud as a sister of his motivation to try and learn how to be more independent, but she felt like going that far away from home by himself and come back safely would be a bit of a stretch. It was probably just her being overprotective again, but she didn't want to risk it and let the same thing as the art walk happen again.

"That's because I'm your sister, and that's what good sisters do"

Tommy didn't take this the good way and instead kept pouting for longer, making the trip a rather unpleasant one.

"(Is this what they call "the rebellious phase"?)" Thought Zoey while looking at him, wondering if his younger brother was already entering that phase of his life despite being a couple of years earlier.

As she looked at his face, the young woman noticed Tommy's face suddenly changing into one of curiosity and then of joy.

"Ah! It's big brother Kenji!"

"(Huh?)"

Zoey looked forward and saw the young man walking along the street and towards their direction. He was walking along with a small girl with pink hair and dressed on a rather large hoodie. Another detail she noticed from his expression was that he seemed to be on a sour mood.

"(Oh, it's him...I wonder what he's doing here)" She thought before suddenly realizing something about Tommy's words "(Wait...Big brother Kenji!?)"

As the two of them walked closer, Kenji managed to notice the younger brother waving at him.

"Ah. It's you two" He said, sounding surprised by seeing them again

"We have names, you know..."

"Hi, big brother kenji!"

"(Big brother?)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping before brushing it aside and greeting him "Hey kid. How's it going?"

"I'm okay"

"I was okay too, until you showed up..." Added Zoey with her arms crossed

"Big sister..."

"I imagined you'd say that"

"Uwah...This OC is even more agressive than Nowa" Said Neptune while sweat dropping with a weak smile before suddenly making a surprised expression "Could it be! Is this what they call a "sassy character"!?"

"Wh-Who are you calling sassy!?"

"Now that you mention it, she does fit the quota well" Added the young man with one hand on his chin and a raised eyebrow "She's not that smug, but she does have insults for days"

"You shut up!" Snarled Zoey, whose face was a mixture of embarassment and irritation "Why are you two here anyway!?"

"We're on our way to the bank to get some cash"

"The bank?"

"Yeah" Replied the young man before his expression turned sour once again while he aimed with his thumb at Neptune "This idiot over here spent all of her, and my, savings on pudding again"

"A-Again?" She asked while sweat dropping

"Hey, Kenny. That reminds me, can we buy a pudding on the way home?"

A vein on Kenji's head suddenly became far more prominent due to the obnoxious question of Planeptune's CPU.

"Hey, now..." He said before quickly getting behind her and grabbing her cheeks "You're doing it on purpose, aren't you!?"

"Ne-Nepuagh!"

Without the slightest hesitation, the young man began to pull with quite a notable strength, stretching Neptune's face like it was made of rubber as she got lifted off the ground.

"Just how much do you think you wasted on pudding already, you little dumbass!?" He snarled to her with an irritated tone "You even went and wasted MY savings on it too!"

"I-I'm shorreeeee!"

The two siblings looked at this scene in silence while sweat dropping. Neither of them was honestly sure how to react.

"(Are these two a comedy duo or something?)"

While looking at Planeptune's CPU kicking and struggling to get herself free from the young man's punishment, Zoey noticed the girl's underwear was quite easy to see right now. Perhaps a bit too easy for someone with clothes. But it was then that she realized something rather outrageous.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Hearing her, both Neptune and Kenji looked at the young woman, who was now pointing at the perky CPU while breaking a cold sweat.

"A-Are you, by any chance, wearing nothing but your underwear under that parka?"

"Yeah, that's right" Replied the CPU as if it wasn't a big deal

Zoey froze up for a moment, unable to react for what felt like probably a whole minute before finally springing back to action and quickly covering her younger brother's eyes in hopes that he wouldn't see the indecent view.

"Just what kind of depraved person makes a child go out like that!?" She quickly remarked while looking at Kenji with a blush "Are you seriously that much of a degenerate!?"

"Wait! I'm not a child!" Complained Neptune while looking at her "I get it having a cute fan-favorite loly body makes me look like it, but I'm not a child!"

"For the millionth time! Stop assuming the worst possible thing about me!" Snarled the young man, already growing irritated by her constant accusations "I'm not the one dressing her like that! She's the one that picks her own clothes!"

"Even if you aren't the one making her go out like that, how can you be so unconcerned about it!?"

"Hm..."

Kenji was ready to snarl back at her if he needed to, but the sudden question made him realize one thing. Never since meeting Neptune did he actually think anything particular of her way of dressing. Perhaps because back when they first met he only saw her as a pretentious and obnoxious child and he could hardly care about her. Another good reason would be that he simply imagined her odd style was actually a common thing in her world and chose to ignore it, or simply didn't take notice at first and eventually became so used to her way of dressing that it hardly even made sense for his mind to ponder about it at that point.

"Huh...Now that you mention it, I never really thought about it until now" Said Kenji while placing one hand on his chin and growing pensive about it

"Never thought about it, you say?" She replied while looking at him with disbelief, unable to understand his logic "Don't you have any common sense?"

The question once again made the young man feel rather uncomfortable. He always liked to think of himself as someone with common sense due to always being the straight man around Neptune and the others, which wasn't exactly something difficult to do considering all the things that happen whenever they're around, but it seemed like all that time spent with them and the almost insane logic of the other dimensions he's been in for the last few years altered his perception of "common" quite a bit.

Kenji's mind kept pondering about the issue for a while longer before a strong feeling of oppresion caused a chill to suddenly run down his spine. His instincts almost instantly screaming at him that there was terrible danger nearby.

"(Wha-What was that just now!?)" He thought while breaking a cold sweat and looking around him "(That power just now...It was almost like...)"

What truly caused Kenji chills wasn't the large amount of power in itself, but rather the eerie feeling of malice it had. Although not as intense or as malevolent, the sensation made him recall the power of Tari's CPU. Almost as if they shared some sort of uncanny resemblance.

"Kenny?" Asked Neptune, who noticed his agitated expression first

"Hey, what's the matter with you?" Added Zoey while looking at him with a mixture of confusion and curiosity "Your face went pale all of a sudden"

"Ah!" Replied the young man while looking at Neptune, who was now standing in front of him, before turning his head to look at Zoey "Ye-Yeah. I'm oka-"

As his eyes focused on the young woman, Kenji eyes mouth stopped moving and his eyes widened. Just a few feet away behind them, a large car was flying towards her and her younger brother at high speed. Not driving, but flying, as if it had been tossed at them.

"Look out!"

Without even a second to think, the young man quickly lounged forward, pushing both siblings and Planeptune's CPU down to avoid the flying vehicle which missed them by mere inches.

"(Eh?)" Thought Zoey as her eyes widened, the few seconds during which the car flew right over her going in slow motion before time returned to normal

The four of them hit the ground as the car flew by, bouncing twice on the floor a few feet away and rolling like a cilinder as other cars quickly stopped or took sharp turns to the side in an attempt to dodge it before crashing against a store and catching on fire due to the fuel spilling out of the broken gas tank.

"You three! Are you okay!?" Asked Kenji, who was the first one to get up, while checking on Planeptune's CPU and the two siblings.

"Ye-yeah"

"Nepu!" Yelled Neptune while looking at the crashed car and sweat dropping "What was that quick time event just now!? Weren't these supposed to be the calm and peaceful chapters or something like that!?"

As Kenji helped Zoey and Tommy get back up on their feet, the screams of people echoed through the air as they got away from the crashed car, but these were quickly drowned out by the screams of many other voices coming from a different street, followed by the sound of loud impacts similar to explosions. When looking at the source of said sounds, the four saw dozens of people running away along with cars driving at full speed, some vehicles were going even in reverse or crashing against each other, forcing the people inside to abandon their cars and escape on foot.

With each second, the explosions grew louder and closer, accompanied by clouds of dust blowing out of the corner along with pieces of rubble flying in endless amounts and even cars flying out like the first one or rolling into view. Eventually, the sound of large and heavy footsteps echoed in the air as the ground began to shake with each step.

"Wha-What on Earth is going on!?" Asked Zoey, who was baffled and slightly scared of the confusing sight "Is it an earthquake!?"

"I don't think so..." Replied Kenji, who felt the sensation of danger growing more and more severe

The trembling kept taking place for a few more moments or so before the four were able to see the cause of all the chaos.

From the corner of the street, a large humanoid monster walked into view. An grin on its deformed face as it kept kicking and smacking cars in all direcction, seemingly enjoying the destruction it was causing.

"Wha-Wha-Wha-Wha-What's that!?" Asked Neptune while looking at the creature with a shocked expression that didn't exactly reflect the seriousness of the situation for some odd reason "Hey, Kenny! What's with that space horror-movie monster!? You never said your world's monsters were that creepy!"

"My world shouldn't have monsters like those, Neptune" Replied the young man, who was breaking a cold sweat "Whatever that thing is, it's not from around here"

If there was one thing that Kenji could remember clearly about his world, it was that there were no monsters in it. At least none that he knew of.

Both the young man and Planeptune's CPU were rather shocked by the monster's sudden appearance, but were relatively calm about it. Zoey and Tommy, on the other hand, were completely different.

The once smartmouthed young woman was now pale from fear while her younger brother clinged to her. Both of them terrified at the unnatural sight. It was just the given, considering that would be the normal reaction of anyone that never saw a monster before.

Kenji looked at them shivering before focusing his gaze on the monster again, which looked at his surroundings before looking at Kenji and the others. He then froze for a few moments before the grin on his face became even larger than before

"Found you!"

A chill ran down everyone's spines as they saw the large humanoid creature approaching them at an alarming speed before Kenji quickly took a hold of both siblings and turned around to run away along with Neptune.

The creature destroyed everything in it's path as it chased after them, punching cars aside and making them fly to the sides. Fortunately, Kenji and Neptune were able to outrun it, as it wasn't able to run very fast due to it's massive body.

"U-Uwahhhhhh!" Screamed Zoey in a panic while struggling to release herself from Kenji's grip "It's coming towards us! ! ! It's going to kill us! ! !"

Due to being carried over her shoulder rather than under the arm like Tommy, the young woman had a clear view of their pursuer, which wasn't exactly a very calming sight for an already terrified person.

"No shit Sherlock! Why do you think I'm running!?" Snarled the young man while trying to avoid dropping her "Also, stop struggling already! I'm trying to save your life here!"

Among the dozens of fleeing bystanders, Kenji and Neptune kept running non-stop to avoid the large hands from capturing them and the siblings.

"Why are you running now!?" Yelled the monster while running after them "Where did all the balls from the other day go to, huh!?"

"(The other day!?)"

"Hey, Kenny!" Said Neptune, who was right next to him "Methinks big baddie here doesn't like you very much!"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Retorted the young man while turning his gaze to look at Planeptune's CPU with an irritated expression before looking over his shoulder at the monster "(But now that she mentions it, he does seem to be focusing on me)"

Judging by his words just now and by how he ignored all other people in his way, even those who were far easier to catch, Kenji couldn't help but feel like this creature was aiming for him specifically, rather than for all four of them. Unfortunately, the answer as to why be so focused on him escaped his understanding. The easiest answer could be some sort of grudge or animosity, but that would require for the young man to have done something to it first, and he was undeniably sure that he never met with this creature before. He would certainly remember meeting such an unusual being, at least in a world where monsters where practically non-existent.

As he tried to recall seeing such a creature, his thoughts were interrupted by sound of sirens in the distance.

A couple of police cars drove towards the scene at full speed from a different street, most likely atracted by the chaos from earlier, before stopping just a few feet away. The officers within quickly got out of their car with pistols and shotguns in hand before aiming them at the large monster. Usually one could expect a loud "freeze" or "Hands up" shout when a police officer held their gun, but giant monsters probably didn't count, as they opened fire right away.

The endless sound of gunshot pierced the air as countless bullets flew from the guns and impacted on the monster. Although not capable of doing any serious damage due to being unable to penetrate the hardened muscle and capparace, this was still more than enough to catch its attention for a short spawn of time.

Seeing their pursuer had stopped chasing after them, Kenji and Neptune quickly gave one more push and speeded up their step, gaining some distance from it before quickly hiding in an empty clothing store.

The young man put both siblings down before quickly turning around and spy on the outside to see what was happening.

"What the hell is that thing!?"

"Are we even hurting it!?"

"Both of you shut up and keep shooting!" Yelled the police officer to the other two officers

Despite their fear, the law enforcers were somewhat able to keep a steady grip thanks to the confidence brought forth by having their weapons at hand. Unfortunately, the bullets didn't have a powerful enough piercing power to cause any significant or even minor injury.

"Why, you...!" Said the humanoid monster with irritation while using one forearm to protect himself from the bullets "Don't get in my way!"

In a fit of rage, Jerry ran towards the police officers and tossed their vehicle up into the air, causing them to jump sideways to avoid getting blown away before picking up the other one and tossing it at the second pair, crushing them with it and killing them almost inmediately. He then turned around to face the remaining two officers who were still shooting at him and used his fist to smack them, sending them flying away before their lifeless bodies landed just a few feet away

"Oh, shit!"

"Where are you, you bastard!?" Screamed the monster while looking at his surroundings in search of Kenji "Stop hiding from me and come get butchered already!?"

The young man quickly sneaked back into the store to look at the siblings once more. Tommy was clinging tightly to his sister while Zoey was still shaken up.

"Oh God! Just what is going on!?"

"Hey, calm down!" Said Kenji while getting closer to kneel in front of her and grabbing her by the shoulders, then shaking her in an attempt to snap her out of her panic

"We're going to die!" She retorted, tears still falling from her terrified eyes "That thing is going to find us and kill us all!"

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Zoey would calm down easily. And if she didn't do so soon, then it was very likely for their pursuer to find them.

"I said calm down, you sassy bitch!" Snarled Kenji before slapping the young woman in the face hard enough to leave a bright red mark on her cheek, then holding onto both her cheeks to make sure she would be looking at him "Shut up and listen to me!"

Zoey didn't reply, probably due to shock, but at the very least she wasn't screaming anymore. That, along with the fact she had her eyes focused on his, made him sure that she would listen.

"Whatever that thing is, I'm not going to let it hurt any of you" He said to her with a more calm voice, as if attempting to be more comforting "I promise"

At that moment, the young woman suddenly felt her anxiety steadily fading away and being replaced by a feeling of relief that began to swell up within her chest, along with a very nostalgic warm. Her mind couldn't recognize this warmth or where she felt it before, but something within her body was undeniably certain about it being something she felt a long time ago and had not felt ever since.

But the biggest question within her mind right now was why Kenji, a man who she only met a few days ago, was sparking this sensations within her body. Why, during this time of great danger and anxiety, would this man's touch and mere words be enough to calm her overwhelming fear so easily? Why would just looking at his eyes make her feel so at ease, despite the terrible creature still at such a close distance? Was it because of the strong confidence in his eyes? Maybe because he had this odd, yet warm sensation emanating from him, similar to some sort of pulsating energy or aura?

One way or the other, something deep within Zoey told her she could trust in Kenji's words, and she decided to follow this instinctive voice.

Seeing she had fully calmed down, the young man let go of her face and told her what he decided to do.

"Listen carefully. This is what we're gonna do" He said to her with a more stern tone "I'll lure him as far away as I can while you take both Tommy and Neptune and get out of here. Okay?"

"Wa-Wait a minute!" She interrupted with a concerned expression "Even if you do lure him away, just how are you planning to escape from it then!?"

Zoey had her good reasons for worrying about the success rate of Kenji's plan. The four of them hardly managed to get away the first time around. Even if he was by himself, there was no insurance he could escape a second time.

"Don't worry. I've got my ways"

Despite how crazy or even suicidal it sounded to her, she could see nothing but calm confidence in Kenji's eyes. It was as if the idea of failure was something impossible for him. Or rather, something he wouldn't allow so easily.

"Hey! What about me!?" Interrupted Neptune, who seemed irritated for some reason "I know we're having a tense mood and some character development here, but I'm still the protag, you guys! Why aren't you asking ME!?"

"Because you're probably not going to listen and do whatever you want, like jumping right into the fight" Replied Kenji while looking at her with a rather monotone expression

"But I CAN fight too!"

"See?" He replied once more before looking at Zoey again "Anyway, can I trust on you for this one?"

Zoey remained silent for a moment or two before finally giving him an answer.

"I-I get it...I'll do it" She replied after nodding, her expression and tone slightly more confident than before. Probably thanks to the young man's confidence helping her regain some of her own.

Kenji nodded back to her before getting up on his feet.

"For now, stay hidden. Wait for a few minutes and make sure the coast is clear before getting out"

Slowly, the young man leaned to the outside again and took a look at the street. The humanoid monster was still there, destroying everything in his way while franatically searching for him. He waited for a moment or two until it turned his back before running out into the street and gain enough distance from the store everyone was hiding in to make sure they wouldn't get caught up in the destruction.

"Hey, big guy!"

The monster turned around after hearing Kenji's voice and a grin appeared once more on its face.

"Finally found the guts to die, did'cha!?"

The young man kept his eyes focused on the humanoid monster as it ran towards him, prepared to eviscerate him in one hit, until the last few steps where he raised his large fist into the air and tossed a powerful punch.

With a swift jump, Kenji jumped up into the air and avoided the fist, which hit the pavement instead and pulverized it like glass, before landing on Jerry's back and taking another jump, moving even further and landing a few feet behind him.

"Wha-What the-!?"

"You want me!?" He said with both arms stretched out to the sides as if to taunt him "Then try and catch me!"

Kenji turned around and ran as fast as he could. The monster didn't even hesitate to turn around and chase after him as well, his rage growing even greater than before.

"Stop running, you damn whimp!"

As the two moved further and further away from the wrecked streets, Zoey looked at them with a shocked expression.

"(What on Earth what that speed just now?)" She though, unable to believe her eyes just now

Never in all her life did the young woman see someone move so swiftly as Kenji did just now. Not only was his jump unnaturally high, but his movements were so fast her eyes were hardly able to follow it.

Despite her initial shock, Zoey quickly regained focused and followed the young man's instructions, waiting for at least a couple of minutes to make sure he had lured him away far enough before she went out of the store with Tommy and Neptune and ran in the opposite direction, straying further away from the battle.

Meanwhile, the chase continued as Kenji kept running down the destroyed streets and Jerry mowed down everything in his way to actch up.

"(Alright, this should be far enough)" He thought while turning his head to look at the monster over his shoulder, then at the people

If it were up to him, the young man would have already transformed into his HDD form and incinerated that abomination of nature into a pile of cinders. Unfortunately, there were still quite a large amount of people running away on the streets. And with all the eyes focused on his pursuer, it would be next to impossible for Kenji to transform without someone seeing him do it.

While he didn't mind random civilians seeing him transform while on the Hyperdimension or Ultradimension, things were a tad different here, in the world where things such as CPUs were only seen as the stuff of science fiction fantasy.

If someone were to see him transform, then his face would without a doubt be all over the news and internet in just a few days. And while most people could argue this would result in becoming famous or a celebrity, the reality was a tad more grimm than that.

People would surely treat him just as much of a monster as the one behind him and probably even try to lock him up and turn him into a lab rat for experiments. And even if he did manage to avoid getting captured and escaped, there was still the issue of his mother. There was no way Kenji could make her live the life of a runaway, but they would definitely go after her eventually.

If even one pair of eyes saw him, that would be far too many.

"(I can't transform with this many people here)" He thought while looking at the people "(There's no way I'm taking down this steroids monster without using the 2nd drive! I'm gonna have to find a more secluded place)"

Kenji looked around the streets he ran through in search of a good spot to transform without worrying about being seen, but all the stores or office buildings he could see were the first places where almost all bystanders ran to in search of a place to hide in. His eyes kept looking for a good spot before seeing an alleyway. Not the best place, but certainly the only one he could resort to right now.

"(There!)"

In a split second, the young man stopped and took a sharp turn to the left, avoiding the giant hand that tried to smash him into the ground as it hit the pavement instead and shattered it into a hole before dashing into the alleyway. Hopefully, the chaos taking place kept those around from seeing him going in there, confusing him only with yet another person who tried to run away.

"You slimy bastard!" Snarled Jerry while following after him

Although the alley was small, the monster didn't even hesitate to dive in, breaking the part of the walls with his shoulders as he kept moving, yet his speed was hardly affected by this.

Kenji went deeper and deeper into the alley, taking a turn or two within the maze-like structure before finally stopping and looking at his surroundings.

"(Alright...This should do...)" He thought while looking up at the staircases and at both sides to make sure he and his pursuer were the only ones around.

The young man turned around and faced Jerry, who stopped after seeing his prey was done running.

"What's wrong!? Ready to die already!?" Asked the humanoid monster with a taunting tone

"Sorry buddy. Playtime's over"

"Hm?"

Seeing the monster's confused expression, Kenji simply smirked and summoned his sword with a short swipe. The azure flames engulfing the pitch-black blade and lighting up the dark alley for a few moments as he took an assault stance and transformed, causing even more flames to surround his body in a twister of flames before sudenly fading away and revealing his HDD form.

"Wha-What the hell!?"

"I'm not sure what you are or what's your deal with me..." Said Kenji while looking at Jerry before holding his sword with both hands and taking an assault stance "But I ain't the type to turn down a fight!"

Jerry didn't reply right away. He simply looked at the young man for a moment in silence before cracking a grinn and laughing.

"So that masked creep wasn't lying! You really ain't human!" He said between laughters "No wonder you were so friggin strong!"

"(Masked creep?)"

When hearing the words "Masked", Ibiem's image popped inside Kenji's mind almost inmediately. But something simply felt off about this idea. Even if he couldn't pinpoint the exact reason as to why, Kenji's gut kept telling him there was something different about this, something that just felt off about it in comparison to every action Ibiem took so far.

Perhaps this monster was created by Devi, but the malicious shares emanating from within it were completely different to those of the catgirl. Not to mention it seemed to have a high level of self-awareness. Far higher than that of any other monster she tossed out at him.

"Fine by me!" Said Jerry while lifting both forearms high up into the air "It just means I can pound you as hard as I want!"

Seeing the incoming attack, Kenji jumped backwards and avoided the falling arms, along with the explosive shockwave that destroyed the walls around Jerry, along with most of the alley. A large cloud of dust rising up like a cloud into the skies and covering the entire alley as concrete and brick collapsed like an avalanche

"(No time to think, huh?)" Thought the young man as he emerged out of the cloud of dust and into the street "(Guess I'll have to figure that one out after beating this guy up!)"

Shortly after him, the humanoid monster emerged out of the dust as well. Kenji, who anticipated it, stopped in mid-air with the use of a sigil before launching himself towards him with a powerful jump as the flames engulfing his sword became more intense.

"Coldfire Edge!"

With all of his strength, the young man did a powerful downwards slash and attacked Jerry with the intention to slice him in half, but he easily blocked the flaming blade by using his forearms as shields, making the weapon clash and stop against it before pushing him away, making Kenji fly away almost ten feet before landing on the ground.

"(Was that too shallow?)" He thought while looking at the arm he hit just now. The exposed muscle hardly showing any signs of damage beyond a shallow slash wound "(I figured he'd be a sturdy guy, but not this sturdy)"

"Is that the best you can do!?"

"Not even close!"

As he jumped sideways to avoid the stampeding body, Kenji shot out almost half a dozen moonlight slashes, which he easily blocked with his forearm again. Nonetheless, the young man didn't give up and kept on with the pressure, dodging the massive arm swings and fists and attacking from all sides at the same time.

On the same time as the battle raged on, Zoey kept getting further and further away from conflict along with Tommy and Neptune. The latter making this rather difficult, as she kept pulling and stopping her feet to try and release herself.

"Let go! Let go!" She while pulling over and over again "I have to gp help Kenny kick that monster to next week!"

"Stop struggling already!" Snarled the young woman "It's too dangerous to go back! You'll only get yourself killed if you go!"

Despite Neptune's persistent and obnoxious resistance, Zoey refused to let her go. Not only because she promised it to Kenji, but also because she couldn't simply allow a kid to go and get herself killed.

In a way, though, she could understand very well why she was acting like this. The young woman herself was also feeling concerned about the young man.

"I don't wanna!" Snarled back Planeptune's CPU "Even if Kenny's the only one that can use HDD right now, I can still help him!"

"(HDD?)" She thought for a moment

The young woman's expression turned into a mixture of confusion and curiosity as her mind thought about the words said by Neptune.

Never in all her life did she hear the word "HDD" before, but something about it arose a great curiosity within her. Assuming it was related to the feat of athletism Kenji displayed earlier was the first assumption that came into her brain since the perky CPU said he could "use it", so maybe it was some sort of martial art?

But then again, Neptune also said he was the only one capable of using it right now, meaning that she as well could use it, but was unable to do so at the moment. Therefore, it couldn't be something as simple as physical skill.

This train of thought only made more questions than answers, but Zoey couldn't waste too much thinking on them. Right now she needed to convince Neptune not to go.

"Listen, Neptune. You stay here with Tommy for me" She said while turning to face her and speaking with a more calm, yet stern tone "I'll go and find Kenji Instead"

"Wait a minute! I'm the protag here! I should be the one doing hero stunts!"

"If you're the heroine, shouldn't you think about saving people more than fighting?" Replied Zoey, using her wits to come up with a quick response

Neptune didn't reply this time. Her motto as a CPU and a main character was to move whenever the people needed her help, so she wanted to rush to Kenji's side to help him defeat the monster destroying the city, but she couldn't just deny the young woman's words and abandon someone that needed her help either.

Seeing her words got through to her, Zoey let go of the perky CPU before turning around and heading back to search for him.

"Big sister, wait!"

"Tommy! Make sure to stay with her and wait for me!" She yelled while gaining more and more distance between them "I'll make it back soon!"

And with those words, the young woman left in search of Kenji.

It only took a few minutes before she managed to return to the scene of conflict. Fires and destruction spread wherever she'd look at and abandoned cars littered the entire street, most of them abandoned by their owners, some of them battered and in flames.

Almost all of the civilians left and the only people around where firefighters who struggled to keep the flames at bay using the water hoses from their trucks, but they hardly seemed to notice her due to their job requiring their full focus.

"Kenji!" Yelled Zoey as she ran down the streets "Kenji! Where are you!"

In her mind, she hoped for the young man to be okay, but she couldn't ignore the fact she last saw him being chased down by the monster that caused all of this destruction. It wouldn't be hard to imagine he met his untimely demise at it's hands.

Despite her attempts to get rid of those thoughts, they kept lingering within Zoey's head until a sudden explosion in the distance snapped her back to reality.

"(What was that!?)"

Looking around her, she saw columns of smoke reaching into the skies just a block away. It didn't take long for her to assume that might be where the monster, and probably Kenji as well, was at right now before going towards them.

As she reached the end of the street she was currently on, another larger, much more intense explosion came from just around the corner.

"U-uwahh!" She yelled as she fell on her knees against the wall and covered her eyes with her forearm wihle placing the other hand on the wall

A large cloud of dust was all she could see after the shockwave before suddenly seeing someome emerging out of it. He was slidding backwards on the pavement with his feet while crouched and his hand placed firmly on the fround to try and kill the momentum before finally stopping after a few feet.

"A blue-haired man?"

Once she got a clear view of this person, Zoey was not sure what to be more confused about. His long blue hair, his odd techno black clothing or the sword he was holding on the other hand.

Little did she know, this individual she was looking for and the one she was looking at right now were the same person.

"(What the hell is this guy made of!?)" Thought the young man

Dodging wasn't difficult thanks to Jerry's slow movement speed, but his incredible resilience could easily put Judge and the Deity of Sin's first form to shame, as he was able to shrug off the powerful energy slashes as if they were no big deal. At this point, he felt like he was fighting against a metal vault rather than a being made of flesh and bone.

The humanoid monster, not wanting to wait for his attack, picked up a car with both hands and tossed it at Kenji. But he didn't even flinch and jumped over the incoming projectile before dashing towards Jerry once more, moving past Zoey without even noticing her.

At this moment, when he moved right past her, the young woman caught a glimpse of his face. It was for a little more than two seconds, but she managed to get a view. Although it was a blurry and half of his face was covered by the visor, which only gave an opaque view from the outside, she couldn't help but feel like she had seen that face somewhere before.

Zoey wasn't sure why, but something about it brough an odd feeling within her. A feeling of warmth and nostalgia that caused one name to pop into her head. The name of the only person who made her feel such a strange mixture of emotions.

"(Kenji?)"

The young woman slowly leaned over the corner and looked at the battle taking place just a short distance away from her. She looked at Kenji dodge the massive fists with an inhuman speed and even use his sword to block them every now and then. The attacks that destroyed buildings, cars and entire streets alike as if they were made out of foam, and he could block them using nothing but a sword, with the most damage he'd get being getting pushed a few feet back.

"(No. There's no way that man could be him)" She thought while looking at the blue-haired man

At this point, Zoey wasn't even sure if he was even human to begin with. Not only did his hair and clothing was completely different, but the way he moved and even waged battle against such a monster shouldn't be physically possible for a human. But it was on this moment of pensive thought that Neptune's words echoed within her mind once again.

"(HDD...)"

That word, which he had yet to discern, echoed within her head as she kept looking at him. Perhaps this HDD could be the explanation behind Kenji's suddenly change of appearance and superhuman abilities.

As she dwelved deeper into her theory, Kenji caught sight of her on corner of his eye while fighting Jerry. It was a bit difficult for him to discern her at first due to the dust and his constant movements, but he soon managed to recognize her.

"(Zoey!?)" He thought with a shocked expression "(Why is she here!?)"

"Where are you looking at!?"

Taking advantage of the young man's short distraction, the humanoid monster extended his hand towards him and managed to get a hold of his foreleg.

"Shit!"

"Got you now!"

With a grin in his face, Jerry raised Kenji high up before smashing him into the groud.

"Gah!" Groaned the young man as he coughed a small amount of blood

The pavement shattered into pieces and flew all over as the humanoid monster smacked him against it a few times before turning around and tossing him with all of his might.

Kenji flew like a speeding bullet and hit an office building, crashing through the wall and going in. Chairs, computers and desks alike flew in all direcctions as he crossed through the whole floor before reaching the other side and smashing through a window, hitting the wall from the building next to it and finally stopping there before falling down into the alley in between them like a rock.

"Yeah...Definitely gonna feel that one in the morning" He said with a grunting tone while slowly getting up.

"01000111 01100101 01110100 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100100 01101001 01110011 01110100 01110010 01100001 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100 00100000 01100100 01110101 01110010 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100010 01100001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00111111"

"Huh?"

"01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100001 0010000001110010 01100001 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100100 00100000 01101000 01101111 01100010 01100010 01111001 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 0010000001100001 00100000 01110111 01100001 01110010 01110010 01101001 01101111 01110010"

As he was getting up, Kenji suddenly heard a strange voice. It was somehow similar to the buzzling sound he heard his other self use once, but something about it was different.

This one felt clearer and more solid. Almost like words, but only spoken in a way and with a speed he couldn't understand.

"01011001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101101 0010000001110100 01101111 0010000001100010 01100101 0010000001101000 01100001 01110110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01110100 01110010 01101111 01110101 01100010 01101100 01100101"

Despite his initial confusion, he quickly paid heed to his gut and turned to face the direction said noise was coming from while holding his sword with both hands and making an assault stance.

But there was nothing there, only the long alley leading to the other side. At first this confused him even further, but a strong shiver running down his spine made him quickly turn around. And there he was, standing less than four feet away from him was a thin man dressed in black wearing an eerie bird-like mask/rebreather.

"01001111 01101000 00111111 00100000 01001001 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01100101 01101101 01110011 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 01110010 0010000001101001 01101110 01110011 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100011 01110100 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110011 01101000 01100001 01110010 01110000 01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01101110 0010000001001001 00100000 01100101 01111000 01110000 01100101 01100011 01110100 01100101 01100100"

"(Wha-What the hell!?)" Thought Kenji with a shocked expression "(How did he get so close without me even sensing him!?)"

Kenji's ability to sense danger was one of his most basic skills, yet he only just managed to feel this individual's prescence just now, despite the short distance between them.

"01010100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101001 01110100 0010000001101000 01100001 01110011 00100000 01100010 01100101 01100101 01101110 0010000001101100 01101111 01101110 01100111 00100000 01101001 01101110 01100100 01100101 01100101 01100100 00101100 00100000 01100011 01101000 01101001 01101100 01100100 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101101 01101111 01101111 01101110 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100"

"(What the fuck is this guy even saying?)" He thought while looking at him with a confused expression "(I can't understand it at all...)"

"You face shows confusion..." Said the individual, speaking now in an idiom he could understand "It seems your pact has caused even the holy tongues to be clouded within your mind"

Kenji's expression quickly changed into shock as the masked individual finally chose to speak in a way he could understand.

"Truly, a pitiful thing to behold"

"Who the hell are you!?" Asked the young man with a tone that made it sound more like a demand than a question

There were many questions lingering within his mind right now, but there was one thing Kenji was sure about. The little share energy he could feel leaking out from this individual was far more pestilent and malicious than that of Jerry. It almost felt like Rei's miasma, except that his felt a lot more uniform, more controlled.

"Me? I'm nothing more than a simple spectator"

Despite his calm and composed answer, Kenji didn't lower his sword.

"Then again, I guess you won't be satisfied with that answer" He added while shurgging "My name is Comodorian. I am but a traveling scientist doing experiments here and there"

"(A scientist?)" Thought Kenji while looking at him "That buzzing voice you did earlier..."

"Feels familiar, doesn't it?" Said the masked individual "Well, it should...It is "her" tongue, after all"

"Her?"

At this point, Kenji had countless questions popping up inside his mind.

Who was this individual? Was he related to Ibiem in some way or their resemblance was mere coincidence? Did he have something to do with the monster attacking right now? Just what was that weird idiom he used and why did it feel so familiar?

"No matter...You will remember all of it eventually" He said while turning around and opening a purple portal "Including your pact with him...And the blood you spilled in exchange..."

"Hey! Wait!"

Kenji went towards the masked individual and tried to catch him, but the portal dissapeared the second he stepped into it.

A moment of silence took place as he simply stood there, trying to understand just what on Earth happened. But this silence was cut short by the sound of the ground shaking again, making the young man remember he still had a battle to finish.

"Guess I'll have to figure that one out later"

Kenji ran out of the alleyway and looked at both sides before seeing Jerry. He was under a barrage of suppressive fire by a SWAT team, which most likely arrived and started an assault while he was in the alley. Dozens of assault rifles and automatic shotguns firing at him non-stop, along with a sniper on a helicopter as well.

It initially seemed like their weapons were having some effect, but it quickly proved to be only capable of enraging him.

"Why, you little-!" Yelled Jerry, who was getting extremely irritated "Stop getting in my way!"

With a swipe of his arms, dozens of armed officers flew left and right before he picked up one of the SWAT trucks and tossed it at the helicopter, making it fall out of the sky and turn into nothing more than a ball of fire and metal.

"Damn it! This isn't working!"

"Tell the station to call in the army! We can't take this thing down!"

"Fall back! Fall back!"

The few remaining SWAT members attempted to retreat, but Jerry had other plans in mind and reached for them. Fortunately for them, Kenji flew in on the nick of time and, from high above, charged up his most powerful attack.

"Crescent Sapphirus!"

The large wave of energy, fell down on Jerry like a guillotine and crushed him against the ground and even break through it, falling into the sewers. Fortunately avoiding the SWAT members by inches.

"Uarghhhhhhh! ! !"

"Whoa!"

"What the hell was that!?"

As confusion spread among the officers and the Crescent Sapphirus began to fade away, leaving behind a destroyed street and large clouds of dust, Kenji took the oportunity to search for Zoey.

"(Where the hell did she go now?)"

His eyes went from one spot to the other before he finally managed to spot her.

"(There she is!)" He thought before flying towards her.

Kenji wasn't sure how to convince her to leave or if she would recognize him from up close, but it would be too dangerous for her to simply linger around right now.

Just as one would expect, the young woman was quite surprised when she noticed him landing just a few feet away from her, yet didn't seem too agitated about it either.

"I don't now what's your business here, girl. But you need to get out of here" He said, trying to sound like a stranger, after a short moment of silence and the two of them staring at each other

"Kenji?"

The young man quickly broke a cold sweat along with making a shocked expression. He didn't expect her to figure out who he was so fast.

"N-No! I have no idea who you're talking about!" Quickly replied the young man, trying to use different tone this time "I'm just a traveling swordsman who happened to be passing by"

The two of them looked at each other for an awkward moment of silence or two before Zoey finally broke the silence.

"You're literally the worst liar I've ever seen in my life" She said while looking at him with an expression that was not amused at all "Also, that was a terrible Batman impression"

"(The lie, I get. But was the impression really THAT bad?)" Thought Kenji while sweat dropping

"But it really is you, isn't it?"

The young man didn't reply this time. She was well aware of who he was, and he knew nothing he said could change her mind about it now.

"Why do you look like that?"

"Look, it's really complicated to explain right now, okay?"

Suddenly, an explosion echoed behind them, making both Kenji and Zoey look at the large crater left on the street, from which Jerry slowly emerged. There was a large open scar going from the top of his back to the bottom, blood constantly pouring from it like a waterfall.

"You...Bastard...!"

"He's still standing!?"

"That guy really won't go down easy, will he?"

"How dare you...? How dare you...!?" Said the humanoid monster as he got up on his feet, blood splurting from his back everytime his body twitched "You're fucking deaaaaaaad! ! !"

As his rage built up, Jerry turned to face Kenji and charged towards him at full speed.

"Oh, shit!"

Kenji quickly turned around and wrapped one arm around Zoey before flying up into the air with her, avoiding the stampeding giant by mere inches as it went straight through the wall.

"Uwaaaahhhhh!?" Yelled the young woman, who was taken completely by surprise "What are you doing all of a sudden!?"

"I'm saving your life! What do you think that was for!?" Snarled the young man, who was having a hard time keeping a stead grip on her "Stop struggling, you dumbass! We're in mid-air!"

The struggling didn't last long, as Jerry quickly came out of the building exactly how he entered, causing the two-story tall restaurant to collapse from the structural damage.

"You bastard...!" Snarled the humanoid monster while taking deep breaths "When I get my hands on you, I'm gonna...I'm gonna..."

With each second, Jerry's breathing became heavier and more uneven. At first he thought it was because of the injury Kenji put on him, but he realized it couldn't be that after feeling a sharp pain run through his entire body.

"U...Urghhhhh!"

"Hm?"

Jerry placed one hand on his chest to try and supress this overwhelming feeling, but the pain soon became so strong his body began to violently convulse.

"Uogh-Augh! ! ! Auuuuughhhhhhhh! ! !" He yelled with a gut-wrenching tone.

Sounds of bone cracking and flesh shredding began to come from within his body, almost as if something had turned his insides into a massive blender.

"What's going on with that thing!?"

With each second, the screams coming form him became more and more blood-chilling until they felt more like the tortured cries of a suffering animal than those of a human-like being. The convulsions then took it up a notch and turned into a grotesque transformation. His legs began to lose musculature and size while his arms and torso became even larger and bulkier. Hus musculature shivering like jelly and taking a darker, more rotten color as the capparace around his arms began to develop spikes. His face becoming even more zombie-like, with his eyes becoming more sullen and larger.

Both Zoey and Kenji looked in a mixture of shock, horror and disgust at the transformation taking place in front of them.

By the time it finally stopped, Jerry looked more like some sort of deformed gorilla rather than a human-like being. His massive arms became the thing he used to keep himself rather than his tiny legs, which dangled just inches away from the floor.

"Uogh...Uoooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! ! ! ! !"

"What the hell...?"

Kenji had seen some rather eerie monsters over the years, but this one was by far the most horrifying one. If he looked like a creature pulled out of a horror movie before, then now he looked like something pulled out of a madman's darkest nightmare.

Jerry looked at his surroundings, almost as if he was too confused to even understand what was happening, before seeing the young man flying above and moving slightly backwards, then suddenly impulsing himself high into the skies with his arm strength alone. With a speed twice as fast as before, he was already in front of the two of them, and ready to swat them back into the ground.

"(Oh shit!)"

Thanks to his reflexes, Kenji managed to dodge by just inches, but the wind pressure caused by the raw strength was enough release a gust of wind.

The moment Jerry made it back to the floor, he jumped once again to attack, forcing the young man to dodge yet another attack. This process repeated countless times as Kenji was now forced to fly away with Zoey holding onto him, moving to avoid getting crushed as the monstrous creature chased after them, using his hands to move through the streets and the buildings like an ape, destroying everything it touched due to his lack of control over his own overwhelming raw physical strength.

"You...Weak! Me...Strong! Me...stronger!" Said Jerry with a much slower and somewhat strange manner. Almost as if saying those mere words was difficult for him

Kenji couldn't fight properly and look out for Zoey at the same time, but there was the risk of her getting caught up in the crossfire if he dropped her now. The only way to ensure her safety was to do it while Jerry wasn't following them, but stopping such an abomination wouldn't be as simple as smacking him in the face. He needed something to hold him down, even if it was just for a few seconds.

As he looked for something to use in his favor, the young man spotted a construction site nearby and went towards it at full speed.

"Hey, Zoey! Hold on tight!" He said while keeping his eyes focused on his objective "I have a plan!"

The young woman wasn't sure what he was planning to do, but she decided to comply without arguing for the moment and wrapped her arms around his torso.

Kenji looked at the structure before increasing his flight speed. He passed between dozens of steel beams and maneuvered around them like a speeding bullet as Jerry followed behind, destroying them with brute strength rather than trying to avoid them.

Within the boundaries of the half-built building, the young man moved around as the abomination chased after him, breaking everything and making the structure's integrity more and more unstable until it finally became unable to withstand its own weight.

At the last moment of his escape from the falling beams, Kenji gave one light spin to fly backwards and shot out a moonlight slash that managed to hit Jerry right in the face. Although it didn't cause any notable damage, the sudden attack was capable of forcing the monster to stop for at least a second, which was more than enough for gravity to do the rest of the job and rain down dozens of steel beams that crushed him under their massive weight combined.

"Well, that was closer than I thought" Said Kenji, who was now watching the rest of the structure crumble down from a safe distance with Zoey

"THAT was your plan?"

"Hey, as long as it works"

"No, I'm not saying it was a bad plan" Replied Zoey, who had a surprised expression on her face "I'm just surprised you of all people could come up with it it so fast"

"I know that was a compliment, but something about it felt vaguely insulting for some reason..." He replied while looking at her and sweat dropping

As the two of them spoke, their conversation was cut short by the loud banging noises echoed from whitin the mountain of metal.

"Guess that won't keep him down for too long"

With not much more time left before Jerry freed himself, Kenji flew towards the rooftop of a building a square away and dropped Zoey there before going back to the crumbled construction site, just in time to See the abomination make his way out of the mountain of steel beams.

As Jerry quickly jumped towards him, Kenji led him towards an abandoned apartment complex. Fortunately, the current area was mostly abnadoned due to a factory's bankruptcy forcing many people to move elsewhere along with a massive ejection because of a plan to expand a nearby industrial sector to bring more job, which unfortunately never came to fruitition.

Here, it would be okay for him to go all-out without worrying about casualties.

The young man flew towards one of the rooftops and landed on it, with Jerry landing just a few feet away from him.

"Me, strong! Stronger!" Yelled the abomination while slamming one hand against the floor "You! Weaker!"

"(What the hell happened to his speech?)" Thought Kenji with a raised eyebrow "(Did that new form fry his brain or something?)"

At first he imagined the blurred, emphasized words were simply him being too overwhelmed by rage, but now he realized this creature's ability to speak was a lot worse than before. Unfortunately, there was no time to think about details such as those.

As Jerry charged towards him like an animal, Kenji dodged sideways a few times while trying to find an opportunity to strike. And it was during one of said dodges that he noticed the monster's breath was starting to get heavy along with his movements getting slower. Most likely due to the large injury on his back starting to drain away at his stamina after losing so much blood.

This, in turn, gave Kenji a perfect weak spot to use.

"(Alright, time to finish this!)" He thought while heading towards the edge of the rooftop

As Jerry stampeded forward, the young man enveloped his sword in flame and got ready for the last strike. He waited until the very last second before quickly jumping up and taking a hold of the monster's back, climbing on top of its back and stabbing his sword deep into the open injury.

"Uaaaaaaaarghhhhhhhh! ! !"

Blood splurted out as he dug his sword deep into the injury, making Jerry yell out in pain for a moment or two as both of them fell out of the rooftop before he released all the flames held within the sword. A large explosion taking place within the monster's innards and churning them on the spot, making some of the flames pour out from the injury.

As the two of them fell towards the ground, Kenji pulled out his sword, held it with both hands and stood up on his enemy's back before releasing one final Crescent Sapphirus.

The large wave of blue energy pushing the abomination down towards the ground at a much faster speed, making it crash against a bridge hallway connecting both buildings together, then against the base of the second building, causing part of it to collapse over him along with the destroyed bridge.

The young man hovered on the skies for a few moments to wait and see if Jerry would emerge out of the rubble, but there was no movement to speak of, convincing him that, if he wasn't dead, at the very least he wouldn't be a threat to anyone for now.

Part of him wanted to check and make sure of this decision, but the trail of destruction left behind by the chase and the battle was followed by a rather large amount of police enforcement, judging by the overwhelming amount of syrens in the distance. In the end, he chose to avoid a confrontation with the authorities and decided to go back for Zoey, hoping he wouldn't have to worry about this enemy anymore.

Little did he know, Jerry wasn't dead, and he also managed to escape the scene as well, although a bit latter than him.

"Urgh...Hurts..." Mumbled the abomination while wandering around, leaving a trail of blood as he dragged himself "Really hurts..."

Although his size made him hard to miss and his injuries were nothing short of deadly, he somehow managed to slip away from the law enforcers and hid from them, probably out of instinct rather than rational thought.

By the time night arrived, he began to wander around one alleyway to the other, but at this point he could hardly even move, mostly dragging himself around rather than walking with his hands.

As he wandered through the dark alleys, Jerry caught sight of someone standing just a few feet away from the end of it. A feminine figure with long blue-hair, seemingly looking at the streets in search of something.

"Woman...?"

Despite his initial confusion, the abomination's mind suddenly began to recall some specific sensations when looking at the feminine curves. He recalled the sweet smell of shampoo, the soft feeling of hair, and most importantly, the warmth of a woman's body.

"Warm..." He said while approaching her "Woman...Warm..."

As he approached the seemingly unsuspecting victim, Jerry's mind began to remember the urge that drove him to assault so many women in the same way, the greed that drove him to do it, and it only served to increase his desire to catch her.

The moment his hand reached close enough to touch her, the woman dissapeared so fast it took him a few seconds to realize it. And it took him even longer to notice the overwhelming cold coursing through his entire body. But by the time he did, it was already to late to even act or think as a thin layer of ice covered his skin and flesh, freezing him solid like a statue.

The only thing he managed to do before being frozen was turn his head to look behind him. The woman who was in front of him just a second was now behind him and by a short distance as well. In her hand she was holding a sword, which she slowly placed back into the sheat. And by the time the guard touched the sheat, dozens of slashes appeared all over Jerry at the same time shortly before he crumbled down into a small pile of countless little ice fragments. Each and every single one of them cut so precisely and neatly one would think it was the work of a machine rather than that of a human.

"This is odd...I thought Chronos said there were no monsters in this dimension" Said Luna in a monologue while looking at the pile of frozen pieces of what once was Jerry "I should probably include this in the next report"


	32. Requite

"So...Let me see if I got this right..." Said Zoey, who was sitting down on Kenji's couch with both her arms and one leg crossed, along with her eyes closed "After obtaining this "HDD" power from a fairy called Croire, you got sent to this other dimension called Gamindustry, a world divided into four nations ruled by these four girls, who are actually goddesses, and who you were forced to fight against because of an argument when you first met..."

"Yes" Replied Noire, who along with the other three CPUs were standing behind Kenji, who was sitting in the couch facing hers.

"...After winning and discovering you possesed the same power as them, they had a change of heart and decided to make you their guest, making you travel all around Gamindustry while helping them fend off this "evil" organization called ASIC, eventually defeating their evil goddess leader and destroying it for good..."

"Yes" Replied Blanc this time

"...Then shortly after destroying this evil organization, you and Neptune got sent to yet another dimension, which was a similar version of Gamindustry, where you were forced to fend off yet ANOTHER evil organization called "the seven sages", which was also ruled by an evil goddess and their collaborators, who are CPUs as well, but that work for a third evil organization ruled by a man called Ibiem, who you assume is an evil god, fighting for almost twenty years before finally returning to the first Gamindustry to defeat the evil goddess, effectively destroying the seven sages and bringing peace to both dimensions..."

"You kind of make it sound like all we did was recycle the story from the last game, but Yes" Replied Vert with a weak smile while sweat dropping

"...And with peace achieved yet again, you resumed your daily routine of fighting monsters and training with a massive battle robot kept under a castle belonging to a ghost Goddess called "Caelum" until Histoire, who is also a fairy and the oracle of Neptune's nation, found a way to get you back to this dimension, but the spell failed, causing these four to be sent along with you and forced to stay as your guests until this Histoire person gets a second spell ready in order to send all four of them back to their original dimension...Right?"

"Yes!" Replied Neptune with an even wider smile

A short, but rather heavy, moment of silence took over the whole living room for what felt like an eternity to the young man while Zoey stared at him with a very unamused expression, making this silence feel even harder to bear.

"(She thinks I'm batshit crazy, doesn't she?)" He thought while looking at her with an anxious expression

"Okay, I'm convinced"

"You are?" Asked Kenji while making a surprised expression

"Yeah..." She replied while opening her eyes and looking at him "Convinced that there's no word capable of describing this level of insanity..."

"(Should've seen that one coming...)" He thought while sweat dropping

On hindsight, it was a given Zoey wouldn't believe a word he said. For her, or for any other normal human that got raised in this "normal" world, stories of superhuman powers, interdimensional travel, wars against evil deities and evil organizations alike sounded like something taken straight out of a child's imagination or a third-rate movie, or even the ramblings of a madman, hence her response.

"Do you yourself even realize how utterly insane everything you said is?"

"Yeah, I do..."

"Any asylum worth their money would lock you up for a lifetime if they heard even half of it"

"And despite of this oppinion, you believe him, right?" Interruped Vert

"Unfortunately, I have no other choice" Replied the young woman with her eyes closed and her head slightly lowered "Not after what happened the other day"

Shortly after the fight against the humanoid monster was over, Kenji quickly went to pick up Zoey and took her to a safe place far away from all the chaos.

The following day, the incident exploded all over the news and the internet. Fortunately there were no civilian casualties, but quite a few police officers died. And apparently, the monster managed to escape the authorities after Kenji left the scene and was nowhere to be found. Not even the military, which arrived just sometime later, could find it despite doing a massive search all over town. Many people called it a bioterrorist attack, an alien invasion and even a forewarning of a possible doomsday, but the focus quickly changed from Jerry to Kenji, who seemed to pique more interest in people. There were also a few videos of the incident taken by the people hidden in the buildings, but fortunately Kenji's movements were so fast he was almost a blur in them, and no eyewitness was capable of getting a clear view of his face either. In other words, the young man's identity was still a complete mistery to the world. It didn't take very long for the people to give them a name of their own, though.

All over the internet, people argued over what to call him, with dozens of names such as "The blue swordsman", "Blue slasher", "Blazing blade" and even "The flaming blue edge" popping out by the second. By the third day, the news began to refer to him using the name "The azure swordsman: Sapphirus", as it was the most popular nickname so far, and the one most people assumed to be related to his name since they heard him yell it out during the fight.

And as it would be expected, it didn't take long for Zoey to rain down one question after the other on Kenji either. With her assertive and persistent questioning, along with the fact she knew about his secret, the young woman was nearly impossible to dissuade, so the young man decided to make a deal with her. In exchange of getting all of her questions answered, Zoey would promise to keep his human identity a secret from everyone, including Kenji's mother.

"Anyway, I told you everything you wanted to know" Said Kenji, trying to regain the flow of the conversation "So now you have to keep your part of the deal"

"To be honest, I wasn't even planning to tell anyone about it in the first place anyway"

"Then what was the point asking so many questions?"

"I was simply curious about it"

A short moment of silence fell as the young man looked at her before finally speaking.

"Seriously? Just for that?"

"Yeah...," She replied calmly "Honestly, I didn't expect the answer to be so crazy, but it's not like I have any reason to doubt you for now"

"So you're already assuming you'll find a reason to start doubting me again?" Asked Kenji while sweat dropping, clearly taking note of how she pointed out that her lack of doubt in his words was merely temporary

"And besides, you did save me and my little brother's life" Continued Zoey without minding his question "I still want to repay you for it, and I feel like I owe you at least this much"

"That's a nice gesture of you" Said Vert while looking at the young woman

"That's right! That's right!" Added Neptune while smiling "At first I thought you were just a sassy ball of sass like Noire here is just a lonely loner, but you're actually really nice!"

"I told you to stop calling me sassy!"

"Who are you calling lonely!?" Snarled Noire right after Zoey's retort before giving Planeptune's CPU a good bonk on the head

"Ouch!"

Neptune placed both hands on top of her head to rub the bruise for a moment or two before the young woman resumed speaking.

"Anyway...I should probably get going" She said with a more calm tone while standing up "I need to be home soon so I can help Tommy study for the upcoming tests"

"By the way, how is he doing?" Asked Kenji while looking at her, this time sounding more concerned and serious than before

"What do you think? He was so terrified we ended up sleeping on the same bed that night" Replied Zoey, her expression growing pensive for a moment or two "But fortunately, he's mostly recovered already"

"I see...That's good"

At first it didn't cross Kenji's mind, but it wouldn't be strange for a child to be traumatized after going through something like that. And this weighted down on his mind for quite a while already.

"I guess it's partly because of the news constantly shaking up a storm about you instead of that monster" Said the young woman while placing one hand on her hip "Now he won't stop making a fuss about how "baddass" the azure swordsman is"

"(Ba-Baddass!?)" Thought the young man with a mixture of surprise and glee "(He thinks I'm baddass!?)"

"(He looks really happy about it...)" Thought everyone while looking at Kenji and sweat dropping

"We-Well! It's no big deal, really!" He said after a small cough to regain his composture while scratching his left cheek with his index finger "I guess kids do like that kind of stuff..."

"(He's so bad at hiding it...)"

Despite attempting to sound like it wasn't a big deal to him, Kenji was in fact gleeful about being acknowledged as a baddass. The idea of being praised as a hero never piqued his interest back in Gamindustry, hence why he always allowed Neptune and the other CPUs to take credit for his feats like defeating the Deity of sin and the CPU of Tari in order to avoid attracting attention to himself and be able to lead a peaceful daily life. But even he couldn't deny being acknowleged in such a way for once felt like a nice change of pace.

After escorting Zoey to the door, Kenji went back and sat down on the couch while sighing.

"Well, I guess that problem's dealt with for now"

"Look on the bright side, Kenji" Said Vert while looking at him with a smile "At least now we know she's willing to cooperate with us"

"I guess so..." He replied while resting his head on the back of the couch and looking up at her "Anyway, what do you girls want to do now?"

Before any of the CPUs could even think of something to say, Neptune was already jumping towards the couch and sitting on top of Kenji's lap.

"Let's play some games!"

"He-Hey!"

Without even listening to him, Planeptune's CPU reached out for the controller and put her game face on.

"I found this really difficult game with bonfires as savepoints on your console the other day, so now I wanna play it on this one!" She replied cheerfully and with a lingering sense of motivation "I totally got my bum nepped up last time, but now I'm totally ready for a comeback! So come on, let's play!"

"(Christ, what a pushy girl...)" Thought the young man while looking at her and sweat dropping "Fine, fine. I get it already"

"(Kenji really has a hard time dealing with pushy women, doesn't he?)" Thought Vert while looking at him with a weak smile, as this was becoming a notable pattern, especially when he was dealing with extremely assertive and pushy women such as Zoey or Neptune.

After reaching out for the controller, Kenji turned on the TV. The first thing to appear was the news, which were reporting what seemed to be a rather urgent broadcast.

"This is channel 8 news with an urgent last minute notice!" Said the reporter while holding a handful of papers on his hands and looking at the camera with a stern expression "There is a robbery and hostage situation currently taking place at the benevolent samaritan's west bank!"

"Oh!? Is this the fabled news deus ex machina cliche!?" Said Neptune while looking at the TV with shock "Are we gonna use this cliche to advance the plot now!?"

"Well, the writer does like cliches, so I can't say this is surprising" Added Vert with a smile

"Shhh! I can't hear what he's saying" Interrupted Noire while looking at the broadcast, which changed from the studio to a live broadcast of the robbery taking place.

The sound of assault rifle gunshot could be heard quite clearly as the police officers hid behind their cars. Sparks spreading like fireworks on the other side of their vehicles due to all the bullets hitting the metal frame and shattering the glass windows.

"The relentless suppressive fire delivered by the criminal group holed up within the bank has made it impossible for the police to make any advances" Said the reporter while he and the camera crew hid behind the truck for safety "Right now the swat teams are in their way, but many of them are still in shambles due to the yet to be fathomed incident that took place a few days ago, making both their chances of success and the fate of the unfortunate hostages, uncertain"

"Is it just me, or is that news reporter constantly taking pauses in his speech to make the situation sound even more dramatic?" Asked Noire while sweat dropping

"Oh my, this sounds like a rather serious problem" Said Vert while looking at the TV with widened eyes

"Things like these aren't that uncommon, though" Replied Kenji while turning his head to look at her "They tend to happen every now and then, but swat teams usually take care of this stuff"

"I didn't notice at first, but this world is a surprisingly chaotic one" Said Blanc

"I bet it's because they've got no CPUs like us to lead them!" Added Neptune with a confident smirk "Thanks to our super leadership skills, Gamindustry is squeaky clean of problems!"

"No, i'm pretty sure Gamindustry tends to have their fair share of problems too" Said Kenji while looking at her and sweat dropping "If anything, I think shit goes south even harder than it does here..."

From personal experience due to his travels, the young man knew by heart Gamindustry was filled with criminal organizations or opposing parties that always tried to cause one issue or another, along with monsters constantly attacking people and nations alike. True, kenji's world might seem far more chaotic and might even be up to a certain degree, but at least it wasn't on the border of complete destruction so often it could already be considered a casual occurence.

"Hey...Isn't that the bank we went to the other day?" Said Vert, who suddenly realized the scene of crime seemed familiar

"Now that you mention it...I think it is..."

"You guys...You don't think Naomi might be..." Said Noire while sweat dropping

"N-no...there's no way she could be in there..." Replied the young man, who came to realize what Lastation's CPU was trying to say, while sweat dropping "Sure, it's the same bank and all, but it probably happened before she managed to get into the bank..."

"Last minute news, Lance! Our news helicopter as harrived and is currently giving us live footage of the inside!" Said the reporter, catching everyone's attention as the broadcast changed from him to the helicopter's point of view

The camera began to zoom in on the building and show a few windows; Through them it was mostly posible to see the assailants dressed in heavy bulletproof chest armor. And through the large glass roof on the center of the bank's ceiling, a large group hostages was lying down on the ground with their hands tied up; Among them, everyone clearly saw Naomi lying on the ground as well.

"She really is there! ! !" Yelled everyone in shock.

"Nepu! This deus ex machina news broadcast brought us some horrible news!"

"This isn't the time to be joking about that, Neptune!" Replied Noire while looking at her "Isn't this a really bad situation right now!?"

True to the words of Lastation's CPU, this situation was nothing short of bad. Average police officers had little to no hope of taking on outlaws armed with advanced bulletproof vests and full-on military grade weaponry, and with the current state of swat units, this only made the situation look more and more bleak.

"What should we do now?" Asked Vert to the others

"Easy! We go in there and we Nep up those baddies one by one!" Said Neptune while getting up on her feet

"Don't be so reckless, Neptune" Replied Noire while looking at her "This isn't something we can handle ourselves right now"

"Noire is right" Added Leanbox's CPU with her eyes closed "Though it pains me to admit it, there is little we can do in our current state"

"Without the power of shares on our side, our bodies are pretty much as fragile as that of average humans" Added Blanc this time "Even with all of our battle experience, one well-aimed bullet is more than enough to kill us"

"In other words; The only one that could take action right now is Kenji"

The four CPUs then looked at the young man, who got up from the couch and smacked his left fist into his open right hand.

"Alright! Let's do this!"

"Wait, but what about your identity?"

"Don't worry. I can handle it" Replied the young man confidently to Vert's question

"Are you sure about that?" Asked Blanc this time "If memory serves, that Zoey person only met you for a few days, yet she managed to recognize you in your HDD form right away"

When hearing this remark, the young man's confidence was slightly shaken. Lowee's CPU had a fair point there.

"Certainly, Kenji's appearance and voice doesn't change that much beyond his clothing and hairstyle, so he's not that difficult to recognize" Added Vert with one index finger and thumb on her chin "If Naomi, who spent all her life with him, were to get even one simple look at your face, she would most likely recognize you just as fast as Zoey did, if not faster"

"Not to mention she would also be able to recognize him from his voice the moment he said a single word" Added Noire as well while sweat dropping

Kenji began to sweat drop as well with his eyes closed. The burning confidence he built up just now felt like it was starting to shatter by the second.

"So it's either risk leaving it to this world's authorities who have a low chance of success or go do it himself and let his mother know his secret" Said Blanc while looking at him "It certainly is a difficult decision, especially with the current time limit"

Once again the CPUs looked at the young man; His eyes were closed and he remained silent, but there didn't seem to be hesitation either.

"I guess it can't be helped...Even if she finds out, I still have to-"

"Hooooold the truck!" Yelled Neptune to interrupt Kenji and catch everyone's attention "I've got the perfect item for this quiz!"

"What?"

Planeptune's CPU quickly ran upstairs, leaving everyone to wonder what she meant just now, before coming back and showing this so called "item" to the others.

"Ta-chaaaan!" She said with a big smile "With this, Kenny can go save Nami AND keep his superhero identity secret!"

"Whe-Where on Earth did you get that from!?" Asked Noire with widened eyes

"I found it on that cosplay shop you went to the other day!"

"Wha-What cosplay shop!? I didn't go to any cosplay shop!"

While Lastation's CPU tried to deny her shopping habits, Kenji looked quietly at Neptune's idea before looking at her again.

"You've got to be joking here..."

"Nope! I'm 1000% serious here!" She replied while looking at him "This baby here has "Nep's seal of approval" for keeping identities hidden!"

"There's no way that's an actual thing" Said Kenji before turning his head to look at Noire "It's not...Right?"

"With Neptune, you never know..." Replied Lastation's CPU with a similar expression to his

"We-Well; I have to admit it looks "unique", but it could definitely work" Said Vert with a weak smile

"You just want to see how I look with it, don't you?" Asked Kenji while turning his head to look at her

"...Just a little" Replied Leanbox's CPU with a seemingly innocent expression

The young man looked around at the CPUs who were in turn also looking at him; It took a moment or two, but he finally decided to give in and go with Neptune's idea.

"(This better work...)"

After transforming and putting Neptune's trusty "item" on, Kenji flew over the streets and towards the bank; Although it took him a short while, the gunfight was still quite lively.

"(Looks like charging in from the front would be a bad idea)" He thought while looking down at the streets where bullets flew like birds on migration before his eye caught notice of the roof glass "(That should do the trick just fine)"

Now with his point of entrance decided, Kenji turned upside down before creating a sigil and crouching on a it; He then applied a surge of strength to his legs and jumped, ejecting himself towards the ground like a speeding bullet and breaking through the glass almost effortlessly before doing a quick spin to land on his feet; A small shockwave and a cloud of dust both spreading all over the bank's inside due to his landing.

"Whoa!?" Said one of the armored outlaws while turning around and covering his face with his arm

The hostages closed their eyes as well and the assailants covered themselves from the short-lived shockwave before looking at the cloud of dust with utter confusion.

"What the hell was that!?" Asked one of them "Are those bastards coming in from the roof now!?"

"Don't be an idiot! Cops wouldn't go on a full-on assault like that!" Snarled another one while turning his head to look at him "At least not while there's this many hostages here!"

It took a moment or two for the dust to clear off, but everyone was clearly able to see Kenji standing up in the center, dusting himself off after the fall.

"Who the hell are you!?" Demanded to know one of the assailants while he and the rest of his group aimed their weapons at him

"Hey...Isn't he that Saphirus guy?" Said the man who had an AR-15

"Sa-what?" Asked the man holding an AK 47

"You know! The one everyone's been talking about on TV!" He explained to the leader, who had a FN SCAR, that was looking at him "Everyone's saying he got on a brawl with a huge monster and trashed the whole commercial district!"

"So that's the guy, huh?" Said the man who carried an LMG with a somewhat jokingly tone "I thought he'd be taller or something..."

The assailants looked at Kenji for a while longer, waiting for him to do something before he finally turned around to look at them; Everyone's expression turned into ones of bewilderment as they looked at his face. Or rather, at the mouth mask he was wearing at the moment. It was pure white and had the design of a cute cat's mouth, nose and even whiskers.

A very cute, if not unfitting, choice of design for him to wear.

"Bw...Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha! ! !" Yelled the man holding an LMG as he burst out in uncontrollable laughter "The fuck is with that mask!? Hahahahahahah!"

"This guy can't be okay in the head if he goes around dressed like that...Especially with that mask" Said the man holding an AK47 while looking at him with confusion

Among the laughters and looks of utter confusion aimed at him, the young man could only remain silent and close his eyes as he popped a vein mark.

"(Damn it, Neptune! This is the last time I listen to one of her plans!)" He thought with utter irritation as he imagined Neptune's silly and infuriating "I didn't do it" face she usually used whenever someone blamed her for something.

All Kenji wanted to do right now was rip that ridiculous mask off of his face and hid away, but it was needed right now.

Focusing once more on the task at hand, he diverted his eyes around the whole place in search of his mother before eventually finding her not too far away from his position.

"(Good, at least she's okay...)" He thought with a relieved expression before focusing once more on the assailants with a stern expression "(Now, I just need to deal with these guys)"

The young man took an assault stance and summoned his sword, but the armed man reacted right away by pointing their guns at him.

"Whoa there, kitty boy. No funny business now" Said the man with the MLG while grinning "You wouldn't want to get turned into swiss cheese now, would you?"

"You guys saw that!? He literally pulled that thing out of nowhere!"

"Shut up and keep focused on him!"

A short moment of silence took place in the bank as both sides looked at each other, waiting for the other one to act first, before Kenji finally dashed forward at great speed. This, in turn, caused the armed men to begin spraying bullets at him like a storm. Fortunately, the hostages were all lying down neatly on the ground and at a safe distance from the lines of fire, so he could focus on taking out the enemies without putting too much concern on the civilians.

The bullets were fast and relentless, but they were a walk in the park when compared to the lasers shot by the robots he spent years using for his training.

Using his speed to dodge and his sword to deflect the few that were aimed more towards the center or that were harder to avoid, he quickly made his way towards the man holding an MLG and got right in front of him before using an upward slash and slashing his weapon in half.

"Christ!"

In the slight spin caused from the momentum of his slash, Kenji let his left hand let go of the sword's handle and used his left elbow to hit the man right in the left side of the chin; This, in turn, caused him to be sent flying away and land a short distance away, knocked out before his body could even touch the ground.

With one of them already down, he quickly jumped to avoid the bullets aimed at him and, using sigils as stepping stones, jumped into another side of the bank.

"Holy shit! What the hell is this guy!?"

"Jush shut up and keep shooting!"

Once on solid ground again, Kenji headed towards the two men using an AR-15 and an AK47 using the same tactic as before; This time, though, he relied on a quick dash followed by a powerful knee to the gut of the man wielding an AK47; This sent him flying hard enough to make his body crash through the window and into the streets outside, giving the cops and camera crews watching quite a shock.

"Sta-Stay away, you monster!"

"(Eh?)"

Just as he was about to follow up and knock out the other man, the words he yelled caused Kenji to stagger for a moment; This gave the terrified man enough time to aim his weapon at Kenji and open fire again; Fortunately, he was able to snap out of this trance and avoid the incoming bullets, although one managed to graze him in the shoulder.

"(Shit!)"

In a show of quickened reflex, Kenji smacked the man's gun away with his sword and punched him straight in the face, sending him flying away against a pillar and get knocked out almost right away.

"(Damn it...I got careless)" He thought while placing one hand over the small graze on his arm.

It wasn't a severe injury, but he could feel a moderate bleeding coming through it; A bandage or two would probably be needed afterwards, but he could hide it under his t-shirt without too much effort.

"Don't move!"

Kenji quickly turned his head to look at the remaining man and saw him standing in a different position from before; Most likely, he took advantage of his short moment of distraction to change locations.

When looking down at his feet, the young man saw Naomi lying below him; His foot was on top of her back and pressing down to keep her in place while aiming with his rifle right at the back of her head. And although her mouth was covered, it was easy to tell by her eyes she was scared half to death right now.

"You're gonna grab those money bags and get both me and my hostage to a safe place! Got that!?"

The assailant, attempting to get himself an insurance against Kenji, decided to use a hostage as a human shield and a ticket out of this situation; Little did this man know, he made a bad decision by doing this. And that bad decision turned into the most terrible decision he ever made in his life the moment he chose to use Naomi of all people as a shield for his plans.

"Hey! Didn't you listen to me!?"

"Get your foot off of that woman..."

"Oh, so NOW you feel like talking!?" Snarled The armed man "But guess what? I don't care what you wanna say! So get moving with those bags!"

"You didn't hear me?"

"I told you I don't give a shit what you wanna say!" He yelled with a more irritated tone "Just shut up and do what I say before I splatter this bitch's brains all over the-!"

Before the outlaw could even finish talking, a sudden gust of wind hit him as the young man suddenly approached him so fast all his eyes could see was a blur. Standing right in front of him almost instantly.

"...Floor?"

By the time his brain managed to process what just happened, the armed man noticed his gun became much lighter. And by looking down, he realized this was because the once-powerful weapon had been reduced to sliced to shreds. The pieces of metal and plastic, all of them cleanly sliced, falling to the floor like rain and echoing within the bank's walls. The only thing that remained somewhat intact was the grip.

"I said..." Repeated Kenji, who was holding his sword with both hands before slightly raising his head to look at him "GET YOUR FOOT OFF OF THAT WOMAN!"

The words, althought said in a somewhat calm tone, held an incredibly strong killing intent within them. So strong that the armed man could feel the shivers run down his spine.

Slowly, his foot moved away from Naomi as his eyes remained focused on the blue visor, which held down a stare that could only be described as vicious.

Once the man stepped away from Naomi, Kenji delivered a swift uplash attack, slicing the man's bullet-proof vest in half and causing him to fall on his back. This was followed by the young man taking a step foward pressing his foot against the outlaw's neck, effectively pinning him down.

"Wa-Wait! Stop!" He said while holding onto the foot with both hands in a vain attempt to get it away "I give up! I give up already, so don't do it!"

Kenji didn't reply to this request and simply pressed down on his neck harder, making it harder and harder for the man to breathe with every passing minute. His consciousness slowly growing weaker due to lack of oxigen.

"(01000100 01101111 00100000 01101001 01110100 00101110 00101110 00101110)"

Seeing this, Naomi shuffled in place to turn and look at him.

"He-Hey, wait! You're going to kill him if you keep doing that!" She said while looking at Kenji.

The young man didn't seem able to hear her. Right now, his actions and mind were being led by something else. Something lingering deep within him, pulling his actions with an unmatched strength as it echoed within his mind with that same eerie language he heard from the masked man. And the visage of fear and pain reflected in the face of the outlaw as he struggled for dear life seemed to only give this something an even stronger pull.

"(01000011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101110 00101100 0010000001111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01101011 01101110 01101111 01110111 0010000001111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100001 01101110 01110100 0010000001110100 01101111 00101110 00101110 00101110 00101110)" Echoed the voice within him, slowly drowing out everything else "(00101110 00101110 00101110 01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01110100 01110100 01101100 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00101110 00101110 00101110 00101110 )"

"Please, stop it! ! !" Yelled the young man's mother

As the woman's voice shouted out at Kenji, the small sapphire stone on her necklace began to glitter; Almost as if something within it had come to life, with the pulsating light acting as a heart, echoing in rythm with the energy that began to emanate from within it.

At the same time, the instinct that took over Kenji's mind and body seemed to have faded away almost instantly; The voice that rendered his ears deaf of all other sounds around him fading away as well; Eroded away by the blue light of the necklace's rock.

"(H-Huh?)"

The moment he finally snapped back to his senses and became aware of his surroundings, Kenji realized what he was doing and pulled his foot away from the unconscious outlaw just in time to avoid killing him.

He took a look at Naomi before the sound of doors and windows breaking caught their attention.

"Move in, move in!"

Looking around them, SWAT units began to swarm the building and quickly aimed their guns at him while surrounding him. Dozens of laser sights aimed at his body

"You! The blue-haired man in a black coat!" Yelled one of the police officers as they "Step away from the hostage and put the weapon down! Now!"

"Wa-Wait, please! This man isn't with them!"

Unfortunately, Naomi's words fell in deaf ears once again.

"I said put the sword down! Or we will use deadly force!"

Kenji looked around at the police officers aiming their weapons at him for a moment or two before slowly moving away from Naomi as they ordered and let go of his sword, making it fade away in flames.

Many of the SWAT units were shocked by seeing his weapon just fade away in the blink of an eye, but retained their steady aim.

"Now put your hands up and slowly get on the ground!"

Although many of them were trained men and women, Kenji could probably fight his way out of there. But these were not criminals, they were just people trying to do their job and save the hostages; None of them sought to harm anybody.

Even so, he couldn't just allow himself to get caught.

Once he crouched on the ground just about enough to propell a good jump, the young man placed all his strength on his legs and jumped up, flying right through the broken ceiling glass and out of the building.

"Whoa!?"

Some SWAT units opened fire, but quickly stopped after he left the building and reached high up into the skies, away from both the people outside and even the helicopters hovering around the scene. He flew off away from the scene and reverted back to human form in a place where he wouldn't be seen, then went back home to patch up the injury on his shoulder.

Later that day, Naomi was taken to the police station to file a report about what happened by request of the officers and returned home with Kenji and Vert, who went to escort her back home.

"Hey, Mom... Are you sure you're okay?" Asked Kenji to her "I can just cook up something by myself if you want to rest"

"I'm telling you, Kenji; I'm fine" She replied to his son's concerned question while turning to look at him with a smile "I can at least cook by myself"

Despite being in a hostage situation, Kenji's mother was back to normal surprisingly fast. It was probably thanks to Kenji coming to save the day before things got from bad to worse, but the young man and the CPUs felt concerned that she might actually just be pretending to avoid worrying them.

"Hm...Okay, if you say so..."

"If you change your mind, don't hesitate to let us know" Added Vert with a supportive smile

Deciding to agree with Naomi's reassurance, Vert walked off the kitchen and returned with the others.

Kenji stayed for a bit longer, looking at his mother cook in silence for a moment or two before finally walking out as well. All of it while his mother quitely remained facing the stove, her eyes slowly diverting from the food to the sapphire stone on her necklace. Her index and middle fingers touching the azure rock, still able to feel the faint energy emanating from within it in response to Kenji's presence just now.

*Scene*

"Kenny...Heeeeey, Kennyyyyy!" Said Neptune while waving one hand in front of him "1,2,3, Earth to Kenny!"

"Oh..." Replied the young man after snapping out of his train of thought "Sorry, what was that again?"

"As I was saying..." Said Histoire over the portable device's screen "Nepgear and the other candidates have finally managed to gather enough shares to bring everyone back over to Gamindustry"

"So we can finally go back home?" Asked Noire cheerfully

"Getting everything ready will take a few days since I'll need to do some fine tunning, but if my calculations are correct, then yes. We should be able to bring you back to Gamindustry without any issue"

Due to Kenji's dimension lacking CPUs or even any means to collect shares, Histoire and the CPU candidates had to gather an amount of shares many times larger than before. Unlike the portal with the Ultradimension, they had to gather enough shares to build the whole bridge themselves rather than just build one half and let the other dimension build the rest, allowing both to connect easily.

The fairy knew all the fine tunning would be a grueling task, but she was confident in her ability.

"That's great!"

Cheer quickly spread between the CPUs, who were glad to receive the news and to know they would be able to go back to their respective nations. Each of them was already foreseeing the goals set within their minds and how their return would be like.

"I'll finally be able to go back to my guild" Said Vert with a delighted smile "Oh, I bet they released so many new games while I was gone; I'll definitely have to get busy"

"I'll have to get back on my writing once I go home" Said Blanc while pondering about what point of her story she was at "The books of this world have given me much inspiration for my writing..."

"Urgh...I can already imagine all the paperwork that's piled up while I was gone..." Added Noire, whose cheer seemed to turn into concern as she closed her eyes and sweat dropped

"I'm gonna eat lots of pudding and candy until I go into a sweetness coma, and I'll also show everyone all the cool stuff I got while we were here too!" Added Neptune before turning her head to look at Kenji "We can also go to that gruff old man's shop and eat lots of pork bowls too, Kenny!"

"Neptune..."

The cheer shared by everyone in the room died almost right away as the other CPUs turned their heads to look at Neptune, who at the same was confused by this sudden reaction

"Eh? What's wrong, everyone?" She asked with a confused expression

"Neptune, you do realize Kenji won't be returning to Gamindustry, right?"

"Eh!? Why!?"

"This IS his world, remember?" Said Noire while looking at her with one hand on her hip

"Oh...Right..."

Amidst the excitement she felt towards being able to know more about Kenji's world and meeting his mother, Neptune's mind forgot this was indeed Kenji's home dimension. The whole reason everyone was there to begin with was because they helped him create a portal just so he could go back home and regain his memories.

"So-Sorry, Kenny. I was having so much fun that just kind of slipped past me"

"You girls are being a bit melodramatic, don't you think?"

"Eh?"

Everyone's expressions changed from concern to confusion after hearing Kenji, who was silent and seemingly lost in thought up until now, responding while getting up.

"It's not like we're never seeing each other again, right?" He said calmly while looking at the CPUs, then picking up his portable "I mean, you girls can always just give me a call with this if something happens"

"Tha-That's right...I guess we didn't think of that" Said Noire, who was still not too sure how to respond

"Yeah! And if you ever feel lonely like Nowa over here, you can always call us instead!"

"Hey! Who are you calling lonely!?"

"Kenji...I don't mean to be disheartening, but interdimensional travel isn't exactly an easy feat" Said Histoire while sweat dropping

"That's fine too" He replied calmly "If it comes down to it, I'll just find another way there"

"That's right!" Said Neptune cheerfully "All you need to do is bring out your full OC potential and unlock some sort of crazy skill to go dimension hopping!"

"No...That's not exactly what I had in mind" Replied Kenji while looking at her and sweat dropping

As the mood suddenly lifted up thanks to the young man's confident remarks and Neptune's meta coments, Vert looked at him with a sense of relief.

"(He seems to be doing a lot better)" She tought with a smile, recalling his earlier state of uncertainty, on her face before it suddenly turned into a slightly concerned expression "(But is that really all there is?)"

Despite being initially a bringer of relief, Leanbox's CPU couldn't help but feel like this show of confidence was simply Kenji's attempt to hide the fact something else was bothering him.

Part of her mind believed she was just overanalizing things at first, but there was something odd about the way Kenji kept losing himself in thought lately; He never gets lost in tought unless something is worrying him badly enough, and this show of confidence could very well be a way to keep everyone from realizing this fact.

Perhaps something happened during that bank robbery that he wouldn't talk about, or he was simply still worrying about his mother. But for now, Vert decided to set it aside and try to enjoy the good mood instead of worrying about it. She was already aware that, wether there was an issue weighting down on Kenji's mind or not, he wouldn't share it with them, even more so now that he knew they would be leaving soon. He probably wished to see them off with a smile rather than fill their mids with unnecesary weight, or at least what he considered to be unnecesary weight.

The following day, everyone was already making preparations for when they'd receive Histoire's call to tell them where to go for the portal. And on the same time, the young man made a short trip to a certain arcade just a few streets away from his neighborhood.

"Ah, so it's you" Said the man behind the counter, who seemed to be expecting his arrival

"Hey there..." He replied calmly while looking at him "So, did it arrive?"

"Yup" Replied the man with both hands on his hips "Sorry kid, but I've got no records of you working here"

"It's okay" Said Kenji while placing one hand in front of him

"I think there's another arcade just a few blocks away. Why not try that one?"

"Actually, I've already been there"

"Oh" Said the man with surprise "A-Anyway...Anything else I can do for you?"

"Now that you mention it..." Replied the young man before pulling some money out of his pocket and placing it on the counter "Mind trading me a few chips?"

"Ah, of course! Right away!"

The arcade owner quickly went to pick up a notable amount of chips and gave them to Kenji in accordance to the amount of money he gave him in exchange.

"(Since I'm already here, might as well...)" He thought while picking up the chips and heading towards one of the machines

Ever since he returned from Gamindustry, Kenji went around town in search of places that would help him recover his lost memories.

The school was a difficult place to go snooping around due to only students being allowed to go without a specific business in hand, and even if he could create a convincing excuse, it would still be difficult to walk around it without issues after the little changing room incident. Therefore, the most viable choice for now was to look for other places outside school grounds.

Most of the places he went to were either parks, the shopping district or other places his mother said he used to hang around often in the past. Arcades in particular were places he searched around often, usually lying about needing proof of having worked there before as a requested requirement for a new job he was applying to or that there was an issue with his last paycheck and he needed said proof in order to talk about it with the bank.

Some owners were difficult to convince of cooperating at first while others were more willing to help, but no matter what arcade he visited, the result was always the same; Not one place had a single record of him working as an employee. Even after visiting almost every arcade in the city, not one person had him archived as a prior employee. Not even the bank had any records of any deposit beyond the one Nepgear did right under their noses, which fortunately they didn't seem to have archived either.

With that said, though. Not all was a wasted effort; Little by little, the places he visited began to jog his memory. Many of them were just basic or everyday events such as the casual group of teenagers, punk-ish troublemakers or even obnoxious snot-nosed brat coming by to chill out at the arcade, but at the very least, they were a start. What truly bothered him, though, was that those didn't feel like the memories he should be recalling or even bothering to recall at the moment. It was probably related somehow to what happened during the bank incident, but He couldn't shake off the feeling there was something else he should be remembering, something far more important.

Little by little, his mind got lost in the flow as he played one game after the other; The hours flowing like water before it became late in the afternoon.

"(Better go home before mom gets worried)" Thought Kenji while walking out of the arcade

On his way back home, his mind began to recall what happened at the bank assault. More precisely, the words said to him by one of the terrified outlaws and how he almost killed their leader.

"(Monster, huh?)" He though while growing pensive

The young man failed to notice it since he had grown used to CPUs and pretty much everyione in both dimensions he visited took them as an everyday thing too, but the mere idea of such beings was almost impossible to believe for the people of this world. Even Zoey would have never believed it if she hadn't seen it herself. But the real problem wasn't to be seen as a freak. Rather, it was that a lot of people probably saw him as a monster; A threat that was no different from the juggernaut of a beast he took down just a short while ago.

And there was also what he himself did to be thought about too. How he nearly killed that man by snapping his neck with his foot. At that moment, Kenji didn't hesitate or flinch in the least at the idea of killing a human. Quite the opposite, actually; Something deep within him was strongly urging and enticing him into killing that man, and not because of what he tried to do to his mother, but simply because he was a human.

Kenji kept pondering about this over and over again, but with no clear answer yet. This was unsettling to say the least, but he couldn't allow this to make him waver. The CPUs would go back home soon, and he felt the need to see them off properly with a smile instead of simply burdening them once again with his own concerns, even if it meant having to deal with this problem all by himself. It was the least he could do to repay them for their help.

As he tried to focus on this idea, the young man walked past his school and saw some students still hanging around or walking out from their clubs to head home. Among them, he saw Zoey; She was focused on a book for a moment or two before storing it on her backpack and looking at the road, noticing Kenji standing just a few feet away.

"Oh...It's you..."

"Would it kill you to greet me with a simple "hello" at least once?" Asked Kenji while sweat dropping

"I'll keep that in mind for next time" She replied with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at him "So, what do you want?"

"Nothing, really. I was just on my way back home"

"I see..."

"And what about you?"

"I was doing club activities"

"Huh...I didn't take you for the sociable type"

"You don't need to be sociable to join a club, only to be good at what the club does..." She replied with one hand in her hip, the calm but notable conviction in her words making it seem like she was telling him a solid fact instead of an oppinion

"(Suddenly it feels like I'm talking with Noire for some reason...)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping

Kenji couldn't help but feel like Zoey's idea of a club sounded a lot like something Noire would say.

"What's with that stare?" Asked the young woman with an unamused expression after noticing the way Kenji was looking at her

"N-No, it's nothing!" He said while quickly placing one hand in front of him before attempting to change the subject

"Hey, did you see that guy?"

Before he could say anything, his ears caught the whispering of some female students who were walking by him and Zoey.

"You think that's her boyfriend?"

"No way! What man would want to date that conceited "miss straight A" girl" Replied the second girl

"(Miss straight A?)"

"I bet he's just some poor idiot who doesn't know how insuferable she is yet. Or even someone she's paying to pretend he's her boyfriend"

"I guess you're right about that one"

"She'll probably need to pay him double to get him in bed with her once he figures it out, though"

As the small group of women walked away and laughing among eachother at their rather harsh gossip, Kenji looked at them with an unnamused look.

"(Man...Teenage girls are just downright nasty...)" Thought Kenji with an unamused expression

When turning his head to look at Zoey again, he saw her already walking away without saying a single word.

"He-Hey! Wait!"

The young man went after her, following behind the silent Zoey for a few streets or two before she finally slowed down just about enough for him to catch up; But even after doing so, she still remained quiet.

"Huh...And they say men are the assholes" He said with a somewhat jokingly tone in an attempt to lift up the heavy mood going up in the air

Zoey gave no response, which was odd considering how vocal she usually was with her thoughts. This could either mean she was very pissed off or feeling dejected about what happened earlier.

"The hell was that about, anyway?"

"Idiots being idiots, I guess..."

Surprisingly, the young woman responded to his question surprisingly fast, though the tone of her voice confirmed she was extremely unpleased with the events from earlier.

"They seem to have a problem with my grades and way of seeing things, so they take any chance they can to try and get under my skin..."

"(So the classic "Bullying the smart kid", huh?)"

Taking Zoey's highly dilligent and attentive behavior towards school and tests, it wouldn't be hard to imagine she was a person with good grades. And people with good grades but a no-nonsense or not very sociable personality like hers tend to be treated rather badly by those who feel jealous of their achievements or simply feel like she isn't fit to be sitting in her current position.

"I don't really care what they say...At the end of the day, it's just a bunch of nonsense anyway"

"Doesn't seem to me like you're that indifferent to it, though"

"If you're trying to pity me, then don't even try. That's the last thing I want"

"I wasn't planning to..." Said Kenji while walking closer to her "I'm just saying. Pretending not to care won't fix shit..."

"Then what do YOU suggest I do?" She asked while turning her head to look at him

"Easy! Just smack them right in the mouth!" Replied the young man with confidence

A short silence went by before Zoey closed her eyes and sighed.

"I knew I shouldn't have even bothered asking..."

"I'm not kidding, Zoey" Replied the young man, this time sounding more stern and serious

"So you're suggesting I rely on violence like a wild animal?" She asked while suddenly stopping and turning around to look at him

"Sometimes, that's the only choice..." Said Kenji, his eyes focused on her before suddenly diverting his eyes down and to the side, remaining silent for a short moment before speaking again "There's people out there you can't stop with words alone..."

Looking at him, Zoey noticed his eyes were brooding; It seemed like the words he said just now were not just a brutish and simple-minded way of thinking, but rather a lesson that was hammered deep into his mind through extensive experience; Truth to be said, she couldn't deny the validity of those words herself. After all, human history proved time and time again that violence was normally one of the most powerful methods one could use in a desperate situation, and the monster that nearly killed her and Tommy never would have stopped with just a few words either. It was Kenji's blade that put a stop to it, further proving his point.

"Besides, punching assholes in the mouth feels really good too" He said, lifting the heavy mood he initially caused

"I see..."

The young woman thought about his words quietly for a moment or two before a certain doubt made its way into her mind.

"Hey, Kenji. Why did you return?"

"What?"

"Why did you return to this dimension?" Asked Zoey again, this time putting more context into her question "From what you yourself and those girls told me, life wasn't so bad for you over there"

Although sudden, it was a surprisingly rational question to make when you put some thought into it.

Back in Gamindustry, Kenji had a steady income thanks to the guild's quests, a good place to live in thanks to Planeptune's CPU, no need to feel concern about the quality of his education thanks to his trade and a good circle of friends who were not only trustwhorty, but also held the most powerful positions within the nations; He could probably even save enough to buy himself a house somewhere in the outskirts of one of the nations and live peacefully for a long time.

Here in his original dimension, on the other hand, he was nothing more than a highschool dropout with little to no chance of finding a decent job to sustain himself with and no contacts or friendships to rely on, not to mention his CPU powers could easily get him branded as a monster by normal humans and possibly even subdued into a lab rat by some goverment, so what on earth would persuade him to leave a place where he had a myriad of oportunities to return to a world where he had less chances than fingers in one hand?

"It's...complicated..."

"Complicated?"

Usually when someone used the word "Complicated" to answer a question, it either meant they just weren't sure how properly explain their real answer to others, or that they themselves didn't have a solid answer either.

"I guess you could say there's a few reasons..."

"For example?"

"For example..."

"Well, would you look at that..."

Before Kenji could answer the question, a female voice echoed behind them.

When turning around, they saw the same group of girls as before, except one of them was standing more prominent in the front and seemed to be more bold than the others.

"So the rumor was true...Miss straight A+ has a boyfriend now"

"Who's that?" Asked Kenji while looking at her, then at Zoey again

"Just another idiot being an idiot for the sake of it..."

"You know, when I saw the message on my phone about you walking around here with your boyfriend, I didn't believe there would be a guy dumb enough to want a piece of your ass" Said the girl who was leading the group with a smirk in an attempt to take their attention again "But here it is, standing right next to you"

"(Jeez, rumors fly around even faster than I remember)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping, as he was having a hard time believing how fast that baseless rumor spread around when he and Zoey left the school's entrance no less than twenty minutes ago "(Wait...She literally searched the whole commercial district just to find us?)"

While the speed at which rumors spread thanks to cellphones and gossiping teenagers surprised Kenji, he realized something didn't add up here.

Even for someone who enjoyed to bully others, searching so hard would be a waste of effort when she could easily just wait until the next day. So either she was someone with a severe problem, or was probably the one to spearhead the bullying towards Zoey, or both.

"(So she's the figurehead...)"

"What's wrong? Nothing to say, miss perfect?"

"I've got better things to do"

"Like try to not make that guy dump your boring ass in the next two hours?"

The girls behind her began to laugh in response to her taunt, as if it was a brilliant joke.

"(I don't see what's so funny...)" Thought the young man while looking at them with an unamused expression

"Hey, you!"

Kenji's eyes focused on the bully as she called out to him.

"Why are you so into this girl? She's boring, insuferably strict and has no idea how to have fun" She said while pointing at Zoey "Not to mention she's not popular at all with the guys"

"So you're saying you girls ARE more popular?"

"Much more popular than her, at least"

The girls seemed to be enjoying this lynching quite a lot, while all Zoey did was remain silent while turning their back at them.

Kenji couldn't get a clear look at her face, but he could tell she was having a bad time right now. So bad that she couldn't bring herself to look at him or them in the eyes. And seeing her like this was something Kenji found rather irritating to the point of wanting to do something about it.

"Well, I can't deny she's a bit straigh-laced sometimes"

"See? Even he can-"

"But she sure as hell is a lot better than the lot of you" Interrupted the young man

At that moment, everyone looked at him with widened eyes, including Zoey

"Wha-What!?"

"You girls say you're better because you're more popular with the guys and all that..." Said Kenji while shrugging with a smile "But you should keep in mind; The cheaper something is, the more people want it"

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean!?" Snarled the bully with an irritated tone

Sneering at others wasn't one of Kenji's strong points or something he particularily enjoyed, but he had a general idea of what to say in order to piss someone off, and these girls in particular were rather easy targets, considering they were so desperate to diss Zoey just to make themselves feel like they were better than her.

"Also, if you really need to diss someone so badly you'd go ahead and use a rumor you literally heard just twenty minutes ago, then you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel here"

"Why, you...!"

The bully most probably wanted to break Kenji's face right then and there, but she wasn't dumb enough to leap into a fist fight in a place where she could cause a ruckus, and certainly not against someone who looked like he could easily rip her head clean off; Instead, she decided to do what she knew best.

"Say whatever you want! Still doesn't change the fact she's a straight-laced bitch!" She snarled back with an overconfident grin "Her and that snot-nossed weirdo of a brother she has!"

"(Hey, hey...Are you going to try and bad-mouth a kid too?)"

Not only was this person desperate to get some leverage by any means possible, but she was also willing to scorn and insult a kid she hardly knew anything about. Not only was this despicable, but it was also utterly unnecesary.

"Hey...Even if you're a woman, you better stop talking shit about people you don't know or I'll-"

Before Kenji could finish speaking, he was taken by surprise as Zoey shoved her bag against his chest, forcing him to take a hold of it as she quietly but swiftly walked towards her bully.

"Wha-What are you-!?"

Before the confused woman could even say a thing, Zoey clenched her hand and delivered a powerful jab straight to the center of her mouth, hitting her hard enough to make her fall down on her back as the two girls behind her moved aside to avoid her.

"Oh, wow..." Said the young woman with a surprised tone and expression while looking at her own clenched fist "You're right; It does feel really good"

Kenji was surprised by her sudden actions, but nonetheless was able to respond with relative ease.

"I told you..."

"Yo-You fucking bitch!" Said the bully with one hand placed on her bleeding nose while slowly raising her head "I'm gonna kill-!"

"I don't really care what you or everyone else says about me" Replied Zoey after getting a hold of the girl's shirt and lifting her up slightly while looking at her in the eyes with a menacing stare "But don't you dare say a thing about my little brother"

"Eh?"

"If I ever hear so much as ONE word about him coming out of your mouth again, then you better start asking one of those middle-aged man you blow for pocket change for a new face...Am I clear?"

The bully's skin went pale; She imagined her words would piss off Zoey, but not to this extent. And she certainly didn't expect her to be this vicious either.

" _Am I clear?_ " Asked the young woman again, this time putting a more notable and impatient tone in her question

"Ye-Yes! I get it!"

The woman quickly got up and left in a haste along with her two followers, getting lost from sight within mere minutes.

Once silence and calm returned, Zoey walked back towards Kenji and took a hold of her bag. The young man quietly looking at her with widened eyes before regaining his composure.

Today he learned that Zoey wasn't only stern, but she could also be quite intimidating when she wanted to, ot when her younger brother was involved.

"Do you...Do you think I overdid it?" She asked while looking at him, her eyes still retaining some of the emotion that overwhelmed her earlier

"I think you did just about right; Those girls are probably gonna think it twice before bothering you again" Replied the young man with a smirk after a short moment of silence "With that said, though; I never thought you packed that much of a punch"

"Just because I don't approve of violence doesn't mean I don't know how to throw a punch or two" Replied Zoey with her eyes closed while putting on her bag once more "Now come on, I want to be back home before it gets dark..."

Kenji looked at the young woman for a moment or two before following behind her quietly all the way back to her home, where they were received by Tommy. He was waiting outside and seemed to be in a concerned state.

"Big sister, big sister!"

"What's wrong,Tommy?" Asked the confused young woman "What are you doing out here?"

The little boy seemed to be in such a haste to get his sister's help that he didn't pay any notice to Kenji's presence.

"It's mister whiskers! He ran away again!"

"Oh, so that's it..."

After hearing what was concerning her little brother, Zoey let out a breath of relief. Almost as if she found it to be no big deal.

"Mister whiskers?" Asked Kenji while looking at her

"It's our cat" She replied calmly while turning her head to look at him "He tends to run away often, but usually comes back after a short while"

"Big sister, don't say it like it's no big deal!"

"You didn't do anything weird to the cat again, did you?"

"No!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes..."

"Tommy..."

"...Maaaaybe I tried to get some of it's fur for a spell I read about online..."

Both Zoey and Kenji looked in silence at him for a moment or two. Zoey notably unamused while Kenji had a confused expression.

"But it was just one hair! I swear!"

After another short moment of silence, the young man looked again at the young woman, who also seemed to notice his stare.

"Since cats are popularily related to magic, Tommy likes to use our cat as his "familiar" when trying to learn about spells" She replied, still calmed, but somewhat slightly embarassed about it "Usually it's just harmless company, but sometimes he tends to take things a bit too far..."

"(No wonder that cat runs away so often)" He thought while sweat dropping

"Either way, I'm sure he'll come back once he gets hungry" Said Zoey while placing one hand on her hip and looking at her younger brother "And once he does, you better give him a proper apology, okay?"

"Yes..."

By apology, Zoey actually meant a fish to give as a peace offering. It was pretty much the only way to make Mister whiskers even think of approaching Tommy again. Fortunately for him, their cat had taken an affectionate liking towards the young woman since she was the one that usually fed him and turned the idea of a fish as a peace offering into a thing. In a way, that could probably also explain why the cat always came back and even bothered allowing the younger brother to use him as a "familiar" every time.

"I'll help you get it ready later; For now, just go back inside"

Tommy nodded in agreement and went back into the house, leaving both Zoey and Kenji by themselves.

"Well, I guess I'll be seeing you another day..."

"Yeah, I guess so..." Replied the young man before a short moment of silence followed by a sudden respone "Oh, and by the way...Zoey?"

"Yes?"

"It's for three reasons"

"...Excuse me?"

"Earlier you asked me why I returned to this dimension despite doing so well back in Gamindustry...There's actually three reasons I came back" Explained Kenji with three raised fingers as Zoey turned to look at him "One was because I wanted to make sure my mother was doing okay, another was to try and fix the gap in my memory, and the third is to find a certain person"

"Gap in your memory? So you have amnesia?"

"I'm not sure yet; All I know is that the last ten years of my life are a blur"

Zoey was surprised by this sudden spill of information. She knew there had to be a good reason for Kenji to return, but didn't think it would be something like that. One thing to take notice of was the oddly specific amount of time he gave her, meaning he most likely had a solid idea of when the memory gap started but just chose not to mention it. Nonetheless, she decided to put this aside and focus on her other doubts

"And who is that person you're looking for?"

"It's a woman; She's probably about the same age as us and has hip-long brown hair" Explained Kenji to her "I can't remember her name or even her face yet, but I remember I used to call her Cocoa"

"Cocoa..."

As she heard the oddly cute nickname, a warmth similar to the one she felt back during the monster's attack began to swell up in her chest. Zoey wasn't sure why, but the name arose an odd feeling of nostalgia in her. And at the same time, it gave her a slight headache; Almost as if something within her mind was trying to call out to her.

"Hey, Zoey; Are you okay?"

"Eh?"

It took a moment, but the young woman realized she most likely got lost in thought hard enough due to this sudden feeling that she failed to notice her own expression; Kenji, on the other hand, didn't fail to notice.

"No, sorry; I just got a bit too pensive for a moment there" She said in a hurry before trying to put focus back on the subject at hand "A-Anyway; Anything else you can remember about this person?"

"Well...I remember she also gave me a nickname as well..."

"And that would be...?"

It took a good moment or two before Kenji finally mustered the courage to say it outloud.

"Twinkie..."

"What?"

"She used to call me Twinkie..."

A rather awkward silence fell over the two of them as Zoey thought about the name and how oddly fitting it was for Kenji since his hair color would make someone be reminded of the delicious snack.

"That's a...surprisingly cute name..."

"Huh; For a moment there I thought you'd go and laugh about it in my face" Said Kenji with a surprised expression

"Who on Earth would be so insensitive to laugh in the face of someone when talking about something as serious as amnesia?"

"(On Earth, I'm not sure, but I can give you quite a few names outside of Earth)" Thought the young man while sweat dropping "Either way, that's pretty much everything I know right about now"

"I see..."

The young woman quietly looked at Kenji for a moment or two before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Okay, I decided; I'll help you out"

"What?"

"I said I'll help you find this person you're looking for" Answered Zoey while opening her eyes to look at him once again with both hands on her hips "I know next to nothing about amnesia or how to cure it, but If this Cocoa woman you told me about is about the same age as us, then she's probably a student from the same school as us"

"Well, yeah...She probably is..."

"I can't make any promises. But since I'm a student there, I can try and ask around if anyone knows something about her"

"You would do that?"

"I did say I wanted to repay you for saving me and my brother's life, didn't I?"

While her silence about the young man's identity was more than enough thanks, Zoey felt like she still owed him for it. Helping him out with his search for Cocoa would most certainly be a good way for her to feel like they were even.

"In that case, I'll leave it up to you" Said the young man while looking at her with a relieved expression "Thank you, Zoey"

"Like I said, I'm just trying to repay a favor" Replied the young woman with her eyes closed. And although hard to see, the outer edges of her mouth curving very slightly into a smile

In truth, knowing she was helping him out and being thanked for once instead of the other way around felt like a pleasant change of pace, but she didn't want to say it out loud.

"Now if you don't mind, I'd really like to get going"

"Yeah, I should probably get going too" Said Kenji while caressing the back of his head with his right hand

"I'll see you another day, then"

"See you later, hit girl"

"Don't call me that!" She snarled with an irritated expression and a blush

Both then turned around, Zoey heading towards her home's front door with while Kenji began to walk down the street, but not before the young woman told him one last thing.

"Also, Kenji?" She said, causing the young man to turn his head and look at her "Thank you...For earlier..."

Although the young man couldn't see her face, he couldn't help but notice the bashful tone of her voice.

Without even waiting for his answer, Zoey retreated back into her home and left Kenji by himself to look at the closed door for a moment or two before making a smirk and resuming his journey back home.

"(Guess the people in this world ain't all that bad, after all...)"

Despite her straight-laced attitude and usually rough way of being with him, the young man was beginning to find Zoey's company to be something rather pleasant, even if slightly difficult to bear with sometimes.

Perhaps, even after the CPUs return to their home dimension, Kenji wouldn't have to worry about having to face things all by himself after all.

*Scene*

"So Big sister and everyone else can finally return home!" Said Nepger cherfully "I'm so happy!"

"We really worked hard for this, didn't we?" Asked Uni with an exhausted but relieved smile

"Inded" Replied Histoire with a smile "Thanks to everyone's hard work and dedication, we can finally proceed to preparing to open the portal and bring your sisters back"

"Isn't that great, Gear-Gear?"

"Yes! It really is!"

"Those four probably had it easy while we were doing all the hard work over here" Said IF with a smug smirk while shurgging

"There's no need to worry about it. I've got plenty of work for Neptune once she comes back, and I'm sure this holds true for the other oracles as well"

"I don't think big sister will want to do that work, to be honest" Said Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"It's okay. I have already foreseen that as well and prepared proper countermeasures"

Planeptune's CPU candidate couldn't help but worry about her older sister's well-being. She knew Histoire would do nothing that could harm Neptune, but something about that innocent smile of hers worried Nepgear.

"Hey, by the way; Where are Rom and Ram?" Aksed Uni while looking around her, noticing the lack of noise in the room

"Compa planned to make dinner for everyone tonight, so I asked both of them to buy some ingredients for her" Replied the oracle

"I'm gonna make something very special to celebrate! So look forward to it!" Added the nurse cheerfully

After weeks of working hard collecting shares, the CPU candidates finally managed to get just about enough for Histoire to bring their elder sisters back home. Needless to say, everyone felt so cheerful it would be impossible to not want to celebrate this achievement with a big meal.

"Still...I wonder what's taking them so long..." Said IF while looking out to the balcony, the clear skies and urban landscape still notable even from this height.

Since Compa lacked the needed ingredients, Lowee's twins received the task of buying them from the local store. The oracle and the nurse were confident such a simple taks would be no problem for them, but the amount of time it was taking still made some worry.

Little did any of them know, the twins already had the groceries and were on their way back; But their minds got distracted halfway through after running into a small green cat.

"Look, look, Rom!" Said Ram while crouching down in front of the small feline and patting it in the head "This cat is so small and cute!"

"Hm...Cute!" Replied Rom with a smile and nodding before suddenly recalling something "But didn't big sister and miss Mina told us not to touch street animals?"

"It's okay! If we don't tell them, then we won't get in trouble!" Answered the pink-dressed twin with a cheerful and slightly confident tone "Besides, I'm sure this little guy doesn't count!"

Rom took a moment or two to think about her sister's words before smiling again.

"Okay then...!"

Although Ram was usually the prankster with a liking for not listening to the orders of his older sister, their oracle or the requests of the maids working at the large castle they called home and Rom was usually the shy, quiet and obedient girl, it was surprisingly easy for the latter to fall into Ram's pace and enjoy her mischief just as much.

"Hey, Ram...I thought we had to hurry..." Said the blue twin while looking at the bag filled with groceries "Miss Nepgear and everyone else are waiting for us..."

"Now that you mention it, I kind of forgot about that..." Replied Ram while sweat dropping before smiling once again "We're going to celebrate"

"So that's where you were" Said a male voice "I've been looking for you"

"Eh?"

Both little girls turned around and saw a young man dressed in red and white clothes with a backpack walking towards them with a casual and lax step, his eyes focused on them and the headphones on his neck bouncing lightly with each step.

"...Who are you?" Asked Ram, who seemed confused by this man's sudden approach

"We're not supposed to talk with strangers..." Added rom

Little did Lowee's twins know, this man standing in front of them was one who could easily decimate the CPU candidates and stand toe to toe even against Kenji by himself.

"I wasn't talking to you, kids" Said Yuube before his eyes divered to the cat, which meowed in response before moving towards him

"So you're mister cat's owner?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"N-No...I'm sorry...!"

"Hey! Don't be mean to Rom!"

"No, I wasn't really trying to..." Replied Yuube while sweat dropping

Although the red-haired man didn't intend to sound threatening or violent, his natural tendency for meltdowns along with his current bad mood caused him to usually come off as aggressive, even without him noticing sometimes.

"Don't you know who we are!?" Interrupted Ram while pointing at him, then putting both hands on her hips while making a smug smile "We're Lowee's most treasured twins! The CPU candidates!"

"I didn't ask to know that, kid"

"Like. I. Said! We're not just kids!" Snarled Ram while slamming her foot on the floor "We're CPU candidates!"

"And I'm telling you I didn't ask that, you obnoxious little piece of-!"

Yuube was about to get into an argument with Ram for a moment there, but this was abruptly interrupted by the green cat, which used her paw to pull on the man's trousers to call his attention.

He looked at the cat, then at the twins again. Ram already getting irritated and ready to keep snarling back and Rom quickly shying away behind her sister. It didn't seem like she would shy away from a fight if needed, but was timid on a regular basis. Most likely the pink sister being the one to spark up courage within her.

"Oh, forget it. I've got better things to do" He said while placing one hand over his hat with his eyes closed before standing up straight and walking past the twins

"Hey! I'm not done with you yet!" Said Ram while quickly turning around to look at him

"Don't go acting so alpha unless you've got the muscle to back it up, kid" Replied Yuube while walking without looking at her "Otherwise, you're gonna get beaten down by someone stronger than you"

"Wait...What does that mean!?"

While the pink twin struggled with the confusion imposed on her due to Yuube's words, the red-haired man looked over his shoulder at Rom.

"And you...The blue one" He said while looking at her "Rom, right?"

"Yes...?"

"Stop acting so damn insecure; You might be a brat, but you're still a CPU candidate"

And with those words, Yuube walked away as Ram yelled at him about how much of a meanie he was towards Rom and the latter simply thought about what he said.

After walking away from the twins until they were no longer within view, the cat pulled on his trousers once more, then used her paw to point at an alleyway once he looked at her.

Yuube didn't respond, he simply followed the cat into a place secluded from the eyes of bystanders, where the feline then slowly transformed from animal to human form, save for the tail and ears.

"You sure took your time turning back"

"What? Did you want me to walk butt-naked in the middle of the street or something-nya?" Asked Devi, who was wearing absolutely nothing at all, while turning around to look at him.

The red-haired man, who kept his eyes closed since the moment she reverted back, took off the backpack and tossed it over to the catgirl; All of her clothing, including her sketchbook and sharicite pen, were stored inside it in a neat way.

"That was surprisingly nice of you, by the way..." She said, referencing to the advice he gave to the twins

"Brats like them that don't know their place piss me off, that's all..."

"I see..."

Devi put down the backpack and took her clothes to put them back on, all of it while Yuube remained with his eyes closed. After putting her panties back on, the girl looked at him.

"You know, I'm sure I already told you I have no problem with being seen naked-nya"

"Why are you telling me that, exactly?"

"Because keeping your eyes closed that thightly seems to make you feel very uncomfortable-nya"

"I'm pretty sure you know WHY I'm so uncomfortable right now..."

Devi looked at him with an unamused expression in silent for a moment before finally replying with the first thing that came to her mind.

"Is it a boner-nya?"

"Like hell it is, you damn cat!" Snarled the male CPU with an irritated expression "Just put your friggin clothes already!"

The catgirl sighed before resuming the task of putting on her clothes, putting on the dress and sliding her arms into the sleeves.

"Even after centuries of using them, I still can't understand why humans are so persistent on the importance of clothes..." She said while buttoning up the dress "Maybe it's because I was originally a cat, but I just can't find them comfortable no matter how much I wear them-nya"

Unlike the other oracles and probably any other CPU out there, Devi wasn't always a human; She was originally a cat, but obtaining the power of shares and HDD allowed her to take a human form of her own, granted it retained certain feline traits such as her ears and tail, but it was more than enough for her to be acknowledged as a "human-like" being by others. Of course, she also had the ability to return to her original cat form and stay in it as long as she wanted, but having opposable thumbs was far more lucrative for her artistic goals than fluffy paws.

The only downside to all of this was that she could no longer walk around without wearing clothes, at least not without becoming the main point of focus whetever she went. Being seen naked wasn't something that bothered the catgirl, since it was simply a natural thing for her, but humans were certainly not feeling the same way about it, and having the authorities constantly chasing her down for exhibitionism was part of what helped her get the point.

"That's usually something we call modesty"

"It feels more like "shame" to me..." Replied the catgirl while putting on the shoes, finally fully dressing herself up "There, I'm done-nya"

Yuube finally opened his eyes and looked at her. The two then walke out of the alleyway and back out into the streets while sharing all the information she gathered while on her feline form while as well told her about what little . During said conversation, she couldn't help but feel the red-haired man had little to no excitement in regards to his duty.

"Okay...That should be enough" He said while speeding up his step slightly "Let's speed it up. I wanna get this shit over with already"

"Looks to me like you're not enjoying this mission at all-nya"

"No shit, Sherlock!" Replied the red-haired man with his gaze focused forward, but a notably annoyed expression "What the hell kind of mission is this supposed to be!? I'm a fighter, not a damn spy!"

"You say that, but all you want do to is just to beat up that guy-nya"

"Damn right I do!"

"So you're STILL salty about him beating you to a pulp-nya?"

"I told you already, I'm not salty!" Snarled Yuube while looking at her this time "I just want to even out things with that bastard! I won't be able to sleep calmly unless I do!"

"That's exactly what being salty means-nya..."

"Fuck you!"

The catgirl looked at the male CPU having a meltdown from the rage of thinking about Kenji and simply closed her eyes.

"Why is it that young people can't take things calmly?" She said, more of a pensive thought said outward rather than a question towards his companion "If you calm down and wait, then you two will eventually end up clashing weapons again for sure-nya"

"How do you know that?" Asked Yuube, sounding more calm this time, while looking at her "According to YOUR info, there's a high chance that bro is staying on that other dimension"

"And you think he would REALLY be the type of person to do something like that-nya?"

"What do you mean?"

This time the male CPU felt genuinely curious about Devi's question. Something about the way she worded it felt as if she knew something Yuube didn't.

"That boy might be trying to ignore it, but he's a warrior at heart just the same way as you and some of the other oracles. And just like with any warrior, the desire to become even stronger is constantly driving him forward" Explained Devi to the CPU of the beat "Even if he does stay in that peaceful dimension of his, he'll never be able to fell the fufillment or satisfaction of a real fight ever again...It'll be just a matter of time before he willingly comes back here out of his own will-nya"

During the centuries she traveled across dimensions, Devi met many men and women who dedicated their lives to the battlefield just in the same way as Yuube and Kenji did. She knew for a fact that people like them would grow weary of battle at some point, but never be able to fully get away from it because they have no other way to achieve fulfillment. This held true for every warrior, men or women, who set foot into a battle and came out victorious at least once.

"Besides...There's also "that" other one to consider too-nya"

"...That other one?"

"No. Nevermind-nya" Said the catgirl before focusing forward again

Yuube stared at Devi in silence, wondering just what was it that she was referring to when saying "that other one". Could it have something to do with that sudden and rather unsettling change in personality Kenji suffered during their second fight? Or perhaps something else entirely?

One thing was for certain. The catgirl knew something, and almost let it slip for a moment there. Fortunately for her, Yuube wasn't able to pressure her for further information since his attention was quickly caught away by the sound of music nearby.

Looking forward once more, he saw a young man in what could probably be his late teens; His fingers smoothly grazing over the strings of his acousting guitar, creating a melody that, while slightly rough around the edges, was still pleasant to listen to when combined with his pasionate singing.

Devi noticed the red-haired man's sudden change of focus and looked at the musician as well.

"A street muscian?" She said while looking at the man "He seems to be still a novice-nya"

"Yeah...That bro could do a little better with his pacing..."

"Well, that's new..." Replied the catgirl while looking at him "For a moment there I thought you'd go and say something like "Hah, this bro can't hold a candle to my godly music skills!" or something...Especially since you're both musicians-nya"

"No..."

"Nya?"

"I'm no musician" Said Yuube, the tone in his voice sounding surprisingly calm, but also reserved "I don't make music..."

For the first time since the two of them met, Devi witnessed the red-haired man acting in a way that could be considered humble or even reserved, which was extremely odd for someone whose arrogance and ego usually knew no bounds.

From what Chronos told her, Yuube was in fact nothing short of a master in the use of many different musical instruments, yet she never saw him use or even own an instrument as for that matter, despite always showing a notable interest in music to the point where the object he repurposed to use as a weapon once infused with his shares were earphones, an object used to hear music.

"Anyway, let's just get this information to Chronos and call it a day already" Said the red-haired man "I'm getting sick of this whole spying bullshit"

Devi looked at Yuube for a moment or two before following behind him. It seemed he as well had a few secrets of his own to keep.

Meanwhile, in the human world, their fellow oracle Luna was working hard to fulfill the similar mission given to her by Chronos as well. And although she was doing a good job so far, the young woman felt the need to find a more effective way to get information of value.

"(Perhaps I should try to infiltrate the target's base...)" She thought pensively before recalling the elderly man's advice "(No; Chronos already told me to refrain from that alternative...But if not through that, then how, exacly?)"

Luna dwelved into pensive thought, planning out ways and alternatives to solve the dilema placed in front of her, with each more unlikely to work than the other or already rejected by Chronos after being offered as a suggestion; The options growing fewer with each passing moment as more and more are scratched out of the drawboard.

It seemed as though the oracle would remain locked in thought for hours on no end, but her attention was quickly raken away by the rumbling of her stomach.

Unfortunately, the rations given to her for the duration of the mission were starting to grow thin, and with such an inconvenience came the persistent hunger.

"(No...I must not let this get in the way of my duty...)" She thought wihle placing one hand over her belly, the hunger clearly bothering her more than she allowed herself to admit to.

Luna focused on her mission, hoping that it would make her forget the growing hunger for at least a short time. This proved surprisingly difficult, even with her stron sense of duy.

Fortuntately for her, the hunger was quickly put aside as her attention was taken by a rather sudden meow coming from behind her.

"Hm?" She hummed while turning around and seeing a familiar-looking cat looking at her, seemingly happy to see her "Oh, it's you again..."

During the course of her mission, this harmless feline came to her multiple times already; His prescence was so common that Luna wouldn't even flinch at it, no matter how sneakily or how suddenly he approached her. Not only that, but he was surprisingly good at finding her too, no matter what alleyway she hid in to avoid the sight of bystanding humans.

"Why do you keep seeking me out?" Asked the blue-haired woman, wondering what fueled this desire to keep searching for her all the time, while the small animal looked at her happily, seemingly glad to see her "Do you want food again?"

During one of her reports she addressed this issue with Chronos, and he jokingly replied that the cat might have taken a liking to her. This was originally meant as a simple joke, but it did nothing more than confuse her and simply change the question slightly from "Why would he keep following me" to "Why would he take a liking to me"

Perhaps it was related to how she usually shared some of her rations with him, but the monotone taste of the nutrient bars she called food didn't seem like something an animal would enjoy.

"Mister Whiskers!"

Luna's attention was once again taken away; But this time, it was by a young human voice. A voice that the cat seemed slightly alarmed to hear.

Before Mister Whiskers could escape, a young boy quickly ran towards him and picked him up.

"I finally found you!" Said Tommy while looking at his pet, which seemed to try and break free, with a happy smile "I looked everywhere for you, Mister Whiskers!"

The boy was so happy to have found his little familiar that he almost failed to notice Luna standing right in front of him, finally raising his head to look at her after a short moment or two

"Eh?"

At the same time, the young woman looked at him as well; Her expression calm on the outside, but her eyes showing a slight shock at the current situation.

Once again, she was discovered, and this time by a human.


	33. I love you

"Erm...Miss?" Asked the young boy, who already had questions popping inside his mind "Why are you dressed like that?"

Luna didn't respond, she simply remained silent as her gaze was focused upon the young boy.

"(What a blunder...)" She thought with concern while breaking a cold sweat "(I never thought I'd be discovered so easily...)"

"Hey, miss. Are you one of those really pretty cosplayers?" He asked, trying to give some sense to what he was looking at while beginning to think out loud. "But I've never seen that character before...Maybe it's from one of those videogames big sister doesn't let me play?"

Tommy, despite his young age, knew quite a bit about cosplay since it was a very common topic on the internet. But with that said, he couldn't recall any animated show where a character that could resemble the woman in front of him appeared in. It didn't take long for his mind to divert into the field of video games since they were also something he knew about, but still nothing came to mind.

As the boy shuffled in place while delving in thought, the oracle thought of what to do in this situation before coming to a rather simple solution once she recalled the words of Chronos.

"(Since he saw me, and he is a human, he could jeopardize my mission...)" She thought while looking at him, her eyes growing colder as her hand took a hold of her sword's handle.

Even if he was just a kid, it didn't change the fact Tommy had become aware of her existence, and that this could easily ruin the mission if he shared this knowledge with anyone. In other words, he was a nuisance. And nuisances had to be dealt with accordingly.

She slowly drew her sword out of the scabbard to avoid alerting him of her intentions, then prepared to perform a clean stab aimed right at the back of the head that would give the child a quick, painless death.

"Ah! I know!" Suddenly said the young boy while turning around, forcing Luna to quickly hide her sword behind her back to avoid alerting him, which he seemed to not notice "You're a fan of the Azure Swordsman too, right!?"

"The azure swordsman?"

"That's right!" Replied Tommy with an excited tone "You know! The person with blue hair that killed the huge monster from the other day! He went like "Fwooosh!" and "Shwaaam!" with his sword while screaming "safirus" and kept tossing these badass shiny lights at the monster!"

The oracle looked at the boy pretending to swing around an imaginary sword for a moment or two while pondering on his words. She recalled taking down a monster a few days ago, which according to Chronos should be a rather unusual occurrence in this dimension.. It was only after focusing on the rest of the boy's explanation that she suddenly came to realize something.

"Wait...Just now you said "Sapphirus", didn't you?"

"Yes! He went and kept screaming "Safirus!" while swinging his sword. And everytime he did, these huge lights would come out of it! It was kind of like a swordsman in an anime or a spell in a video game, and I think that whole "Safirus" scream was probably some sort of magic spell or...!"

As the young boy kept rattling on while sinking deeper and deeper into his own imagination, the oracle thought about the way he described this swordsman.

"(A swordsman with blue hair...Who yells the word Sapphirus everytime he shoots a large magic attack...There's no doubt, that has to be the target...)" She thought with one hand placed on her chin before looking again at Tommy "(But where did he find out that information about the target? Does he have a secret source or contact?)"

All the information Luna managed to get so far about Kenji was mostly what she could see by keeping track of his actions. Yet, Tommy seemed to have gathered his fair share of information.

"Boy...I need to ask you something, and I want an honest answer..."

"Yes?"

"Where did you find this information about the swordsman?"

"Where? On the internet"

"And where is this "internet" exactly?"

"Erm...I don't know where it comes from..." Replied the young boy, who was both surprised by the unexpected question and not all too sure how to answer something even he himself didn't know "But we have internet in my home!"

"I see...In that case, I have a proposition to make of you" Asked Luna while looking at him with a stern expression. "Take me to this "internet", and I will overlook your discovery of my actions. Granted, of course, that you never divulge any information about our meeting"

"Hmmmm...But big sister always told me not to take strangers home with me…." Replied the young boy with a pensive face

"In that case, there is no need for further concern..." Said Luna with a completely serious face "For I am not a stranger, I am an oracle...!"

"Oh…Okay then!"

As requested Tommy escorted Luna back to his house. Fortunately Zoey was out searching for their cat along with Kenji, which made it easy for him to bring her back to his home.

"So this is your base?"

"Actually, it's my house"

"House..."

Luna heard the word before, though it was her first time seeing a home on the inside. The rooms were far smaller than those found at the base of the oracles and they were connected together rather than spread apart by hallways. The oracle's stare kept analyzing her surroundings as she followed the young boy all the way upstairs and to his room, where Tommy sat in front of his computer right away and turned it on.

"Look, this is where the internet comes from" He said while pointing at the monitor.

"I see...So this machine is the internet?"

"No, this is my computer" He replied while looking at her with a confused expression. "You don't know what's a computer?"

"I have seen machinery with a similar name before, but none that looked like this one."

The base of the oracles was by no means lacking in advanced technology, though it also made everything she had seen in this world so far look primitive to say the least. The computer in particular was a piece of technology Luna recalled hearing of from one of the other oracles who possessed a hefty amount of machinery he liked to call using the same name.

"Miss, you're kind of weird..."

"I see..."

The young boy felt there was something really different about Luna. Not in a bad way, but definitely something different. Nonetheless, he tried to put these thoughts aside and focused on searching everything he could find online about the azure swordsman while the oracle looked at all the information on the monitor. Most of it was blurry images, out of focus videos and sarcastic, funny or downright idiotic comments, but every now and then there was a comment that would point out an interesting detail or a surprisingly reasonable theory. Luna made sure to keep all the information that seemed worthwhile and write it down on her notepad.

After around an hour and half or so of surfing the internet for all kinds of information, they finally managed to go through everything Tommy had found so far.

"That's everything I could find, miss" Said Tommy while turning his head to look at her

"Are you certain?"

"Yes"

Luna looked into the boy's eyes for a moment to see if there was any dishonesty in them, but found he was telling no lies.

"Very well then...In that case, I'll be taking my leave"

"Ah! Wait!"

As the oracle walked towards the door with the boy following behind her, both of them were stopped by the sound of the front door being opened echoing from downstairs.

"Tommy! I'm home!" Said Zoey from downstairs "Are you here!?"

"It's big sister!"

Tommy was quickly panicking while trying to figure out what to do. If Zoey were to discover he brought Luna, a complete stranger, into their home he would never hear the end of it, and that was excluding his parents.

"Hey, Tommy! Are you home!?"

"What do I do now!? I'm gonna get yelled at for this!"

"(Is this big sister of his such an intimidating presence)" Thought Luna, who felt curious as to what kind of person Zoey could be if she was capable of making the boy that hardly flinched in her presence feel so terrified.

"No answer...I guess he's not here yet"

"He's probably still looking around for the cat"

"Big brother Kenji is here too!"

It was on the moment that she heard his target's voice that Luna's concentration flinched and caused, even if just for the slightest of moments, to make the share energy within her fluctuate, which Kenji was able to sense. This sudden presence forced his instincts to kick in and react by instantly summoning his sword and dashing up the stairs so fast Zoey could hardly even react.

"Uwah!?" Yelled the boy in surprise as the young man slammed the door open with such speed and strength one could think he was trying to rip it off of the hinges and looked all over the room.

"Hey, what's wrong all of a sudden!?"

Zoey was quick to run up the stairs and follow Kenji into Tommy's room to look inside.

"Tommy? So you were here?"

"Bi-big sister! Big brother Kenji!" Said the boy in a panic "I can explain! I swear!"

"Explain what?"

"Eh?"

Tommy was initially confused as to why his older sister wasn't ripping him a new ear through yelling, but soon he came to realize why after turning around to look at his room. Luna was not there anymore. In fact, she was nowhere to be found.

"(Huh? Where did she go?)"

"Hey, Tommy. If you were here, you should have said something"

"I-I'm sorry! I was just...erm...!"

The boy's struggles to find an answer were fortunately turned unnecessary thanks to , who began leaning against Zoey's leg and caught her attention.

"Mr. Whisker, so you found him" She said with surprise before suddenly looking again at Tommy "Wait. You weren't trying to do anything weird to him again, were you?"

"Ye-yes! That's right!" He replied quickly "I found this new potion the other day and wanted to try it out!"

The young woman lowered her head and sighed in disbelief.

"Tommy. You literally just found Mr. whiskers, and you're already trying to give him a reason to leave again?"

"I'm sorry, big sister..."

Zoey kneeled down to pick up the cat as Kenji looked at her do so. And at the same time Tommy looked at both of them and, since he was looking slightly upwards, he was able to notice the whereabouts of his guest.

Luna was stuck against the ceiling. Her hands and feet covered in a clear ice layer that held her tightly to it and kept her body from falling. Her eyes focused so intensely in Kenji that one would think he'd burst out in flames at any moment.

"(Huh!?)"

Tommy wasn't sure if he should be shocked by how incredibly fast she managed to pull off such a way to hide or by how she even managed to do it in the first place, but he knew that staring at her would quickly cause Zoey and Kenji to notice as well if not careful.

"Anyway, I guess we won't need to worry about the cat for now" Said Zoey while turning her head to look again at her younger brother "I need to talk with this guy about something, so I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"Okay!"

"And seriously now… Just leave the cat alone already."

"Okay..."

And with these final words Zoey turned around and walked away while carrying the cat, but Kenji remained for a moment longer, the sensation from before still bothering him.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

"...It's nothing..." He replied while turning around and walking out of the room with her. "(Maybe it was just my imagination?)"

As he walked towards the stairs, that sensation hit Kenji once again from behind. This time he quickly turned around and tossed his sword like a dagger. The sharp weapon flying like a bullet into the room and lodging itself against a wall. He was quick to run back inside again, this time following the faint feeling of shares that led him towards the window. But in spite of taking action in a split second, he had once again found nothing. Even when looking outside at all directions, nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Woah! It's a real sword!" Said the boy with awe, who finally took notice of the weapon and immediately felt enticed by it "So cool!"

"(Again...This time it had to be something!)" He thought with a stern expression

"Hey..."

"Hm?" Hummed the young man before turning around and seeing Zoey standing right behind him, the expression on her face showing that she was not amused at all at the moment "(Wh-What's with the sudden killing intent!?)"

Kenji was honestly confused by the rather aggressive aura surrounding the young woman at the moment, or at least he was before realizing his sword was stuck deep in the wall. In the wall of her house, to be more precise.

"Ah! So-sorry, I acted out of impulse! I didn't mean to do that!" He said while putting both hands in front of him and breaking a cold sweat.

"Why, you...!" She snarled with her eyes closed, her right fist tightly clenched in front of her face and one eyebrow twitching from anger before finally snapping "What do you think you're doing, stabbing the walls of someone else's house!?"

The young woman was quick to get a hold of Kenji and effectively strangling him to keep the young man from moving. Kenji tried to stop it, but Zoey proved to have a incredibly ample amount of physical strength. A rather surprising attribute, considering her slim body hardly looked any different from that of any normal woman.

"Hey, Zoey! Stop! Staughhhh!"

"Pay for my wall! Pay for it right now!"

"Bu-But I don't have a job!"

"Then get one and pay for it!"

"(Big brother Kenji's turning blue...)" Thought Tommy while looking at the young man's skin color change due to the lack of oxygen and sweat dropping

During this exchange of words between the two of them, Luna stood atop of the house's rooftop, listening in on the conversation without making a sound.

"(To think the target himself would be acquaintances with that boy...What a blunder on my part)" She thought with her eyes closed. "(Had I been even a second slower, I would have failed my mission...)"

The young woman reflected on her mistake for a moment or two before taking a look at her notes.

"(Nonetheless, I have gathered quite a considerable amount of intel...The risk was well worth it)" She thought while reading some of the comments she wrote down "(Hm...lol...xD...lmao...OTL...FTW...tl;dr...uwu...owo...I wonder what these strange words mean...Maybe Chronos knows will know how to translate them)"

Luna kept reading the words over and over for a while longer before Zoey finally released Kenji of her deathly grip and both of them went downstairs, allowing the oracle to make her escape without any further trouble. At the same time, the duo went to the living room to discuss a few matters, mostly those regarding their efforts to discover clues about Kenji's fragmented memories.

"So, did you find anything?" Asked the young man while sitting down on the couch

"Not really. Most people I could ask only know about you from the incident with that teacher. Beyond that, everyone at the school seems to know next to nothing about you" Explained Zoey while sitting down as well and crossing her arms. "I even asked the professors and teachers, but none of them seem to recall having you in their class during past years. The most I could get out of one was that he remembered you attending his class around six months ago"

"Six months...So basically around three months before I got sent to the Hyperdimension..."

"The same goes for that Cocoa person. No one I asked seems to know about anyone with such a name or nickname."

"I see..."

"Hey, are you sure you can't remember anyone beyond that? Maybe a family member or someone you used to hang out with?"

"None...The only person I know that would know about those years is probably my mother, but there's no way I can-" Replied the young man before suddenly coming a realization. "Wait! That's it!"

"Hm? What is it?"

"There is someone who could know" He said while thinking about this individual, but suddenly growing concerned. "I don't think he's gonna be very willing to talk, though..."

"How do you know if you don't try?"

Kenji looked at Zoey for a moment or two before nodding in agreement with her. Then laid down on the couch.

"You're right. It's at least worth a shot."

"Right...So, why are you laying down on the couch like that?"

"Because I don't know any other way to talk with him besides when I'm sleeping."

"...Huh?"

"I'll explain it after I wake up."

The young woman felt utterly confused at the moment, but nonetheless decided to give him the chance to do things his way for the moment. As far as she knew, this was probably yet another crazy, nearly impossible thing to explain.

After closing his eyes and getting in a comfortable position, Kenji relaxed his mind and soon enough fell asleep after a few minutes. His consciousness steadily drifting deeper and deeper into his own mind before finally reaching the dark, deep corner where the one who might have the answers always liked to lurk around.

"Hey! Where are you!? Show yourself!"

"Well, ain't this a shocker?" Said a voice similar to his echoing from deep within the darkness, slowly approaching the young man and revealing itself. "Didn't think I'd ever see you waltz in here by yourself."

Kenji glared at his look-alike before summoning his sword and pointing it at him.

"Listen. I'm not here to fool around. I want answers!" He said with a stern and demanding tone "What do you know about my past!? What the hell happened that I can't remember!?"

"Huh...So that's what dragged you here." Exclaimed Dark Kenji with a surprised tone before making a smirk "Man, you really must be scraping the bottom of the barrel if I'm the one you're trying to squeeze info out of."

"Just answer me already!"

"Make me..."

Both men glared at each other in the eye before transforming in a split second and dashing forward. Their swords clashing hard enough to create a shockwave. The struggle lasted a few seconds before breaking out of it and giving a start to many more clashes, each of them just as powerful as the last one. This lasted for at least a dozen attacks or so before Dark Kenji dodged the last one and took a hold of his sword's handle with both hands, followed by a powerful upwards slash that forced the original Kenji to quickly take a step back, the tip of the sword almost scraping his chin. It was then that Dark Kenji took the opportunity and delivered a powerful kick to the young man's stomach, pushing him even further back before tossing his flame-imbued sword at his feet, giving the young man only seconds to move away before it violently exploded.

"There's more where that came from!"

After the explosion Dark Kenji was quick to summon another sword and toss it at the young man once more from a high position in the air, causing another explosion before repeating the process over and over again. At this point Kenji was only able to keep moving as fast as he could to avoid getting caught up by the explosions, as trying to block would only result in him releasing the energy earlier and making it explode right in his face.

"What's wrong, pal!? You ain't getting any answers outta me like that, you know!?"

"Don't think I'm letting things go your way today, you smug bastard!"

Kenji moved in a zig-zag pattern, avoid the constant explosions and the sword tossed at him, while heading towards his look-alike before finally getting close enough and shooting out a Crescent Sapphirus. This time Dark Kenji was the one forced to dodge sideways to avoid the vertical wave of blue energy, but this was merely a distraction as the original Kenji quickly jumped towards his look-alike and, using the momentum of his earlier attack held onto his weapon with both hands in preparation for a powerful horizontal slice. Dark Kenji seemed surprised by this, but his expression quickly changed into a grin almost right away as he aimed the palm of his right hand forward while using the other hand to hold the sword in a reverse grip and placing the rest of the handle behind his open palm. Then, in a split second, an explosion of red flames emerged from his palm, forcing his whole arm back and making his entire body rapidly spin in mid-air due to the momentum of his torso's spin, forcefully creating enough kinetic energy to do a spinning vertical slash aimed right at his head, forcing the original Kenji to quickly lower his head in order to avoid losing it, but also canceling out his attack.

"(He can do that with the palms of his hands too!?)" He thought with shock after landing and turning to look at him "(This guy's fighting style is even crazier than mine!)"

"What? Did'ja really think that was my only trick?"

"(No...It's not only that style of his...He's also backed up by something else...)"

Dark Kenji's fighting style was mostly similar to the original Kenji's when it came to the basics, except that the latter relied on a more conventional style focused around finding a weakness and exploiting it while the latter would be more about relentlessly attacking and ripping his foes appart without giving them even the slightest chance to get their bearings. At first it would seem like a show of relentless savagery, but the original Kenji could tell that no matter how brutal or vicious it seemed, each movement and swing of the weapon was carefully thought out with deadly precision. This was not a trait of a master of the sword, but rather of a warrior with extensive battle experience that matched that of Kenji, or even probably surpassed it. He didn't know how such a thing could be possible, but he knew that this enemy would be extremely difficult to deal with because of it.

"What do you want it for?"

"What?"

"I'm asking you..." Said Dark Kenji while looking at him with an impatient expression "Why do you even want to know? It ain't like you're that much of a miserable bastard because of it, right?"

"Isn't it obvious!?" Snarled the young man "Who would want to go around with most of their past being a blurry memory!?"

Kenji's look alike didn't seem very amused or interested in the answer, but eventually shrugged it off with a smirk.

"Oh well. You did become stronger like I wanted... Guess I can toss you a bone for it." He exclaimed before pointing at him. "I'll tell you this from the get go. I can't give you the answer, but I can give you a clue."

"A clue?"

"The answer you want, it's right here in this place. Matter of fact, it's aaaaaaall over the place"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!? There's nothing here!"

"I'd agree if we were talking about your brain in general but I'm afraid that ain't the case here, pal." Replied Dark Kenji with a smirk while shrugging "You see, this place is where all the answers are at, but you can't see any of it. And that's not because you can't, but because you don't want to see it"

"I...Don't want to see it?"

"That's why you need to force yourself to see it. And for that, you need the key." He explained while tapping on his shoulder with his sword "Fortunately for you, you had it with you from the the very beginning. All you need to do is remember its name and call it out."

"They key's name, you say..."

"Now here's the hint I promised" Said Dark Kenji while pointing at him in a lazy manner with his sword. "The key is the one thing that, whether be it in front of you or behind you, will always be the closest one to you, and the one you'll never be betrayed by, but is also the source of your greatest sin, as well as your greatest suffering...And it shares the same color as the one who also evokes both joy and dread within you"

"More than a hint, that sounds like some sort of riddle."

"Never said I'd give you an EASY hint, now did I?"

"Why, you-!" Exclaimed the young man with irritation before seeing him turn around and walk away "Hey, where are you going!?"

"Sorry, bud. I'd love to stick around and kick your ass for a bit longer, but that's all I can say for now"

Kenji tried to move towards his lookalike, but he could already feel his body being pulled away as the other Kenji faded into the seemingly endless darkness.

"After all...I promised I wouldn't break our deal with them."

After feeling his body drifting through what felt like an ocean and finally being able to open his eyes, he was back in the living room of Zoey's house.

"About time you woke up"

The young man turned his head to look at the young woman, who was sitting on a sofa and looking at him. She had a glass half-filled with orange juice and was looking at him with a monotone expression.

"So...Now can you tell me what was that about?"

"Did… Did you just sit there, watching me in my sleep the entire-... Whatever. I will explain, but you need to promise me you'll never tell anyone about this. Including the CPUs." He remarked with an initially confused, but later stern expression. It surprised Zoey to hear that she wasn't allowed to speak even to the CPUs of this, as she had imagined at least they would know about this "The thing is..."

Kenji then proceeded to explain to her about his look-alike or at least the things he knew about him, which weren't exactly a lot considering how he liked to simply jump in, pick a fight for a while and the leave just as fast as he came.

"I see...So this "Dark Kenji" is some sort of alter ego that lives within your mind, and seems to know what happened to your past." Repeated Zoey with a pensive expression. "And you say he gave you a riddle?"

"He said that the key to my memories is the one that "whether be it in front of me or behind me, will always be the closest one to me, and the one I'll never be betrayed by, but is also the source of my greatest sin, as well as my greatest suffering."

"In front of or behind you...the closet one...Never betray you..." Muttered the young woman while thinking carefully about the possible meaning of each word with her right thumb and index fingers rubbing her chin while left hand supported her right elbow "Anything else?"

"He also said that it shares the same color as "the one who also evokes both joy and dread within me""

"That alter ego of yours...He really likes to use old-styled words, doesn't he?"

"I'm not sure if he's the one that came up with it."

"What do you mean?"

"Most of the conversation didn't feel like he was trying to mess around with me like usual, but that hint he gave me..." Explained the young man, thinking carefully about the difference between Dark Kenji's usually punkish, rougher speech and the formal, more educated speech used for the hint "It didn't feel like something he would say..."

"From what you told me, that guy is aware of what happens around you even when you're not transformed. Maybe someone else gave you that hint and he happened get a wind of it?"

Zoey's idea seemed like a bit of a stretch, but it definitely made sense. One possible answer would be that Kenji himself formed that hint, but it didn't sound like something he would say either. Her idea was more likely to be right than his. But the question that remained was, who?

The young man's mind didn't take long to envision Ibiem, as he had a very similar way of speaking. But there was also that eerie plague doctor man who he met during the monster attack. His gut told him both of them had something to do with this mess that was his memory, but he just couldn't seem to figure out exactly how.

"No matter how I look at it, something just doesn't feel right." He muttered before sighing and getting back up "Oh, well. I'll have to think about it another day. For now I need to get ready for tomorrow"

"Tomorrow? What's happening tomorrow?"

"We got a call from Histoire last night. They finally managed to gather enough shares to open up a portal that could send everyone back to their own dimension"

"I see...Do you mind if I tag along for it?"

"Huh?" He said as he turned his head to look at her with surprise

"You don't want me to?"

"N-no, that's not it" Quickly replied the young man while sweat dropping "I just didn't think you'd be interested in it."

"How is interdimensional travel NOT interesting?" She replied while looking at him with an expression of disbelief. "Besides, it would be depressing if you had to say goodbye to them all by yourself, right?"

Kenji looked at her with a surprised expression before nodding with a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right..."

There were still many mysteries surrounding Kenji's past and this key his look-alike spoke of didn't give any clear answers, but there were other things for him to deal with first.

*Scene*

* * *

"Alright...this should be a good enough spot." Said Noire while looking around at the open field.

"If we're this far, then there should be no need to concern ourselves about being spotted by any unsuspecting bystanders." Added Vert with a relieved expression.

"I don't wanna! I don't wanna walk anymore!" Complained Neptune with an exhausted expression.

"Stop complaining already, will you? We did most of the trip on a bus." Snarled Lastation's CPU while looking at her with an irritated expression.

"Everyone sure seems lively today." Exclaimed Zoey while looking at the two girls arguing.

"They finally get to go back home. You can't blame them for being joyful" Replied Naomi with a smile before making a confused expression. "I wonder why we had to come here first instead of the airport or the docks..."

The young woman looked at Kenji's mother and broke a cold sweat. In order to warp the CPUs back to the Hyperdimension, Histoire decided the location to be a considerable distance away from the town in order to avoid unwarranted attention from the population, or to at least get it over with before anyone could come check what was happening. The chosen place was not a very fancy one, but it had a more or less clear view of the city and the ocean. Pretty good spot for a final view of this world.

The initial plan was for Kenji and Zoey alone to bid farewell to the CPUs, but Vert suggested taking Naomi along and use what she would be about to see as a head-start to make the explanation regarding the Hyperdimension and his new HDD powers far more convincing.

"Let's just say there's gonna be a lot of explaining to do later."

"Odd. Vert said the same thing to me before we left the house."

On hindsight Leanbox CPU's idea wasn't a bad one. Seeing a portal to another dimension open right in front of you was a great way to make anything someone said to you much easier to believe, after all. Even so, Zoey couldn't help but feel worried as to how would Kenji even start said explanation. He did a decent enough job of explaining the whole story to her, but his mother was a different person, and each person had their own reactions to similar scenarios. As for the young man himself, he was quiet. Much more quiet than usual. It made her wonder if he was still pensive about his conversation with his "look-alike" or if he was just trying take these last few moments to mentally prepare himself to say goodbye to Neptune and the others.

"Zoey..."

"Hm? What's wrong, miss Nijimura?"

"Oh, please. There's no need for you to call me that. You can still call me by my name."

"O..Okay...?"

Zoey couldn't help but have mixed emotions in regards to Kenji's mother. When the young man introduced them to each other earlier, Naomi was polite but seemed confused more than anything else, which in turn also confused the young woman. And now, she's been behaving as if they were acquaintances for a long time. It's not that she didn't like the friendly attitude. Quite the contrary, it was more than welcome. She just couldn't shake off this feeling of confusion.

"Thank you for coming with us today. I'm sure Kenji really appreciates it" Stated Naomi with a thankful tone in her voice

"You think so?" She asked while turning around to look at him

"He might not say a thing, but I can tell Kenji is probably feeling sad about having to say goodbye to Neptune and the others. He's just acting stoic because he doesn't want them to go back home with any worries" Explained the young man's mother while looking at Zoey with a smile "That's why I think he's glad you're here. Because even after they leave, he won't be feeling lonely."

Zoey looked at Naomi for a moment before looking at Kenji one more time. At first glance he didn't strike her as the type to get lonely easily, but anyone would be feeling at least a little lonely if all of their friends left the entire dimension.

"The coordinates are set already. Once I start the process, the portal should open in your immediate vicinity within a few moments" Explained Histoire through Kenji's portable device, which was being held by Noire at the moment. "If there are no objections, then I will proceed as planned"

"No objections from me. I'd rather go back to working as soon as possible" Explained Noire with her eyes closed. "I just hope Uni was able to keep up with it"

"The same goes for me" Added Vert with a smile "This place was an enjoyable rest from work, but it would be rude to overstay our welcome. Besides, I can't wait to go back to my beloved games! I hope I didn't miss my chance to pre-order 4 Goddesses Online 2 and get the special pre-order set!"

"It's a shame I can't finish reading all the books I bought, but the few I managed to read and bring back with me gave me plenty of inspiration for my next masterpiece..."

"Can't really say I don't like it here, but no place like home! I'm really gonna miss not having Histy breathing down on my neck to make me work, though!"

"Do not worry, Neptune. I made sure to prepare an extensively thorough lecture for your return"

"Nepu!?"

"Now then, let us start. For starters, I'll need a catalyst to be prepared on your side to properly create a stable connection between both dimensions" Stated Histoire with a smile. "Kenji, I believe your sword should suffice as a proper replacement for a share crystal. If you could please stab it on the ground in an open spot"

"Sword?" Asked Naomi with a confused expression

Without a single word or moment of hesitation the young man summoned his sword, took a few steps forward, stabbed it on the ground and then moved back. All of it as his mother watched in utter shock and disbelief.

"Eh...? Eh!? Di-Did Kenji just make a sword appear out of nowhere!?" She asked while breaking a cold sweat and switching between looking at the weapon and looking at Zoey.

"Executing process...And...Portal, opening...!"

Histoire's actions on the Hyperdimension were quick to take effect on Kenji's word as sparks began to come out of the sword, followed by a beam of light that seemingly emerged from the ground and rose all the way up to the skies above.

"Ehhhh!? What's that light!? What's going on now!?" Asked Kenji's mother in a panic while holding tightly onto Zoey's shoulder and almost shaking her as she switched between looking at the light and her even faster this time. The young woman only being able to sweat drop at this point.

"Everything seems stable on this side. The portal should be safe to cross."

"In that case, I will be going first" stated Vert with a smile before turning around to beam at Naomi and wave at her. "Miss Naomi, you have my thanks for offering us your hospitality. And do not worry about anything you're seeing, as I believe Kenji and Zoey will offer you a proper explanation."

Leanbox's CPU then diverted her eyes towards Kenji. The young man was looking at her as well, a stoic and reserved expression on his face making it difficult to know how he was feeling at the moment. But Vert knew well enough at this point what was going on within his mind just by looking at his eyes. She already knew how he would feel about this, but she also knew why he made this decision, and she decided to respect that even if she couldn't fully agree with it.

"As for you, Kenji. I hope we meet again someday!"

"Yeah, me too" Replied the young man with a smile. Not a forced smile by any means, but one meant to hide other things.

And with no further words to be said Vert walked into the pillar of light, then turned around to look at him and the others. Her body fading into it the seemingly blinding white light as it released sounds of static, then growing silent once more.

"The others probably won't say this, so I will. I'm sorry about all the problems we caused you while we were here. And thank you for everything" Said Noire with her eyes closed before opening them and looking at Kenji "And you...Thank you too..."

"Don't mention it."

"You know...If we ever get the chance to come visit, I hope you're okay with that...Or...well...erm...If you ever find a way, then maybe you could come visit us...Ma-maybe visit Lastation first..." Said Noire as she struggled to keep eye contact with him, her cheeks getting more and more reddish with each word.

"Your face is getting red, Nowaru" Interrupted Neptune with a teasing tone, causing the CPU to take notice of it "Are you blushing?"

"Yo-Yo-You're wrong! I'm not blushing at all! It's not like I'm embarrassed or anything like that! It's just this portal releasing too much heat and my body is reacting to it! That's all!" Snarled the Tsundere CPU quickly in a panic while looking at Neptune before looking at Kenji once more and pointing at him. "And you! Don't go getting the wrong idea here! I-It's not like I'll miss you or anything like that! I'm just willing to repay you for helping us if you ever come back! That's it!"

"Thank you, Noire" Replied the young man without any hesitation and without diverting his eyes away from hers the entire time.

Lastation's CPU stared at Kenji for a moment longer as her blush became even stronger before turning around with her eyes closed.

"A-Anyway! I'm leaving now! Goodbye!" She said while walking towards the pillar, then muttering to herself on the last few seconds before being engulfed by the light "Also...Thank you..."

And just like that, another CPU returned to the Hyperdimension. Not leaving a trace behind other than her heartfelt words. Noire being the only one of the bunch to fade away with her back turned to him.

"Our time here was short, but we were able to enjoy it without any worries thanks to you. Thank you..." said Blanc while respectfully bowing her head forward for a short moment. "Take care, everyone..."

Lowee's CPU then turned around and walked into the pillar of light as well before she faded away while looking at them with a smile. Her farewell being one of few words, but nonetheless carrying everything she wished to say.

"Welp, it's the protag's turn now!" Said Neptune with a cheerful, yet somewhat forced smile

"Yeah...It is..."

Both Planeptune's CPU and the young man looked at each other for a moment or two before Neptune tried to break the silence and, quite frankly, the gloomy mood forming at the moment.

"Come on, no need for the sad setting! It's not like we're never seeing each other again!"

"(But what if...)"

"You're right"

"'sides, you got Nami and Zoey! So even without my totally friendly self around you won't go full Nowa and start feeling lonely!"

"(Without you, though...)"

"I'm not getting lonely anytime soon, just so you know."

"Is that so? Well! Then that's okay too!" Replied Planeptune's CPU. Her cheerful smile still going strong "Anyway! I should probably get going or Histy's gonna get angry!"

"(But I don't want you to go...)"

"You mean, more than she already is?"

"It's ooookay! I'll just have to show her my cute little puppy face and I'll get an instant forgiveness ticket!"

"(Can't you just stay here? With me?)"

"I guess it's about time we say goodbye then, isn't it?"

"Yeah..."

"(I'm gonna miss you...)"

"Looks like it's gonna be peace and quiet for me from now on."

Every time, a voice deep within the young man would echo a few words. But these were not from his look-alike. These words came from his own heart, they were the words he truly wished to say to Neptune. But he knew that saying even one thing would break his poker face. He would only end up making this farewell all the more grueling for both of them, far more heartbreaking than it could ever be to just bottle everything up right now.

As Neptune turned around and began to walk towards the pillar of light, the young man felt a crushing feeling coursing through his whole body.

"(Wait...Please, don't go...)"

Without even realizing, he slowly began to reach out for her. But he managed to stop himself just as his fingers were inches away from touching her.

"By the way, Kenny..." She said, causing Kenji to quickly retract his hand away

"What is it?"

Neptune did not say a thing at first. This initially concerned the young man, but that concern was quickly replaced by bewilderment as the CPU quickly turned around and lunged herself at him. Her arms tightly wrapped around his waist and her head pressed against his abdomen.

"Nep-!?"

"You know Kenny...I'm not really good at the whole sentimental or tense moods, so I usually don't know what to say and get super uneasy" Explained Planeptune's CPU as Kenji looked at her while she pressed her head even harder against him. Her face hidden away from everyone's sight and making the one tear go by unseen "But you know...I'm really happy I got to meet you, so please...Don't forget about me."

The young man's eyes widened like plates when faced with these words. For Neptune of all people, who would always break through any tense or emotional situation, to say such a thing was a sign she truly meant what she was saying. She meant it from the bottom of her heart, just the same way as those words Kenji was trying so hard to suppress were. In the end, that cheery face of hers was the same as his. She was also trying her best to not make this any more grueling for either of them, but in the end she was the first one to break.

Kenji was rendered speechless by this. It was at this moment that he finally came to realize something.

"(Neptune...I have something to I want to tell you)"

"Neptune...I have something to I want to tell you..."

All the people he met thanks to Neptune were now an irreplaceable memory within his heart. Nepgear, Histoire, IF, Compa, Falcom, the old man from the pork bowl shop, Vert, Chika, Cave, Blanc, Rom, Ram, Mina, Noire, Uni, Kei, Plutia, Peashy and the alternate versions of the CPUs from the Ultradimension. All of them people he acknowledged as friends and equals alike. Even the enemies such as the four felons, the Deity of sin, the Seven Sages, the CPU of Tari and Ibiem and his oracles were a valuable experience to him. Both good and bad experiences alike were what shaped him into who he is today and gave him a whole new perspective of life in general. But even then, Neptune was the one person who puzzled him the most. He was confident in how he viewed everyone else and how he felt about them, but something was different about her in particular. More than friendship, more than fellowship, more than rivalry. What Kenji felt towards Neptune was completely different from how he felt about everyone else, but up until this day he was unable to tell what this oddly nostalgic feeling was.

But right now at this exact moment, he finally figured it out. He finally understood how he felt towards Neptune. Why he couldn't stop thinking about her, why he always felt like something would be missing without her, why she could bring so much joy yet so much grief into his life at the same time.

"(I...I love...)"

"I...I..."

Slowly, his arms began to wrap around Neptune as he tried to say the words echoing within him. But he was still holding back because he knew. He knew that, the moment he embraced her and said how he truly felt, he would never be able to let go of her again. But he couldn't do this to everyone at the Hyperdimension, and he couldn't abandon his mother again. He just couldn't do something so selfish to the woman that sacrificed so much for his sake, not again.

After a tremendous struggle with himself, Kenji placed his hands on her shoulders and gently moved her away.

"(I promise you...)"

"I promise you..."

"(I will love you forever, Neptune)"

"I will... remember you forever, Neptune" He finally said while beaming at her. The smile on his face a genuine one, but the look in his eyes a heartbroken one.

"(Kenji...)" Though Zoey while looking at him.

For him to make such a terribly pitiful face, it made the young woman wonder just what on Earth did he and Neptune go through together. But she was certain of something, what Kenji felt was genuine, and it was exactly because of it that this moment was tearing him apart the way it did. Although it seemed like she wasn't the only one who could tell this, as Naomi soon began to walk silently towards them.

"Mi-miss Naomi?" Said the young woman as she quickly followed behind her, concerned about what she might try to do

"Neptune..." She called after getting right behind him.

Both the young man and Planeptune's CPU diverted their gaze towards Naomi. Her eyes were shadowed by her bangs and her hand was holding tightly onto her necklace.

"This is probably a very selfish thing of me to ask, but is there no chance you could take Kenji back with you?"

"Huh!?" Exclaimed everyone with a shocked expression

"Wa-Wait a moment, mom! What are you saying!?" Said the young man while breaking a cold sweat and turning around completely

"I might not look like it, but I've always been looking at you carefully" She said with her head still slightly tilted forwards. "I don't know why or how, but at some point you became more and more dejected to the point of giving up on everything in life. I was worried sick about you, and that only got worse after you suddenly disappeared...But then you came back all of a sudden, and not only did you have so many new friends, but your face also lightened up so much as well. I was so happy to see you so lively again that I ended up crying all night long..."

"Mom, what are you..." He questioned while taking a step closer to her

"Kenji...Losing someone you care deeply about or giving up on them, especially when you know you could have done something to prevent it, will leave a hole in your heart that will never fully heal. You can only hope to find someone that will make that hole easier to bear" She explained to him while holding tighter onto the necklace. "Your father was the same. I could always tell he was disconsolate about what happened to your first mother. I thought by being with me and you he would manage to move on, but all I could do was bring him some sense of comfort. I finally came to understand that feeling after he died...And right now, I can see that same look of his in your eyes. That's why I want you to go with her."

Though not for long, Naomi was able to properly meet Neptune and the other CPUs, and she was also able to understand just how much they meant to Kenji. The idea of having to give up on those who meant the world to him out of duty towards her was far too sad, and a type of solitude she never wished her son to bear, even if that meant having to be the one to bear that solitude instead.

"As your mother, all I want is for you to be healthy and happy. As long as you can promise me that, I'll be okay even if I can't see you." She exclaimed while looking at him with a smile and gentle eyes while taking a step forward. Her hand finally loosening its grip on the necklace "So please, Kenji! Just-"

As Naomi took one step further and the sapphire necklace was no longer trapped within her palm, the rock suddenly began to glow as brightly as the portal itself.

"Eh?"

The glow grew stronger and stronger as the little rock began to quiver and then suddenly pulled towards the pillar of light. Pulling with such strength that one could think the crystal had a life of it's own and making even Naomi's body begin to move forward as everyone else looked in shock at it.

"E-Ehhhhhh!?"

The middle-aged woman tried to resist the pull and even grabbed onto the sapphire to try and stop it, but this only caused the stone's pull to become far stronger. In the end, it became so powerful that even Naomi's feet were pulled off of the ground, quickly forcing Kenji, Neptune and Zoey to get a hold of her to keep her from being sucked into the light.

"He-He-He-Hey! Hold on! What the Nep is going on now!?"

"I don't know!" Replied the young man while pulling as hard as he could "Mom! Let go of the necklace!"

"I can't do that!"

"He's right! You're gonna get sucked in if you don't!" Added Zoey while pulling on her leg

"Bu-But I can't! This necklace, it's...!"

Before Kenji's mother could finish her sentence, the young man suddenly felt a slight pressure in his shin. This caused his foot to slip and lose balance, allowing the crystal's strong pull to draw him in as well. Neptune and Zoey attempted to stop it, but neither of them had the strength to pull it off and ended up getting dragged in as well.

"(Hey...)" Thought the young man as all four of them got pulled into the pillar of light "(Are you kidding me...!?)"

Once all four of them were engulfed into it, the light of the pillar became bleeker and faded away within a few seconds. The only thing left behind being the sword, which quickly faded away to seek its way to its master's side.

His vision became pure white and the yelling of the the three women were the last thing he heard before being muffled by a deafening, beeping sound. Once again he could feel it, that seemingly endless feeling of infinity engulfing his body and sweeping it away like a fish within a river of pure space and time. This overwhelming feeling probably lasted only mere seconds before the blinding white left his vision and he was able to hear once more.

The first thing he heard was the sound of the wind and of the grass as he smacked his body against the ground. Right after finally being able to feel his body, he raised his head slightly and looked around him. The first thing he saw were the rest of the CPUs looking at him with widened eyes, and then the futuristic scenery that was an unmissable feature of Planeptune's city.

"U-Uwaaaaaahhhhhh! ! !" Yelled Zoey from above as she fell down, landing right on top of Kenji. Thankfully cushioning her fall, but crushing the young man with rather abrupt force.

This was quickly followed by Naomi, who landed on top of both them and finally Neptune landing on top of the trio. Zoey and Naomi seemed to be in a haze due to the abrupt trip, but nonetheless looked fine otherwise. The ones who were truly shocked at the moment were the other CPUs.

"Oh, not again! ! !" Yelled everyone in unison and disbelief at this cathastrophic turn of events.

Once again, the young man was back on the Hyperdimension. And this time, he brought company.

* * *

*Scene*

"So basically...It seems like the attempt to open up a portal has backfired once again...For a third time..." Exclaimed Histoire with her eyes closed and an exhausted tone.

"Ye-Yeah...Looks like it" Replied Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile.

"Seriously now. Why do things such as this one happen every time we try opening an inter-dimensional portal?" Asked the oracle to herself after lowering her head and sighing in resignation.

The act of traveling between dimensions was something that got banned a long time ago by the CPUs of old, and Histoire was starting to wonder if this odd tendency it had to backfire in one way or the other was the cause people tried to avoid doing it.

"I'm so, so, so, so, so sorry! ! ! I didn't mean for that to happen! ! !" Quickly exclaimed Naomi with a panicked tone and teary eyes

"Please, miss Nijimura. There is no need for you to apologize any further than you already did. No one here blames you for what happened" Replied the tome while turning to look at her.

"That's right! There was no way you could have known!" Added the CPU candidate, hoping her words could ease up the distress felt by the young man's mother.

Despite everyone's attempts to assure her she was not to blame for what happened, Naomi still couldn't stop feeling like she was at fault for what happened since her necklace was basically the factor that caused this sudden turn of events.

"I see..." She replied with a downcast expression before looking again at Histoire as she analyzed the holographic screens in front of her. Her mind suddenly pondering about something that caught her attention in regards to the oracle "(I didn't notice back when we were talking through that screen before, but she's really small...Way too small to be a human.)"

Despite her focus being mostly placed on the data in front of her, the tome was able to notice the pensive stare given by the young man's mother.

"Hm? Is something the matter?"

"N-No! It's nothing!" She replied quickly with both hands placed in front of her and breaking a cold sweat "I was just thinking...Miss Histoire, you're not exactly human, are you?"

"Not quite. I am actually a tome created by a CPU that lived on this nation long ago"

"A tome?"

"To put it in simpler terms, I'm something akin to an artificial lifeform. I was built to serve as the oracle of this nation, although I'm a bit of a special case since all the other nations usually give the position of oracle to a human citizen" Explained Histoire to her. "And since this might arise as a question too, oracle is the title given to the right-hand person of each CPU, and they function as the second-in-command of the nations in their absence"

"(Huh...This place really is nothing like back at home...)"

A nation ruled by the CPU that was revered as a deity as default leader, and aided by an oracle of their choice. At first glance one could think of it as something close to a totalitarian estate, but Neptune and the others didn't seem like dictators, or even remotely oppressive people either.

"Lady Histoire, Gear Gear! We're back!" Exclaimed Compa cheerfully as she and IF walked into the room.

"Welcome back, you two" Replied the tome while turning around to beam at them "Anything new to report?"

"The other CPUs already went home with their CPU candidates" Answered IF. "They were able to use HDD just fine, so it didn't seem like the time spent in the other dimension harm their powers in any negative way."

"And I just finished doing a check-up on Kenji's friend as well! Both her and his mom suffered no harm from going through the portal!"

"Now that you mention it, how is Kenji doing?"

"Yeah...About that..." replied the guild member while looking sideways with a weak smile and sweat dropping "He doesn't seem to be hurt either...At least physically..."

Right on the room next to the one everyone was currently at, Kenji sat down on the couch with one hand placed on his face and the elbow pressed against his left leg. His head lowered and his other arm resting on his right leg. A rather thick air of gloom and disbelief lingering around him as he pondered about what happened.

"(All that effort...All that determination...)" He thought with a rather dispirited mood as he realized he was once again on square one "(All that, right out the window...)"

"Hey...Methinks Kenny is suffering from a very strong debuff right now..." Said Neptune while looking at the young man and sweat dropping

"(I honestly can't blame him...)" Thought Zoey while sweat dropping as well.

In any other scenario the young woman would rip his head off with her bare hands, and she really wanted to do so right now, but having to process the reality that she was stuck in another dimension was already exhausting enough in and on itself. All she wanted right now was to drop down and fall asleep, hoping to wake up on her room and that this haphazard of a situation would all be just a bad dream. Fortunately the fact was somewhat easier to accept thanks to the hospitality of the Planeptune sisters and their oracle, who offered them a place to stay until things got sorted out.

Zoey was grateful for the hospitality, but she didn't want to linger around the Hyperdimension for too long. She wanted a more precise answer for her question, and she decided to bring the subject up during dinner time.

"Excuse me...I'm grateful you people are being so welcoming and all, but I really need to go back home."

"Miss Zoey, I'm afraid it's not going to be as simple as that" Exclaimed Histoire while turning to look at her. "Inter-dimensional travel is a process that requires a massive amount of preparation. There's thousands of calculations that need to be made in order to keep the parameters within a spectrum that

will allow the portal to be used safely, not to mention a massive amount of shares is required to open and keep said portal stable long enough."

"And just how long would all of that take, then?"

"Usually it would take a week and half or even a full month with everyone working together to their fullest, but the situation is not as favorable at the moment"

"Taking into account the two portals we had to open in order to try and bring me, big sister and Kenji from the Ultradimension, the number of times we did this is around four consecutive times already" Added Nepgear "Because of this, the share stocks of all the nations are in an unstable position at the moment. So I doubt the others will help us as readily as they did before, at least not until they manage to get their own nations back on track"

"Wa-Wait a moment! I can't stay here for that long!" Quickly exclaimed the young woman while getting up from her seat "I have classes to attend to, not to mention my parents and my brother would worry sick about me!"

"Jeez. Just take it easy already, will you?" Asked IF while looking at her with an annoyed expression "You're making too much of a big deal out of it"

"You try getting stuck on a different dimension and **_then_** tell me if it's still not a big deal!" Exclaimed Zoey while glaring at the guild member.

"He-Hey! You don't need to yell at me like that! I was just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not helping!"

"Why, you-!" Snarled IF while getting up from her chair.

For a moment it seemed like both the guild member and the young woman would get into a fight, but this was quickly stopped by the Nurse and the Planeptune sisters.

"Iffy! Stop it! You shouldn't fight with guests!"

"That's right, that's right! No friendly fire here! This isn't a PvP server!" Added Neptune

"Please Zoey, just calm down!" Pleaded Naomi while standing next to her and holding onto her shoulder "I know this can seem like a pretty terrible situation as it is, but arguing and fighting each other will only make things even worse!"

The young woman glared at those around him for a short moment before moving her shoulder away from the hand of the young man's mother and walked away from the table.

"Zoey!?"

"I'm not hungry anymore. I'll go to bed for now"

"Zoey..."

"Yeah, maybe a nap would help that mood of hers..." Said IF with an irritated tone while sitting back down on her chair with her arms crossed "Seriously, what's the deal with her? She's even worse than Kenji was when he got here"

"We-Well...I think Kenji was pretty hard to deal with in his own way too..." Exclaimed Nepgear with a weak smile.

"At least he didn't lash out at people for no good reason!"

"IF. Your irritation is understandable, but you also need to understand her current situation as well..." Said Histoire while looking at her "She's under a significant amount of stress at the moment, enough to make her easily irritated."

"I think more than anything, what makes her feel so frustrated is the feeling of not being able to do anything about it" Added Naomi, causing all eyes to divert towards her "Zoey has always been a person who never liked to be too reliant on others and would rather do things with her own hands. So being in this situation where all she can do is rely on others must be making her feel utterly helpless"

The guild member looked at those around her before laying one arm over the back of her chair and looking away.

"If she's really feeling like that, then she should focus on finding a way to help instead of taking it out on others..."

"He-Hey, by the way. What happened to Kenji?" Asked Naomi in an attempt to change the subject at hand

"He went to bed earlier, miss. I think he said something about being exhausted and just wanting to get some proper sleep" Replied Compa.

"(Yeah...After everything that happened, I guess it'd be a given for him to be exhausted...In more ways than one...)" Thought the young man's mother while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Hey, hey! Nami! I just had the greatest idea ever!" Interrupted Neptune with a cheerful tone "Since you're already here, why not meet the whole roster!?"

"Eh?"

"Like I said! Why not meet everyone else!?" Repeated Planeptune's CPU while pointing at the woman. "You already met the Planeptune gang in between scenes, so why not use the third scene to meet the rest of the cast!?"

"I think what big sister sister is trying to say is that, since you're already here, maybe you could meet the other CPU candidates and oracles."

"Neptune's wording aside, I agree with her. That is indeed a good idea" Added Histoire. "Engaging in some touristing could be a perfect way to learn more about our world and about the time Kenji spent here. And I'm certain everyone else would be more than glad to welcome you with open arms as well."

"(The time Kenji spent here...)" Thought the woman with a pensive expression.

Naomi had yet to see and learn much about this world. At first glance she could tell that the Hyperdimension was nothing like her old world. Yet, Kenji managed to find a place to belong in it. He found friends, a purpose to work his hardest on and even someone to love once again among them. But just what kind of struggles did he have to go through in order to gain all of this? And just what is this world that he grew so fond of truly like?

With these two questions lingering in her mind, the choice was already clear to her.

"So, what do you think?"

"Yes...I'd love to!" She replied cheerfully.

"In that case, I'll make sure to speak with the oracles tomorrow. For now, let's just finish eating"

Everyone agreed with the tome and resumed their dinner, the mood slightly more cheerful than before thanks to Neptune's idea giving everyone something to look forward to. Dinner was over within less than an hour and it didn't take much longer than that for everyone to go to sleep afterwards, except for Planeptune's CPU, who stayed up until late playing games as something she later described as a "self-celebration for getting back home" or so she said.

The following day Histoire made a call to the other oracles to discuss the idea with them. Just as she had hoped, they all seemed eager to have her as a guest, though they warned her beforehand that they might not be able to offer much in the manner of guidance through the nation due to work piling up more than usual. Nonetheless, Histoire assured them that would be no problem as Neptune and Nepgear offered themselves to show her around the nations.

One way or the other it was a given Neptune would reject work. So if she had to skip on it, might as well skip it for something productive.

"Erm...How are we getting to the other nations again?" Asked Naomi, who finished getting ready and was now looking all around her "Also, why are we on the balcony?"

"It's okay, you'll understand in a moment."

"Erm, big sister...Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"It's oookay, Nepgear! Besides, this is way faster than just walking or taking a boat!"

"We-well...I guess so..."

Although not all too sure about the plan Nepgear decided to play along with it and, together with Neptune, transformed into her HDD form in front of Naomi.

"E-Ehhhhhhhhhhhh!?" Yelled the young man's mother with a baffled expression before looking at the tome "Neptune suddenly became bigger!?"

"Yes, that is her HDD form. The guardian goddess of Planeptune, Purple Heart"

The sight left Naomi speechless. She tried to prepare herself to see anything after yesterday after the brief explanation Histoire gave her about the world of Gamindustry and the CPUs, but it was far too difficult to not feel shocked by the view.

"(So that's the HDD Histoire told me about last night...)" She thought while looking with awe at Purple Heart. One thing in particular about Neptune's new form catching her attention right away "(Neptune got so big...Like, all over...)"

"Well, then...We should be on our way now" Exclaimed Purple Heart while floating closer to Naomi and wrapping her arms around her "Please, hold on tight"

"Eh?"

The young man's mother's face went blank for a moment as she felt her feet being lifted off of her ground, then coming to realize she was no longer over the balcony, but rather dozens of feet over the streets at the base of the Nep tower.

"Ehhhhhhh!? We're flying!?"

"Na-Nami! Please don't struggle so much or you'll slip off!"

Despite her current terror she was quick to heed the CPU's advice and quickly wrapped her arms around her

"Neptune. Whatever you do, make sure not to drop her by accident" Exclaimed the tome with a concerned expression. "I dread to think what Kenji would do if that happened."

"Don't worry, Histy! I'm not so clumsy while in this form!" Replied Purple Heart with a confident tone and expression "Now then, let us be on our way. The first stop will be Leanbox."

"Wa-wait, please! Are you sure we can't just take a train or maybe even waaaalk!?"

And so Planetune's CPU and CPU candidate set off for the other nations along with Naomi, all the while Histoire kept hoping nothing bad would happen.

Although there was some initial turbulence due to Naomi's panic during her first flight experience, the trio managed to get to the island nation of Leanbox safe and sound. With one of them feeling rather nauseous, but safe nonetheless.

"Urgh...I'm not feeling so good right now..." Exclaimed the woman with a sickly tone while leaning against a wall with one hand pressed against it and the the other placed on her mouth

"Erm...Big sister? I think it really was a bad idea after all..." Said Nepgear while looking at her and sweat dropping.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Replied Neptune, both her and her sister now back on their human forms "It's all about getting used to it!"

"Eugh..."

"Mi-Miss Naomi, please hold on a little longer. I'm sure we can ask Chika for some medicine for your nausea."

The CPU candidate escorted Naomi to Leanbox's basilicom while Neptune simply rushed like a rocket towards it. Fortunately the basilicom always counted with a plentiful stock of diverse medications at hand, mostly because it was Vert's way of shooting down Chika's excuses for attention, and the oracle wasn't hesitant to offer some of it to them.

"Are you feeling better now, miss?"

"Yes...Thank you very much" She answered to the oracle, her tone sounding much more calm and healthier than before.

"I'm glad to know" Replied Chika with a relieved tone while beaming at her. "Now, I believe I should properly introduce myself. I'm the oracle of Leanbox, Chika Hakozaki. It's a pleasure to meet you, miss."

"Likewise" Said Naomi while beaming at her. A smile on her face but a lingering thought running through her mind as she looked at the oracle's dress. Particularly the piece of cloth covering her lower body "(She is wearing something under that...right?)"

"Well now, I believe you probably want to meet with big sister Vert. Though she's a little busy at the moment"

"Oh no, it's okay. If she's too busy with work, I can come back another day "

"Well...I guess you could call it work...Her perspective of work, at least..." Said the oracle while looking away and sweat dropping with a smile

"Eh?"

Naomi was initially confused by Chika's words, but the meaning behind them became easier to understand after she escorted them to Vert's room. The first thing that the young woman's mother noticed was the overwhelming amount of yaoi posters on the walls and collections of figures, the second was the CPU of Leanbox herself. She was sitting in front of her monitor with a controller in hand and headphones on. Dozens of empty packages of coffee laying around her chair and a full mug, steam rising out of the warm and freshly made coffee within. There were also a few piles of games stacked up on the table next to her desktop.

"Vert?"

Despite calling to her there was no response. The CPU's focus on her game was far too strong to answer to a simple call like that.

"Heeeeeey, Beruuuuuu! Planeptune to Beru!" Said Neptune while approaching her

The perky CPU's voice went unnoticed but once Vert caught her in the corner of her eyes she was able to notice her guests had arrived.

"Oh!" Reacted the CPU in surprise before taking off her headphones and turning around to look at the trio "My apologies, I didn't think you would arrive so soon"

"No, please don't worry about it! You were probably just too busy with work!"

"Certainly, I've been putting quite an effort catching up with my list of games" Said Vert while nodding with her eyes closed. "I had feared we wouldn't make it back in time for the release of 4GO 2, but I was able to get back on track in one night alone"

"(Games? 4GO 2?)" Wondered Naomi as she looked around once more. The large amounts of coffee and game boxes laying around making more sense to her now. "(So that means she spent the whole night playing games...?)"

"But putting that matter aside, welcome to my nation, Leanbox. Also known as the Land of Green Pastures!" Said the CPU while getting up "So, what do you think of my room?"

"It's...cozy..."

"Oh, what an interesting coincidence! Your son said the exact same thing when he first came to visit my nation!"

"I-I see..." She replied while sweat dropping with a weak smile "So...What were you playing?"

"Oh, just a VN I got a hold of a few days ago" Replied the CPU before approaching her. "Would you like to take a look?"

"If you don't mind..."

Truth to be told Naomi was a bit curious as to what kind of games Vert was into. During their conversations back in her dimension she already knew the CPU's interest was heavily leaned towards video games and manga, especially those of a more "adult" genre.

Getting a look at her room gave the woman a clear idea of what sort of things she was interested in, but was it similar within the games she played? Certainly enough, her question was answered the moment she looked at the monitor.

"Uwah!? Th-Th-Th-That's...!" She stuttered with a panicky expression and a blush while pointing at the screen "Th-Th-those two completely naked!? And they're kissing!?"

"Oh, yes. You see, this is actually a yaoi game. And I'm right at the end of one of the many routes. This particular one is among my favorite"

"I...I always thought games like this one were censored..."

"The common copies usually are. But this is the special pre-order edition" Said Leanbox's CPU as she took the controller once more and pressed the button. "In this one, everything is laid bare to be enjoyed. It is even animated when you have the DLC installed."

Naomi looked with widened eyes and an ever increasing blush at the scene as it progressed the two young and handsome males engaging passionately in an act that she was not sure if it was okay to watch, but certainly could not divert her eyes away from until it was finally over.

"So, did you like it?"

"I can't say I'm into it...But...I don't think I hated it either..."

"Hm...It seems to me like you're still in a more or less middle ground in regards to it..." Said Vert with a pensive expression before smiling at her again. "In that case, how about we play all the other routes together!?"

"Eh!?"

"Erm...Big sister? Maybe we should get miss Naomi out of here" Muttered Nepgear to Neptune. "Otherwise I think she'll get hooked up on something rather bad..."

"Yeah...Methinks you're probably right..." Replied Neptune before quickly heading towards Naomi and grabbing her by the arm. "Sorry, Beru! We're out of time here!"

"Huh? But we were just getting to the good part!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know! But ya'know, we gotta speed up the pace or mister writer's gonna make it too long of a scene. We're already at… I dunno, 10k words!?" Said the peky CPU while quickly pulling the young man's mother away from Vert and heading towards the door. "See ya next week!"

"Ah! Wait!"

Both Neptune and Nepgear were quick to take Naomi outside the room and all the way out of the mansion as well. Once outside the duo decided to give the young man's mother a proper tour around the nation. It was mostly just an excuse for Neptune to buy exclusive games only available on Leanbox's stores, but at the very least Naomi was able to do some proper sightseeing thanks to this. When the time to leave for the next nation arrived panic took over the woman as she saw Neptune transforming. It took quite a bit of effort to calm her down but she eventually agreed to after both girls agreed to switch from flying to walking after crossing the ocean.

"Where are we going now?"

"We're going to Blanc's Nation, Lowee" Replied Nepgear while turning her head to look at her. "It might be a little cold and far away right now, but if we go visit it now and then jump to Lastation we can have a much shorter trip on the way back."

"I-I see..." Said Naomi while looking at the CPU candidate, then at the snowy mountains on the north "(So Blanny's nation...I wonder what it's like...)"

The trip to Lowee took longer than expected since they had to walk rather than fly and Neptune's complains about not wanting to walk anymore were endless, but nothing she said would persuade Naomi from keeping her feet firmly stuck to the ground.

Once they arrived to the frozen northlands, the pure-white snow plains and the large castle in the distance caught her eye right away. Even from her current distance she could tell it was an incredible structure, And the many colored lights floating in the vicinity gave it a magical feeling that one could only expect to see in a fantasy story. Yet it wasn't the colorful town or the natural beauty what was in her mind.

"(I-It's not just a little cold around here, It's literally freezing!)" She thought while shivering and wrapping both arms around her torso.

"Erm...Are you okay?"

"A-Are you girls not cold at all!?"

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't think the cold would be that harsh on you!" Quickly replied the CPU candidate with an apologetic expression "Me and my big sister visit the nation often, so we're already used to the climate."

"Heeeey! Hurry up or I'm leaving ya behind!"

"Ah! Big sister, wait!"

"(These girls...They really don't look like it, but they must be really resilient…Even though They don't wear pants, they don't even seem to care about the cold)"

Naomi could feel the chilly air seeping deep into her bones, but she did her best to endure it and followed after the two CPUs while trying to look at her surroundings in an attempt to distract herself from it.

Upon their arrival to Lowee's basilicom they were received by Mina. The oracle kindly offering the young man's mother something warm to drink in order to wash of the cold before going off to call for Blanc.

On the meanwhile, Naomi began to look at her surroundings again. Even now she still had a hard time believing this was all real and not just a dream, but yet there she was. In another world, walking within the room of a massive castle that was acclaimed to be the home of a goddess while being in company of two girls that were revered as goddesses themselves.

This deep train of thought the woman was so focused on was quickly broken by the sight of a book quickly flying in front of her at an alarming speed and hitting Neptune's forehead hard enough to make the perky CPU fall down to the floor.

"Nepugh!?"

"Uwah!?" Yelped Nepgear in surprise before quickly turning to look at her older sister "Bi-Big sister! Are you okay!?"

"Was that just now a book!?"

The two were quick to go check up on her, but their gazed were diverted after hearing a cheer coming from the other side of the room. There stood Rom and Ram, the CPU candidates of Lowee. A prideful look in the face of Ram and a cheerful smile in Rom's expression, who supported her sister's behavior.

"Yay! Take that!"

"Direct hit...!"

"That's right! How do you like my super improved book throw, you big-!" Said Ram while pointing with her index finger at the trio before opening her eyes to look at them and noticing something she failed to do so up until now "Huh?"

"Oooooowwwwwie! That nepping hurt!" Complained Neptune while quickly getting up and pressing both hands against the spot on her forehead "What are you doing, tossing books at my super cute face!? Do you want to make my millions of fans cry!?"

"What, It's just big sister Neptune...I thought it was Kenji..."

"Come on, there's no way you can confuse my popular self with Kenny! I mean, do I look like I have a brooding face and edgy attitude!?"

"Big sister, I get it you're angry right now but don't you think you're being a bit too harsh about Kenji in front of his mom!?"

"(Somehow, I think it's a good thing Kenji didn't tag along...)"

"I'm sorry for the wait. I have brought..."

As this scene took place the oracle finally returned along with Blanc, only to witness what was happening. Usually one would need a minute or so to comprehend the situation but at this height Mina was just so accustomed to it that she could tell right away what happened just from looking at Planeptune's CPU pressing on her forehead and the book spread out on the ground not too far away.

"Oh, my! I'm so terribly sorry about that!" Exclaimed the oracle with a apologetic expression before turning to look at the twins "You two, just how many times must I tell you not to throw books at people before you understand it's wrong to do so!?"

"We're sorry..."

While Mina thoroughly scolded the two CPU candidates with the lecture they had probably heard about a million times at this point, Blanc calmly ignored it and approached Naomi and Planeptune's CPU.

"Miss Naomi, Welcome to my nation..." She said while looking at the woman with her usually monotone expression. "I'm sorry for the ruckus. My little sisters can be quite rowdy sometimes, especially when we get visitors."

"So those are your little sisters?"

"That's right. The one dressed in pink is called Ram, and the one dressed in blue is Rom"

"(Blanny's little sisters...)" Thought the woman while looking at the twins, who were quick to deviate away from their oracle's lecture and instead decided to approach her older sister. Their gazes quickly setting up upon Naomi.

"Rom, Ram. This woman here is Naomi Nijimura, she is Kenji's mother"

"Kenji's...mother?"

Both Rom and Ram shared a confused look at each other before looking once again at Naomi with that same confusion. This made the woman felt more than just a little awkward.

"(Di-Did I say something weird...?)"

She was not sure what caused that reaction or if it was even her fault, though the latter was not the case. For Lowee's CPU candidates, who were born from the nation's sharicite, the concept of a "mother" was more or less foreign to them. They knew already of the concept of family and sisterhood thanks to Mina's lessons and their own relationships with each other and Blanc, but parents were something they believed only humans had. It wasn't even a thought that ever ran through their mind to begin with.

"Hey, what's a mother?"

"You girls don't know what a mother is?" Asked the young man's mother while looking at the two with a bewildered expression

"Since you're new to this world it might come as a shocking revelation, but CPUs aren't quite the same way as most other beings" Replied Mina while walking closer to the group. "Unlike humans, the goddesses are born from the sharicite crystals stored deep within the chambers of the basilicom. Usually it only happens if the nation currently lacks a CPU or a CPU candidate, but otherwise it will rarely ever happen"

"Sharicite cristal? So that means..."

"It means CPUs don't have parents" Said Blanc in the middle of Naomi's sentence, cutting her off and getting the woman's eyes to divert towards her. "The circumstances seem to vary depending on the dimension, but in our case we're formed out of the sharicite and raised by the former CPU and oracle to take their place. It is not uncommon for us to sometimes "grow up" to a certain point, but we never truly age or die of old age. Hence why we don't have progenitors, merely because there is no need for that."

"(No parents...)" Thought Naomi while looking at the confused twins once more, then diverting her eyes to Planeptune's CPU and CPU candidate. "(Then, that means Neptune and Nepgear...No. not just them, but also Noire and even Vert as well?)"

The thought never crossed her mind up until now. Partly because she never saw Neptune and the others as anything other than just normal girls up until arriving to the Hyperdimension and because after hearing how Kenji attained the power of HDD, though she had yet to see him use it, she imagined it was a similar case for them. Now she realized how wrong she was.

More than scare or shock her, it made her feel sympathy for them. Specially for Rom and Ram.

"Well. I don't really think there's any point in talking about such a somber subject any further. So how about I show you my book collection instead?" Said Blanc while turning around. "My nation might not be the best when it comes to touristic spots but I'm quite confident in our wide selection of books."

"(No...I get the feeling you're the only person in Lowee who has such a massive amount of books, Blanc)" Thought Nepgear while sweat dropping with a weak smile before following behind her and Naomi.

The young man's mother was initially shocked by the overwhelming amount of books but brushed off that fact just as fast and instead focused on enjoying spending her time with the CPUs instead. Part of it was mostly sharing some tea with Blanc while chatting about many different things, but Naomi spent most of the time focusing on Rom and Ram instead. This ranged from either talking to them about the things they loved like drawing doodles on Blanc's books to how they wanted to become CPUs like their big sister to even play with them.

Perhaps it was a leftover maternal instinct or simple muscle memory after all those years, but she just couldn't help but want to cater to the twins. And whether it was due to Naomi treating them as children who just wanted someone to play with them rather than CPU candidates who needed to be taught everything needed to shoulder the duty of being a CPU or the excitement of having someone else to play with besides Mina and the other candidates, the twins were quick to warm up to her as well.

The hours went by as the CPUs spent their time talking and playing before the time to leave had arrived.

"...You're leaving already?"

"I'm sorry, Rom. I promised I would go visit everyone else's nations as well" Replied Naomi while crouching in front of the twins and beaming at them.

"No fair! We weren't done drawing yet!"

"It's okay, Ram. I can just come back tomorrow"

"You promise?"

"Yes!"

The woman shared a hug with Lowee's twins while the oracle and the other CPUs looked at it with surprise.

"I never thought Rom and Ram would grow so affectionate towards someone in such a short period of time" Said Mina with a mixture of relief and confusion. "It's the complete opposite of how it happened with Kenji."

"Well...I guess that's kind of because they had a rather negative first impression of him to begin with..." Replied the CPU candidate while sweat dropping with a weak smile as the young man's mother let go of Rom and Ram and approached the group once more

"One way or the other, you're always welcome to visit us once again miss Naomi..." Said Blanc while looking at her "I'm sure Rom and Ram would be happy as well, and there are a few books I'd like to share with you as well."

"Of course! I would love to!"

And with that agreement made Naomi and the CPUs departed from the lands of white Serenity, the final destination for today being the land of black regality, Lastation.

Not only was the warmer climate something she welcomed right away but the nation itself, just like all other three nations, was quite a marvelous thing to behold. In a way it reminded her of Planeptune for the most part but with a darker and more industry-heavy aura to it. The massive antenna located on the basilicom.

"(I wonder what kind of reception would need such a huge antenna...)" Thought Naomi as she walked through the hallways along with the CPUs.

"Heeeeey! Lonely Heart!" Exclaimed Neptune with a smile while suddenly bashing open the door "We're here to visit you!"

Inside, they found Noire, Uni and and Kei. The large mountains of paper suggested they were focusing on working up until now, which wasn't really a strange sight for them.

"Wha-Neptune!?" Said The CPU of Lastation with a surprised expression as she quickly got up from her chair "What are you doing here all of a sudden!? Or rather, who are you calling lonely!?"

"Ah. It's Neptune and Nepgear"

Planeptune's CPU made her way into the room without a single care in the world, followed by Nepgear and Naomi. The CPU candidate of Planeptune was quick to greet Uni and Kei before explaining their reason to be here and introducing the young man's mother to them.

"I see. I think I understand the situation now" Said Kei before turning to face Naomi "Welcome to Lastation, miss Nijimura. As Nepgear here might have told you already, my name is Kei Jinguji and I am the oracle of this nation. I have heard from Histoire of your incoming visit but it seems like I got too focused on work to prepare something beforehand. My apologies"

"Please don't worry about it! It was my fault for asking to visit so suddenly!" Replied Naomi with an apologetic expression "If I had known beforehand, I would have waited a little longer"

Though hard to notice, the oracle's expression was one of surprise.

"I must admit, I expected a far different person when I heard you were Kenji Nijimura's mother"

"Different? Different how?"

"For starters, I didn't expect you to be such a considerate and respectful person...At least not when considering Kenji's usual behavior"

"U-Usual behavior?" Asked Naomi while breaking a cold sweat

It was no mistery to the woman that her son was no role model during the time he left. She could only imagine what sort of things he did while he was away from home.

Fortunately the oracle seemed to notice the unease in her expression and was quick to explain her statement more carefully.

"Of course, by this I do not intend to say he displayed a rude or disrespectful behavior during his stay. Merely that interacting him was...complex to say the least..."

"I...I guess that's the nicest way to put it..." Added Uni while sweat dropping with a weak smile

"Talking about Kenji, he's not with you?"

"No, he's not" Replied Naomi "Early in the morning Zoey took him out. I think I heard her saying something about "getting a head start on the quests""

"A head start on the quests?"

"I think she probably wants to start gathering shares for the portal that will take them back home" Added Nepgear

"I see...Makes perfect sense to me" Stated Kei with one hand on her chin "But with that said, to be able to force that man to work for her so easily...Sounds to me like this Zoey person has quite an impressive skill for enforcing authority upon others"

"No...I think Kenji just has a really hard time going against her"

"So he would rather do some boring quests than come visit?" Wondered Noire, a notable dissapointment in her tone

"Oh? What's this?" Asked Neptune while looking at the CPU of Lastation with a smirk "Nowaru, are you sad Kenji didn't come by to visit you?"

"Wha-Wha-What are you saying now!? I'm not lonely because he didn't came to see me or anything like that!" Quickly snarled Lastation's CPU "And it's not like I wanted him to come visit me anyway! Not at all!"

"Ohhhh? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I am! If anything I'm glad he didn't come!" Said Noire with her eyes closed and arms crossed "Back when staying at our nation that man would never listen to anyone and only do whatever he wanted. And even though I worked so hard to create a perfect schelude, all he ever really did while being here was wander from one place to the other like it was no one else's business! So I'm perfectly fine without him here!"

"I'm really, really sorry about any trouble my son caused to you" Said Naomi while lowering her head with an apologetic expression

"Eh?"

"Miss Noire. Don't you think that was a little too mean?" Asked Nepgear while looking at the CPU

"N-No, I didn't mean to-!"

"Hey, Nowaru! Just cause you're lonely because Kenji didn't come by to see you doesn't mean you can go all sadie on his mom!"

"I told you already, Neptune! I'm not lonely and I don't care if he wants to come to my nation or not!" Snarled Noire before looking at Naomi "We-Well, it's not like he didn't do any good things while he was here either. I mean, he did kind of help us out while he was here too"

"That's right! He helped us out a lot against ASIC and the four felons"

"I see..." Replied Naomi with a smile, though her tone didn't sound very relieved.

She already heard about the organization and its four lieutenants from Histoire, and it was quite honestly something even now a part of her wished the tome wouldn't have told her about. Hearing the stories about their son having to risk his life against an entire group of genocidal cultists that praised an evil doomsday deity was not exactly something any mother would like to know.

"Anyway, since you gals are so busy we're gonna give Nami here a trip around the place ourselves!" Said Neptune with a smile before grabbing both Naomi and Nepgear by the arm, then quickly leaving the room with them "See ya all next week!"

"Wha-Hey, wait a minute! Neptune!" Retorted Noire while quickly getting up from her chair. Yet it was ignored, as Planeptune's CPU already left

"They left just as quickly as they arrived" Said Kei with one eyebrow raised "It certainly is surprising how much free time they seem to have, considering the amount of shares all four nations lost as of late"

"More than free time, I think they'd rather just not work" Commented Uni while sweat dropping with a weak smile

While Lastation's CPUs and oracle promptly resumed their work, Neptune and Nepgear took Naomi on a tour around Lastation. Unfortunately the scenery was not as breath-taking as Lowee's nor it had the "variety" of the merchandise that Leanbox offered, but Lastation had a surprisingly good collection of pastries. That and weapon stores, thought Plantpeune's CPUs nor the young man's mother seemed very interested in it. They certainly enjoyed visiting the pastries tough.

After a few hours of tourism through the industrialized nation, the trio finally decided it was time to head back home. And on the way there, Naomi couldn't help but wonder what was his son Kenji and Zoey up to at the time.

"Come on, hurry it up and kill those slimes already!" Yelled the young woman with impatience

"This isn't exactly like speed-running through a game, you know!" Retorted Kenji before turning around and slashing a Dogoo that lounged at him from behind "Also, they're Dogoos! Not slimes!"

"Same thing! Just hurry it up already!"

Kenji, currently in his HDD form, kept slashing away at the hordes of Dogoos jumping at him non-stop just as he had been doing so for the last hour and half. His sword being swung around like a whirlwind and ripping all the blue balls of goo around him to shreds until the very last one was finally taken care of.

"There...I think that's all of them..." He said after placing both hands on his knees and panting

"Alright, I'll go cash in this request and get another duplicate"

"Seriously!? Again!?" He asked with an expression of disbelief "You want me to do all of that again!?"

"Oh, come on now. A few more times won't hurt"

"This is the thirtieth time I did this damn quest already!"

"And we'll keep doing it until we get enough shares for the portal to take me home!"

"You do realize making me kill slimes by myself over and over again won't get us a quarter of the shares needed for the portal even if I do this until morning, right?"

"Yeah, well. Unfortunately we can't get those high rank quests since the monsters only spawn a few times per day, so we'll have to do with this" Said Zoey before while walking closer to him "Just think of it as training! Or a game! In both cases it's all about how much grinding you do, right?"

"Maybe, but this is just overdoing it" He replied while standing up straight again "I can take down the biggest monsters, but even I'll get tired if you make me fight non-stop all day long"

"Okay, fine. I get it"

"Good, in that case-"

"Take five minutes to rest. Then we'll keep going"

That was the breaking point for Kenji. After getting worked to the bone and bossed around like a slave all day long by Zoey he finally had enough of it and decided to let her know loud and clear that this wouldn't continue any longer.

"Damn it, Zoey! Just listen to me already!"

"No, _you_ listen to me! " Snarled the young woman while walking closer to Kenji and pointing her index finger at him "I did not sign up to get sent to another dimension! And I'm not gonna spend an entire month here because of it either!"

"No one said you had to accompany us outside the city or even help when my mother got dragged into the portal!"

"And who's fault do you think it was that the latter happened!?" She retorted with a furious expression "If "someone" didn't take so long to make up his mind between trying to get laid with his loli girlfriend or actually try and be something more than a thug for once then maybe none of this would have happened!"

The argument between Kenji and Zoey didn't show any signs of stopping. In fact, things only got more and more intense with each retort. And the young woman's last counterattack was one that stung Kenji really hard. Right down to the point where he couldn't even retort right away. This gave Zoey more than enough time to continue her onslaught.

"You like to act like all of this is no big deal, like it's just a simple crack you can put some duct tape on and that's that, but that's only because you had almost no reason to even want to go backto our world. But guess what? I do!" She continued while putting both hands on her chest to gesture at herself "I have parents and a little brother to look after, I've got grades I worked my butt off to get, I've got a future to work for, a life! A life I want back!"

Kenji was finally about to retort until his angry was shadowed by shock as he saw Zoey's eyes getting teary.

"You probably think this world is a blast, but I don't! I don't want to be stuck in this crazy place full of monsters for the rest of my life!" She said as tears began to swell up in her eyes and run down her cheeks as she sobbed "I just want to go home! Please, just let me go home already!"

The young man looked at her in silence before downcasting his eyes. On hindsight, the sudden spike in her aggression towards others and touchy mood made a lot more sense now.

For Zoey life in the "normal" world was exactly what she wanted and worked for, unlike Kenji who spited it for being boring an uneventful. While he found his situation in Gamindustry as a chance for an exciting new life Zoey saw this as being just one step short of a nightmare. At first glance the young man thought of her as calm, collected type of person that could take any situation with a straight face, but even the most composed of people would panic if you suddenly turned their sense of reality upside down and tossed them into a situation that defied everything they thought they knew. The large creature's attack from the other day certainly proved how terrified she could get during such a situation, and yet he failed to realize just how truly frightening all of this would be to her. Torn away from the life she was happy with into a world that defied even her sense of reason, and where she was literally powerless to do anything about it.

With this now in mind, Kenji took one deep breath before dissmissing his sword and then placing both hands on Zoey's shoulders.

"Zoey, I know you don't want to listen to me right now but I need you to hear me out just for a moment" He said, this time using a calmer and soft "You're right that I have no way to understand what you're feeling right now, but that doesn't mean I don't want to help you. I really do want to help you, but it's not as easy as flipping a switch on and off"

The young woman still had tears running down her face, but her eyes were at least looking at him this time. Therefore proving she was listening to his words.

"You might think shares are just some sort of fantasy interdimensional energy, and they are in a way, but to CPUs it's much more than that. It's literally their lifeforce, the thing that keeps them alive. Without them, they literally grow sick and can even die if they don't fix that soon" He continued "Neptune and the others want to help get you home too, but the amount of shares needed to open even a small portal is immense, so much that literally me and the CPUs had to work non-stop together for almost a month, and that's without even counting the other two times they already opened up portals. Trying to open up a portal with the few shares the nations have left right now would literally be like suicide to them"

Zoey looked at him with a surprised expression. She had no idea shares were such a crucial thing to the CPUs, at least not in that sort of way.

"It's true that grinding quests like this can get us _some_ shares, but we're also making it much harder for the others to recover as well" He said, their eyes focused on each other's and not moving an inch away or diverting for even one moment "Zoey, I'll help you get back home. I promise you that, but first you need to let me help _them_ get back on their feet before things take a turn for the worse. It's the least I can do after everything they did for me"

As someone who went toe to toe against the CPUs exactly because of his tendency to grind quests out of boredom and because of his time in Lowee, Kenji knew exactly the consequences of declining shares and just how aggressive the CPUs could get if it came down to it. And he did not want that to happen again, especially not after everything he went through with them.

"You promise?" Asked Zoey while looking at him "If I let you help the CPUs, you promise to help me get us back home?"

"Yeah, I promise" He replied with a wide smile "Besides. I still have to pay you for stabbing your house's wall, remember?"

The young woman looked at Kenji before finally smiling and wiping off her tears.

"In that case, I guess I'll have to take your word for it" She said with a more uplifted tone "But you better get ready to take responsability if this affects my grades, you hear?"

"You can bet on it"

"Also, Kenji..."

"Yes?"

"You're covered in slime goo"

"I know" He replied with his eyes closed while sweat dropping "Can we go back to the Nep tower now? I really want to take a bath"

"Yeah...Let's go"

After finally reaching an agreement the two of them could work with, Kenji and Zoey decided to put a stop to the quest grinding for now and head back to the Nep tower.

"By the way Kenji" Asked the young woman as they got out of the dungeon "Is that giant tower seriously called the nep tower?"

"Yup"

"I'm never gonna be able to look at it the same way ever again"

"Welcome to my world"

The duo engaged in conversation all the way to the Nep tower where after a few more hours, and a very meticulous shower, time to have dinner once again arrived. This time, though, things went by far more peacefully as Zoey approached IF to offer her an apology for taking it out on her yesterday. The guild member couldn't help but feel a little awkawrd about it as she herself was planning to apologize to the young woman first for being a little insensitive to her despite the current situation.

Everyone ate together while talking about their day, mostly the main focus being Naomi telling Kenji and Zoey about how she went to visit the other nations and making a rather curious suggestion that the young man should try to visit Lastation a bit more often from now on. And Once dinner was over everyone headed to their room to rest for the night.

"Damn it, I'm spent" Said Kenji to himself before falling face down on his bed "That Zoey really worked me to the bone today..."

As he recalled the way she smiled at him earlier, an odd warmth within his chest began to manifest. It was quite similar to what he felt sometimes around Neptune. Except this one felt different, nostalgic even. Sure, the little argument they had before that moment had quite a few heavy words tossed out by her, but some of them made him gave him quite a lot to think about, particularily in regards to Planeptune's CPU, and in regards to what he felt towards her.

"(I love you, huh?)" He thought to himself, repeating the words he almost told to the perky CPU back at that moment while turning around to lie face up with both hands behind his head

That simple, yet deep phrase made him think about all the times he spent with Neptune and all the things he felt when she was involved. Both the good and the bad ones. No matter how crazy or haphazard she was, Kenji still wanted to be at her side. In fact, he wanted to spend even more time with her than before, and even if whatever the future held in store was good or bad, he felt like it would be okay as long as he had her at his side.

This thought process eventually led to one last conclusion. If this was what love felt like, then it was quite a thrilling feeling. He thought of this with a smile on his face, or at least he did until Neptune suddenly rushed into the room and jumped on the bed, landing on top of his stomach like an anvil on a coyote.

"Kenny! I can't sleep, so let's play some games together!"

"Da-Damn it, Neptune! Don't just go jumping on me like I'm a pillow!"

"Come on, Kenny! Just one tinny itsy bitsy game! Then I'll totally go hit the sack, I promise!"

"You're saying that now, but you're probably planning to make me play with you until dawn, aren't you!?"

As he argued with Planeptune's CPU to get off of him, one last thought ran through his mind.

"(Neptune, the CPU of Planeptune...I fell in love with this woman, that much I can tell. But even then she still is a pain in the ass to deal with sometimes!)"


End file.
